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Mahmud, Sharmin; Alam, Quamrul; Härtel, Charmine --- "Skilled immigrants" [2008] MonashBusRw 53; (2008) 4(3) Monash Business Review 38

Skilled immigrants

Sharmin Mahmud, Quamrul Alam, Charmine Härtel

In order to harness this diversified resource for the economic benefit of Australia, the dichotomy between the skills acquisition policy and settlement practice needs to be resolved to smooth the integration process, writes Sharmin Mahmud, Quamrul Alam and Charmine Härtel.

According to a recent Government estimate, Australia faces a shortage of more than 200,000 skilled workers over the next five years and a deficit of 240,000 workers by 2016.

Australia partly addresses its acute skills shortage by bringing skilled immigrants from different countries. These immigrants go through a well-developed selection process, but after arrival they often face various labour market disadvantages.

Statistics reveal that they are not properly utilized in their workplaces and face difficulties integrating themselves into the labour market. Previous research has focused on individual attributes, such as their English language ability, local credentials and experience, as the main influencing factors for their utilization and proper integration.

This research looks more closely at the institutions – which deal with settlement issues – and employers, the ultimate absorber of skills – and discovers that they can play a more important role than they currently do. This paper looks at how diversified human capital is converted into a productive resource in a local context and argues that the dichotomy between the skills acquisition policy and the settlement practice causes the underutilisation of skilled immigrants, which then affects the process of integration in Australia.

From the findings, it is clear that the existing institutional mechanisms of skill acquisition and utilization do not fulfil their objectives. After undertaking a tight selection process, skilled immigrants arrive in Australia with new hope, committed and motivated, having moved to a new place to take up the challenge. But the reality is often disappointing.

The Australian Government is responding to the initial needs of immigrant groups through different settlement programs, but the level-playing field approach by authorities such as Centrelink or the Adult Migrant English Program or the existing website information is not sufficiently effective for skilled immigrants to find suitable jobs and integrate into the labour market.

Few settlement services are directly targeted at labour market integration. With the exception of humanitarian immigrants, skilled immigrants do not have access to social security and available labour market services in the first two years of their entry. Before 1997, skilled immigrants could receive unemployment and social security benefits six months after their arrival. This policy changed in 1997 and skilled immigrants now have to wait two years to receive unemployment and social security benefits. This change has a negative impact on the morale and psychological position of the newly arrived skilled immigrants.

New arrivals are very unfamiliar with the environment and often unaware of services available to them. They face enormous challenges in settling and find it difficult to both adjust to Australian norms and interact with the broader community.

Culture shock and low levels of local knowledge compound these challenges, causing isolation, confusion, frustration and a sense of disempowerment and difficulty in accessing services. Consequently, these immigrants often initially accept any kind of job, which affects their level of confidence and integration. Existing settlement agencies mostly focus on the under-privileged immigrant groups, with little or no focus on skilled immigrants. The outcomes of existing programs are also difficult to evaluate as there is insufficient detailed data. When the workforce is heterogeneous, a carefully designed settlement policy can benefit skilled people.

Taking into account the broader institutional context and the challenges presented by the transition to a knowledge economy, it is argued that creating institutional capacity to facilitate effective immigrant skill utilization should be a priority for settlement policy and major institutional innovations are necessary. Important aspects are: better sources of information for immigrants, web-based or otherwise, available both before and after their arrival; more support for credentials-assessment services to improve their labour market effectiveness.

Necessary resources include HR management training programs that include training on ethnic diversity issues, employers’ best practices on recognition of skills and improved public awareness of the problems faced by skilled immigrants. Action must be taken to minimise the barriers to employment created by discrimination or racial prejudice.

Governments, immigrant service providers, regulators and employers must work together to design programs which expose immigrant professionals to social, cultural and language proficiency criteria. Informing employers about the utility of immigrant human capital may have a vital impact.

Employers themselves can also play a significant role in this matter. They need to be effectively engaged in the whole process, not only to say where the skills shortage lies, but also how the skills can be utilised.Immigrants should be made aware of the institutional supports available for developing professional communication according to Australian employers’ norms, recruitment policy and practices and organisational culture – before aiming for an expected job. Local training, development and bridging courses may ensure the required Australian professional standards. Subsidised workplace internships and structured mentoring programs can be introduced. For the full transformation of human capital for the workplace, institutional commitment and intention are a must, in order to convert a diversified resource into a synergic unified strength for the economic benefit of Australia.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) can be engaged more in the process of bridging the gaps between immigrants’ skills and employers’ requirements. The Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector can play a greater role than it currently does. More institutional supports are crucial for immigrants to minimise skill under-utilisation.

To view this academic paper in full, see www.mbr.monash.edu.au

Cite this article as

Mahmud, Sharmin; Alam, Quamrul; Härtel, Charmine. 'Skilled immigrants'. Monash Business Review. 2008.; Monash University ePress: Victoria, Australia. http://www.epress.monash.edu.au/. : 38–39. DOI:10.2104/mbr08053

About the authors

Sharmin Mahmud

Sharmin Mahmud is a PhD student in the Department of Management, Monash University.

Quamrul Alam

Dr Quamrul Alam is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Management, Monash University.

Charmine Härtel

Charmine Härtel is a Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Department of Management, Monash University and the Director of Social and Economic Interface Research Network (SEIRnet).


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