The immigration landscape in Sweden is characterized by the presence of a substantial foreign-born population (25 %) (SCB 2022), and as in many other countries, the un- and underemployment rate among this group is relatively high. Much of the existing research on immigrants and the labor market explains the challenges and barriers immigrants meet in the new host country with a focus on low-skilled migrants. In contrast, we study the experiences of highly skilled immigrants, aiming to unravel the strategies they employ when navigating their careers in the Swedish job market. We are also interested in the role of employers.
The fact that skilled immigrants have difficulty finding employment at their skill level can be seen as a conundrum since their education, skills, and work experience often match the needs and labor shortages in the local labor market. However, instead of obtaining skilled jobs, many face challenges and barriers before, after, and during their employment (e.g., Aycan and Berry 1996; Cheng, Spaling, and Song 2013; Osanami Törngren and Holbrow 2017). The barriers facing migrants are connected to human capital deficiencies, non-recognition of credentials, insufficient language skills, and ethnic and racial discrimination (e.g., Essers and Tedmanson 2014; Szkudlarek et al. 2021).
Despite barriers to gaining employment, skilled immigrants get skilled jobs, pursue careers, and integrate into the workplace. Workplace integration refers to immigrant professionals’ ability to secure employment aligned with qualifications and competencies, to experience belonging in the work environment, and to have the same access to promotion and development as non-immigrant employees at the same competence level (Lai, Shankar, and Khalema 2017). Research finds that immigrants draw on certain strategies to facilitate workplace integration and to be successful in the workplace immigrants need to acquire both hard skills - technical abilities – as well as tacit soft skills (Girard and Bauder 2007; Sakamoto, Chin, and Young 2010). Research on immigrant professionals’ workplace integration strategies is still somewhat scarce and has received less research attention (Lai et al. 2017).
Aim and research questions:
In this paper, we review literature on the career paths and work-life experiences of skilled immigrants to get an overview of existing research.
RQ 1: What strategies do highly skilled immigrants use to succeed in the labor market, according to the literature?
RQ2: What is the role of the employers for highly skilled immigrants’ career? (in the short paper we have not addressed this RQ).
Understanding immigrant careers, skills acquisition, workplace strategies, subjective experiences, and recruiters/employers' roles are key research issues.
2023.