Mental Health Impact of Canadian Job Requirements and Recruitment Practices on Nigerian and African Professionals Transitioning into the Canadian Workspace

Highly skilled Nigerian/African professionals who have immigrated to Canada through the express entry or other economic class program experience a significant level of discounting of their foreign-acquired skills and credentials as they attempt to transition into the Canadian workspace. The discounting of their skills and credentials often occurs during the job recruitment processes and/or as a result of Canadian job requirements (or licensing requirements for regulated professions) and recruitment practices that place outsize importance on Canadian work experience over their foreign-acquired work experience, creating a catch-22 situation where highly skilled Nigerian/African immigrants need a job in Canada to gain Canadian work experience but cannot access jobs that match their foreign acquired work experience without a Canadian job experience. Unfortunately, this situation forces them to either accept low/entry-level positions in their field of expertise (if available) or work in low-paying precarious jobs that they are overqualified or over-skilled for and unrelated to their expertise as they transition into the Canadian workspace.

Studies have shown that African and Asian skilled immigrants experience the most severe devaluation of their foreign-acquired academic qualifications and trainings, and black African immigrants face increased vulnerability and are more likely to experience skill discounting, underemployment, discrimination, and lower income irrespective of their high human capital net worth (Buzdugan and Halli, 2009; DeSilva, 1997; Pendakur, 2000; Li, 2001, Batalova et al., 2016; Borch and Corra, 2010; Showers, 2015; Zong and Batalova, 2015) causing social disablement that results in depression, anxiety, frustration and other mental health distresses as they work to overcome these challenges to their socioeconomic integration in Canada. Social exclusion is an important social determinant of mental health and accounts for increased signs of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress among African immigrants. Studies have indicated that black people are the most disadvantaged group facing continuously high levels of negative racial and ethnic stereotyping, and few research reported concerns with depression and psychological distress during the acculturation of African immigrants (Akinsulure-Smith, 2017; Eguakun, 2020; Sellers et al., 2006; Venters et al., 2011, Sherinah et al., 2021).

This research work aims to examine the mental health impact of Canadian job requirements and recruitment practices on Nigerian and African professionals transitioning into the Canadian workspace and seeks to provide answers to the research question, “How do Canadian job requirements and recruitment practices discriminate against Nigerian and African professionals, and put them in a disadvantageous position, causing depression and mental health distress as they transition to the Canadian workspace? To achieve this, ten (10) highly skilled Nigerian professionals who immigrated to Canada through the economic class immigration programs were interviewed, and their interviews were transcribed and analyzed. The results of the analyses of the transcribed interviews, among other revelations, revealed a persistent and significant level of discrimination and discounting of the foreign-acquired credentials, trainings, and skills of the participants and showed a disconnect between the employers, licensing bodies and Canadian immigration office.