BARRIERS OR PATHS TO SUCCESS? LATIN AMERICAN MBAs VIEW OF EMPLOYMENT IN CANADA 1

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1 ASAC 2008 Halifax, Nova Scotia Luciana Turchick Hakak (doctoral student) Ingo Holzinger Schulich School of Business York University BARRIERS OR PATHS TO SUCCESS? LATIN AMERICAN MBAs VIEW OF EMPLOYMENT IN CANADA 1 This paper presents an exploratory investigation of the experience of Latin American immigrants with Canadian MBA degrees in the Canadian job market. Based on a series of interviews, we explore and discuss challenges and strategies for success as perceived by these immigrants, addressing issues such as language, networks and discrimination. Throughout its history and to this day, Canada has been host to a very large population of immigrants. In fact, between 2005 and 2006, immigration accounted for two thirds of Canada s population increase (Statistics Canada, 2006) and 18% of Canada s current residents were not born in this country (Statistics Canada, 2001). However, two years after arriving in Canada, the employment rate among working-age immigrants is only 63%, 18 percentage points below the national rate of 81% (Statistics Canada, 2005). Perhaps even more troublesome is the fact that of those immigrants that were in fact working, only 40% had found a job in their intended occupation. Many of these immigrants arrive as skilled workers, a program designed to attract knowledge workers into Canada with the goal of driving growth of the country s economy. This program establishes certain requirements for immigrating that supposedly ensure an easy adaptation to Canada and to the Canadian job market, such as age, work experience, knowledge of the official languages of Canada and a university degree. Nevertheless, even among this select group of immigrants, 87% of which had a university degree upon arriving to Canada - when the Canadian average in the same age group is of only 25% - a gap of eight percentage points between their level of employment and that of the overall Canadian population still exists two years after arriving and only 43% were working in their intended occupation (Statistics Canada, 2005). This suggests a gap between qualification and level of employment for immigrants to Canada which is confirmed to some extent by recent studies conducted by Canadian scholars. For instance, Lian & Matthews (1998) found that for visible minority immigrants that have achieved a certain level of education, the rewards are substantially lower than for the mainstream Canadian average considering the same educational achievements. Saraswati (2000), in a study focused specifically on visible minority women in Canada, also concluded that among immigrants and visible minorities, increased education is not necessarily linked to increased employment levels. This author proposed several possible reasons for this, among which are the problem of foreign accreditation with international degrees and qualifications not being recognized in Canada, lack of language ability including accents which might be a deterrent for acquiring high paying positions, and finally, racism and sexism. 1 Acknowledgements: We sincerely thank Rekha Karambayya for her insightful contributions to this paper 74

2 Galabuzzi (2005) analyzed racialized immigrants with a university education and also found that this population experienced a much higher unemployment rate, labour market segregation, unequal access to employment, over-representation in low-income sectors and occupations, under representation in highincome sectors and occupations and overall income inequalities if compared to non-racialized Canadians. According to this author, this causes Canada to suffer a huge brain waste, as Canada tends to not view this group of highly trained immigrants as assets that can be leveraged for the country s economic growth when in fact Canada had encouraged their immigration in order to drive such growth. Thus, when one considers the literature on this topic, it seems that the fact that for immigrants, education in and of itself does not necessarily to lead to qualified employment, is unquestionable. This however brings about further questions such as: If not educational certification, what are the other factors that determine success or failure in the job market for immigrants? And are these factors the same or different for specific immigrant groups? Regarding the latter question, it is quite likely that the response is positive and the specific ethnic group to which an immigrant belongs makes a significant difference in determining the hurdles he/she faces. Oxman-Martinez et al. (2000) argue that previous diversity research has often reached misleading conclusions by generalizing findings to large groups of people such as South-East Asian or Blacks, and that this only reinforces the invisibility of important differences within such. For this reason, we considered it important not to study the large and very diverse group of immigrants as a whole but instead, a particular and more homogeneous subgroup of immigrants. Several studies have already been conducted in recent years on Asian immigrants to North America, notable examples being Friedman and Krackhardt s (1997) study on Asian immigrants to the U.S. and Basran & Zong s (1998) study on the devaluation of credentials of Indo- and Chinese-Canadian professionals. This focus is understandable since Asians comprised one of the largest groups of immigrants who arrived in North America and particularly in Canada in recent years (Statistics Canada, 2001). However, very little has been studied on other immigrant groups to Canada, such as for example, Latin Americans. Nevertheless, this is a worthy endeavour, as Latin Americans were the sixth largest of all incoming immigrant groups to Canada between 1991 and 2001 and this inflow has been growing steadily throughout the last five decades (Statistics Canada, 2001). In addition, although the apparently cohesive grouping of Latin Americans may also conceal a relative amount of intra-group diversity, the similar languages, religious and historical backgrounds and overall cultural traits of Latin American countries ensures that there is at least a certain degree of comparability within this group. At the same time, this focus reduces the over-generalization that would have been caused by studying all immigrants and fills a gap in current literature on the adaptation of this particular cohort of immigrants to the Canadian job market. Still with the intention of avoiding over-generalizations and in order to specifically investigate differences of access or treatment in the Canadian job market beyond those determined by education, we chose to restrict this study to a cohort with a comparable level of educational achievements. Furthermore, while it is commonly known that certain professionals who require a particular certification, such as health practitioners or lawyers, must overcome specific hurdles in order to be allowed to work in Canada, it would be interesting to analyse a group for whom this is not the main challenge to overcome and in this way, investigate less salient issues faced by immigrants. A specific stream of study on whether education benefits minorities and the mainstream equally is the literature that addresses whether MBA degrees offer the same return for different segments of the population. Most research in this area, however, refers specifically to differences in returns of MBA degrees between men and women, rather than immigrants or other minorities. Thus, Simpson (2000) 75

3 found that while the MBA may enhance a woman s career by enabling her to obtain a managerial role with more ease, woman MBAs do not do as well as men in terms of pay or of eventual movement into a senior management role. Heaton, Ackah & McWhinney (2000) arrived at similar conclusions, stating that, compared to men, women who had concluded their MBA degrees did less well in terms of financial compensation and were less hopeful as to their chances of professional advancement. This analysis leads to the question of whether there are similar differences in the impact of the MBA degree between immigrants and Canadians as those that were found between men and women. MBA graduates usually work in the business field where there tends to be no need for specific certification beyond their MBA and those who obtained such degrees in Canada would clearly have the same diploma as their Canadian counterparts. Hence, it is reasonable to believe that having a Canadian graduate degree such as an MBA should level the playing field and that any persistent differences in treatment would not be related to differences in education or certification. In order to investigate whether highly educated immigrants achieve the same levels of professional success as their Canadian counterparts and to fill the current gap in literature of studies on highly qualified Latin American immigrants to Canada, this study focuses on Latin Americans who have recently received MBAs from a Canadian university and who have chosen to stay in Canada after finishing their studies. The central question of this study is: What are the challenges faced by Latin American immigrants, with no differences in education from Canadians, in succeeding in their fields of choice and expertise in the Canadian job market? We will proceed with a brief literature review followed by a description of the methodology employed and the findings of a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with Latin American immigrants to Canada. This paper will conclude with a brief analysis of the themes emergent from this investigation and their implications for future studies. Literature Review Previous literature has proposed that there are several factors that lead to potential disadvantages faced by immigrants in the Canadian workplace. Of these, the most salient seem to be: discrimination of immigrants by the Canadian majority in organizations and the lack of established professional networks in Canada. Thus, it is possible that these factors also affect the specific group investigated in this study Latin American immigrants with Canadian MBA degrees. Discrimination For the purposes of this study, discrimination is understood to be any negative and differential treatment of a certain individual or group based on traits beyond their control, such as race, gender, cultural background or country of origin. Discrimination towards immigrants in the workplace and in the job market is discussed to some length by Galabuzzi (2005), who proposes that discrimination towards immigrants in Canada is evident in differential treatment in recruitment, hiring and promotion and differential valuation or effective devaluation of internationally obtained credentials (Galabuzzi, 2005, p. 55). Thus, this author argues that the devaluation by Canadian employers of international credentials is essentially a demonstration of discrimination. In fact, if one were to extrapolate the conclusion above on international credentials to the case of international professional experience, the link to discrimination becomes even clearer, as another factor that previous scholars have often associated with discrimination, and that is particular to Canada, is the requirement of Canadian experience often requested by employers to job candidates. This interpretation was adopted by Nwosu (2006) in her study on Nigerian-Canadian women in Toronto, in which she states that this requirement can be seen as not only discriminatory but also abusive. In addition, in her study on 76

4 multiculturalism, Ralston (1998) states that when lack of Canadian experience is the reason given to not hire an immigrant, this is equal to racial discrimination, but expressed in such a way so that it cannot be challenged by a Human Rights Commissioner. Other authors such as Scassa (1994) and Creese & Kambere (2003) focus their discussion of discrimination on immigrants with different accents from the norm. While shortcomings in fluency of spoken English is often regarded as an issue that could easily be remedied through education, differentiated treatment based solely on different accents can clearly be seen as a matter of discrimination. Scassa (1994) points out the specific situation of job interviews as one in that any language difference, including accents, may cause candidates to be devaluated regardless of the content of what is being said. Creese and Kambere (2003) also report immigrants perceptions of being discriminated against because of their accents even when they were fully fluent in English, with English sometimes being their native language. Specifically regarding discrimination towards Latin Americans, while very little Canadian literature currently exists, several studies have been conducted regarding Latin American immigrants in the U.S.A. For instance, Johnson (1999) argues that Latin Americans are blatantly discriminated against, leading to hurdles in becoming fully adapted to life in the U.S.A. Aguirre (2004) also addresses this topic and proposes that Mexican-Americans are racially profiled by the dominant white majority, so that both opportunities and expectations towards members of this group are often reduced. However, because of differences in the countries of origin, overall expectations and profile between Latin American immigrants to the U.S.A. and to Canada, these studies should be applied with caution and there is definitely room to conduct yet more investigations on this group in the specific Canadian context. Social Networks The issue of the construction of networks and social ties by minority populations was studied to a great extent by Ibarra (1993, 1995), who proposes that networks be considered according to the dimensions of range, status, strength, multiplexity, density and homophily. Range refers to the diversity between members of one s network, thus, the larger the range of a network, the more access there is to new and diverse information and resources; status refers to the contact s position within the organization s hierarchy; strength refers to the degree to which relationships involve emotional intensity and closeness and offer a sense of trust and loyalty; multiplexity is the extent to which network circles formed for different purposes overlap; density refers to how close are the relationships between members of an individual s network; and finally, homophily is the degree to which the networks one creates are with people similar to oneself (Ibarra, 1993 & 1995). With regards to these network dimensions, Ibarra analysed the networks of women and minorities, concluding that the attempt to construct homophilious networks is hampered for these groups because here are simply not enough people similar to them in today s organizations (Ibarra, 1993). In addition, when they are homophilious, the networks of women and minorities would be less likely to involve high-status contacts, since the similar others who are present in organizations are usually not in positions of authority. According to this author, these networks would also be formed by less multiplex ties, an example being that while for white men, golfing companions and business companions are many times the same group of people, for minorities, friends are usually those similar to them while colleagues are usually those most present in organizations - white males. Finally, the author also states that the networks of minorities and are less stable and more sparse than those of white males (Ibarra, 1993). Friedman and Krackhardt (1997) have a similar approach in addressing how social ties can influence different success rates in the job market between immigrants and non-immigrants with equal educational achievements. These authors claim that often immigrants are not able to convert the human 77

5 capital they acquired through education into social capital and that success within organizations is determined by how much one is perceived as being able to develop, maintain and use social capital. The authors further propose that because of the tendency towards homophily, the accumulation of social capital is harder for minorities, as they do not have many opportunities to build instrumental relationships with the organization s dominant groups (Friedman & Krackhardt, 1997). As this review of the literature suggests, barriers exist that make it difficult for minorities and, in particular, immigrants to become fully integrated to the job market in their new country. Specifically, some of the most prominent findings of these studies concern discrimination and deficiencies in social capital, both seen as barriers to entrance and success of immigrants in the job market. In the present study, we investigate whether those and other barriers are perceived by one particular, highly educated immigrant group, Latin American graduates of a Canadian MBA program. Methods In order to investigate the issue proposed here, an exploratory, qualitative research design was employed, consisting of semi-structured in-depth interviews with Latin Americans who had graduated from MBA programs in Ontario. The sampling strategy utilized was the snowball technique. Of the total of eleven interviewees, ten had graduated between six months and one and a half years before the time of the interview and one had graduated five years before that time. One of the interviewees was currently working in Consulting, one in Supply Chain management, one in Marketing and seven in Finance. In addition, one of the interviewees was still looking for a job in Marketing, having finished the MBA six months before the interview. The sample was comprised of people whose native language was either Portuguese or Spanish, with four being from Brazil, four from Peru, one from Argentina, one from Mexico and one from Colombia. Additionally, two of the interviewees were female with the remaining nine being male. The fact that all interviewees had graduated from a Canadian MBA program is noteworthy, as this enabled the control of the issue of lack of recognition of foreign degrees by Canadian employers, often cited in studies on immigration (Saraswati, 2000). Thus, because in this case it cannot be said that perceived differences in treatment between Canadians and Latin American immigrants was due to the issue of foreign accreditation, the focus was shifted to other potential sources of barriers. The interviews were conducted in the fall of 2006 and were recorded and transcribed. All interviews were conducted in English with the exception of one that was conducted partially in Portuguese with translations by the researcher. The reason to this was that this particular interviewee was about to leave his current company but had not yet informed his boss or colleagues and several of his colleagues were nearby (within earshot) at the time of the interview. Interviewees were presented with open-ended questions in which they were asked to comment on their experience in the Canadian job market and whether they perceive any challenges they may have faced to be due to their minority status. Interviews were conducted at coffee-houses, restaurants, or at the residence or place of work of interviewees. The interview guide can be found in appendix 1. Interviews were then analyzed for emergent patterns or common themes. Specifically, the themes analysed were those that appeared with considerable frequency in the interviews and/or those that allowed for an especially great degree of insight on the respondents perception of the difficulties and ease of entry and future progression in the Canadian job market. The qualitative nature of this study allows for an examination of participants subjective perceptions of their experience in the Canadian job market. As Stangor & Swim (1998) pointed out, the 78

6 focus on discrimination from the point of view of the target population is desirable, as it can lead to a better understanding of how minority group members experience prejudice. Thus, in conducting the present study, I intend to give voice to this particular minority group that actually experiences the positive and negative aspects of being a Latin American in the Canadian job market. Results Based on the findings of previous literature and on our own informal interaction with immigrants, we initially expected to find patterns related to challenges to entry in the Canadian job market, but we did not expect to find patterns showing that Latin Americans perceived themselves to be successful precisely because of their status as Latin American immigrants. However, this did in fact emerge, which led us to divide the recount of emergent patterns between the already anticipated Perceived Challenges and the unanticipated Perceived Success Factors. Perceived Challenges Several themes appeared recurrently in the interviews, some of the most common and to which the interviewees placed a higher degree of emphasis were: Networking, English as A Second Language, Cultural Differences or Feeling Foreign and Covert Discrimination. We will explain how the respondents addressed each of these categories in the following paragraphs. Networks. One of the most pervasive challenges perceived by this group was the issue of networks. This emergent theme can be subdivided into two dimensions, the first being their perceived lack of established professional networks. Specifically, the respondents claimed that professional networks took time to establish and that Canadians were already at an advantage since they had had several more years to establish such networks, which, according to some, start being formed as early as in high-school. The following quote is symptomatic of this perceived lack of established networks: ( ) I think the fact that you don t have a good network, I think this is a big challenge, you have to build your whole network ( ) Respondents also felt that the necessity of building networks was a challenge as they were unaccustomed to having to build networks as a strategy for gaining employment since this was not common practice in their countries of origin. For example, one interviewee stated: ( ) in (my country), I finished in one in the best university, so students who finish at my school usually get a job as soon as possible, and really good jobs, so here, you have to start doing networking, cold calling, so I was not used to that process ( ) English as a second language. Although all respondents had lived in Canada for at least two years and had completed a demanding post-secondary degree in English, lack of fluency in the language was seen as a challenge both with regards to success in employment interviews and also to advancement within companies. For instance, one interviewee stated that: The English was basically terrible in some interviews. I really couldn t express myself In general, several interviewees stated that as well as they spoke English, the fact was that it would always be their second language and this would always present additional challenges to them in the Canadian job market, where they are compared to native English speakers. 79

7 In addition to the specific lack of technical knowledge of English, some interviewees commented on the similar but somewhat different dimension of being able to truly express oneself and reveal one s true personality in job interviews or to colleagues in the workplace in English. An example of this is an interviewee who stated: ( )In interviews it s even very difficult when you are speaking your own language. You know, when you don t have this kind of asset ( ) I think that 90% of chances that you will miss something, you will not say something very important in the interview, you will not like, uh expose yourself the way you are, you know, you are always playing a role, you know? This demonstrates a certain frustration with not being able to be oneself, purely because of a lack of vocabulary or overall linguistic tools. Cultural differences feeling foreign. Several of the interviewees mentioned a feeling of not fitting in to the dominant Canadian culture, which, in their views, hindered not only their personal well-being but also their professional well-being in Canada. This was expressed in two different contexts, the first being the perception of not recognizing oneself in the informal interactions that go on at work. For instance, one interviewee said that: ( )when people arrive at work, they start to joke, to, uh, to say about the news, to talk about sports, everything, and you are always kind of an outsider, because you are not so fast, to follow them and you don t know what is going on in sports because they are sports that you ve never followed and some news like politics ( ) Another dimension in which this perception of cultural differences was salient was with regards to actual work practices that are different in Latin America, even if within the same industry and job area. Thus, according to one interviewee: ( ) if you have experience, you tend to do what you did before, and that may not work here, likely it s not going to work, ok? Covert discrimination. Although there is ample literature addressing how Latin Americans and other minority and immigrant groups face discrimination in the workplace, few interviewees specifically mentioned discrimination as a challenge. However, although the word discrimination was never mentioned, discrimination was evident in some of the other challenges raised by these interviewees. In one case, there was mention to levels to which Latin Americans could have a reasonable chance of being promoted. In other words, according to this interviewee, Latin Americans had a good chance of being promoted to a manager position but not to a VP position or above. In another case, there was a general, unspecified sense of discrimination expressed by the statement: ( ) at the end of the day they have to hire two guys and you have five and one of them is a Brazilian, why the h*** are you going to hire a Brazilian?? Other interviewees spoke of differential treatments based not on their proficiency in English but on their accents, which, as is indicated by previous literature, could feasibly be considered a sign of discrimination. One interviewee said: ( )even when you have the proficiency, they recognize your accent ( ) 80

8 Finally, yet another piece of evidence that discrimination is perceived as a challenge in succeeding in the Canadian job market, even though this is not talked about explicitly, is the account, made by several interviewees, that they received differential treatment in their jobs searches, not because they lacked professional experience in general but because they specifically lacked Canadian experience. For instance, one interviewee stated: ( ) the main one (challenge) was the Canadian experience, that s the main one. Almost all the letters that I received from the other banks and other companies was Sorry, you don t have Canadian experience ( ) Perceived Success Factors In addition to the above mentioned challenges, several interviewees spoke of the factors that contributed to their success in the Canadian job market, not only despite their minority and immigrant status, but also because of it. The main factors for success were: establishment of homophilious networks and their Latin American origin. Homophilious networks. While some interviewees mentioned networking as one of the challenges faced when looking for a job in Canada, others mentioned their network of other Latin American or international students as the manner by which they found their jobs. For example, one interviewee stated that: ( ) it was a friend of mine who had a friend in that company and there was a posting there and they just got my resume ( ) Another said: ( ) a friend of mine ( ) called me: Hey ( ), have you seen this job posting at (the university)? Because I think that the only thing that is missing is your name at the bottom. Latin American origin. Another perceived success factor was the interviewees Latin American nationalities and culture. Although this was also seen as a source of challenges and discrimination by some, another view is that depending on the context, it may bring specific advantages. This was demonstrated along two dimensions, the first being knowledge of the Latin American context, which emerged specifically in the case of interviewees who worked at companies that had operations in the region. For instance, regarding this, one interviewee said that: ( ) I think they will need people who are going to be inserted in this, because a big potion of the revenues of the bank comes from the Spanish speaking countries, and you need people who understand the cultures ( ) The second way in which interviewees nationality was seen as an advantage can be seen through comments made by few interviewees, but that still seems quite noteworthy. Specifically, these interviewees stated that there are specific traits of Latin American culture that may cause them to be more desirable in the job market even than Canadians. Thus, one interviewee stated: ( )I think uh there is some advantages the Latin American because we are more openminded, maybe than Canadians ( ) 81

9 Discussion The purpose of this study was to examine whether Latin American MBA graduates experience differential treatment in the Canadian job market and, if so, the nature of those differences. Through the analysis of eleven in-depth interviews with Latin American graduates from Ontario MBA programs, several challenges and success factors were identified. Given the focus of the current literature on challenges faced by immigrants, the emergence of success factors due specifically to the participants region of origin is somewhat surprising. Nonetheless, an analysis that includes these two distinct views of the experience of Latin American MBAs in Canada is certainly relevant, as it allows us to uncover both the systemic barriers that this population faces and the practical strategies that it can employ in order to obtain a level of professional success correspondent to its educational achievements The results described above both confirm conclusions set forth by the literature and initiate new discussions. The importance of networking was certainly raised as a factor both in determining success and hardship in entering the job market. Discrimination was also mentioned although in a covert way, and other, previously less discussed themes were also addressed such as difficulties in expressing oneself in English, feeling foreign and the perceived benefits of being Latin American. The fact that lack of comfort with the English language and with Canadian culture was so frequently mentioned by the interviewees may seem odd at first glance, considering that these people had all been in Canada for over two years and had all completed a demanding graduate-level degree in English in which they were surrounded by Canadians. Why then would they still consider this to be a weakness? Most likely, this reveals a mixture of actual lack of proficiency in English and discrimination. On one hand, the interviewees are probably correct when they say that it will take many years until they are perfectly comfortable with the English language and with Canadian culture. This truly is a slow and gradual growth curve and it is reasonable to say that two or three years is not enough for it to be complete. However, if Latin Americans feel that they are being treated differently in the Canadian job market not because of their fluency in English but because of their accents and behaviour that is unrelated to actual indicators of competency in the workplace, this can be seen as evidence of discrimination. Indeed, both actual language limitations and differential treatment based on accents emerged from the interviews. Another item that was frequently mentioned by the interviewees as challenging was learning how to look for jobs the Canadian way and build professional networks, sometimes with high-status, non Latin American contacts. The disadvantages brought about by this difficulty in building networks is also addressed by previous authors, such as Nkomo (1992) who found that minorities tend to have less useful networks because they lack knowledge about networking according to the ways of the dominant white corporate world. According to an assimilationist point of view this is truly a serious drawback, as this perspective espouses that minorities, and in this case Latin Americans, should try to develop networks similar to those of the dominant groups in order to be successful. However, it is also possible to adopt a different, pluralistic perspective, according to which they should develop networks different from those of the dominant group in order to achieve similar results (Ibarra, 1995). This pluralistic perspective suggests that both homophilious contacts with other Latin Americans and contacts with members of the dominant group are important for success. The first would not only provide support but would also allow them to learn from each other about strategies for success, while the second would help them to be effective in a Canadian-dominated context (Ibarra, 1995). In the present study, contacts with majority groups was identified by some as being a challenge important to be overcome, whereas, although many interviewees spoke of instances in which their contacts with other Latin Americans helped them to secure jobs, it is not clear to what degree they were consciously aware of 82

10 the benefits of such a strategy. Instead, while they commented on how they got their jobs through Latin American friends, they still seemed to resent the fact that they had much less contacts in high positions of power than their Canadian peers. Another relevant aspect that was not explicitly mentioned by the interviewees relates to the range of networks. Because there are few Latin Americans in most organizations, it would be important to expand the range of one s network beyond one s department or area of expertise, in order to find homophilious contacts. This would be important even if such contacts are in lower levels of the organization, implying that for minorities, among which are Latin Americans, status is not so critical when forming networks as it could hamper the potential for establishing homophilious ties (Ibarra, 1995). Thus, by adopting a pluralistic perspective, there could be an opportunity for Latin Americans to expand the range of their networks and to attempt to develop more homophilious ties, in addition to ties with the dominant and high status group. By communicating this view, Latin Americans may come to have less of the impression that they must learn to network as Canadians in order to achieve success in Canada. In addition, although discrimination was widely recognized by previous studies as affecting immigrants in the workplace, none of this study s interviewees explicitly used the word discrimination or any other similar or related words to describe differential treatment toward them in the Canadian market. One of the possible reasons for this could be that an inherent part of Canadian culture is pride over the ideology of multiculturalism in which diversity is embraced and discrimination not tolerated, a message that may have been involuntarily absorbed even by those who are potentially targets of discrimination. However, as Ralston (1998) argues, these ideals often conceal discrimination and racism. Furthermore, the excerpts shown above in which interviewees acknowledge that companies have no reason to hire a Latin American if there is an option, and would not hire a Latin American job candidate because of his/her accent or lack of local experience, reveals that discrimination is a reality that should be recognized as such. According to Ruggiero & Taylor (1997), members of minority groups tend to minimize the amount of discrimination that they perceive to affect them personally and they do so in order to increase their self esteem and feelings of control over the events in their lives. However, these authors also argue that despite the psychological benefits that minimizing discrimination might bring to individuals, the societal implications of not recognizing systemic discrimination, and therefore not resisting it, are clearly negative. This might very well be the case here, as the interviewees might be minimizing the amount of discrimination they face for the sake of psychological benefits, but by doing so, they also reduce the chances of such discrimination decreasing. Thus, it is fair to say that this study provides further evidence for the finding, already present in much of the literature of the field, that systemic discrimination towards immigrants in general and Latin American immigrants in particular creates additional hurdles for these immigrants to enter the job market, despite their high levels of education. This type of discrimination has not only personal but also societal implications. On one hand, if one were to embrace a radical-humanist perspective (Burrell and Morgan, 1979), one might argue that it is important that immigrants become more aware of this hurdle and, through this increased consciousness, actively resist discriminatory practices such as the requirement of Canadian Experience to obtain jobs in their fields in Canada. On the other hand, it might be just as beneficial - and perhaps more so - if Latin American immigrants were encouraged not necessarily to openly and collectively resist systemic discrimination nor, on the other hand, accept the status quo by attempting to emulate their Canadian peers, but rather to take on different, unique routes within the given system and thus, dodge systemic barriers such as discrimination. 83

11 This latter approach enables a shift in focus from a liberal assimilationist perspective (Thomas, 1993) according to which immigrants must try to imitate the behaviour of their Canadian peers, as well as from an approach of radical change, according to which discrimination must be explicitly recognized and resisted. Instead, it brings us to a third and alternative approach, according to which immigrants, in trying their best to integrate themselves to the mainstream Canadian market, find other specific sources of competitive advantage not held by Canadians, thus enabling them to achieve professional success. The Latin Americans interviewed in this study offered interesting suggestions of how to accomplish this, mainly by focusing on creating and maintaining not only high status networks but also homophilious networks and attempting to work at companies where their Latin American nationality and culture is especially valued, such as at those that conduct a significant amount of business in the region. Further, as migration and global business rise in magnitude and importance, the value of such differentiating characteristics may also increase, leading such a differentiation strategy to be yet more beneficial and feasible. Opportunities for Future Studies The present study counted on a very limited number of interviewees (eleven) and did not consider cultural differences between different Latin American countries. It is possible and probably likely, that had a greater number of people been interviewed, a more robust set of conclusions would have emerged, both with regards to challenges and strategies for success and with regards to the more specific cultural differences that no doubt exist between immigrants from different Latin American countries. It may also be worthwhile to investigate whether differences in challenges or strategies for success exist between the different sub-areas and industries within the general umbrella of Businessrelated occupations. In this study, only three of the interviewees did not have a job offer immediately after graduating from the MBA, two of which were the only interviewees from the area of Marketing. Thus, it is possible that immigrants who are Marketing practitioners face more restrictions in the Canadian market than those in other areas, such as Finance. This interpretation seems even more reasonable if we were to analyse some of the themes that emerged from this explanatory study, namely, the importance of networks, discrimination, language and cultural integration. It is easy to see how the latter two can have a stronger effect in professions related to communications, such as in the case of Marketing. However, given the limited sample of the current study, it is impossible to reach any final conclusions of this nature. It should also be noted that this sample group is one that, challenges or no challenges, has achieved a certain degree of success in the Canadian job market with ten being employed in their fields of choice at the time of the interview. In fact, given the relative professional success of the current sample group, future studies may also examine the perceptions and experiences of Latin American immigrants who have not found jobs in their desired field after finishing their MBAs or other professional graduate degree and, perhaps for this reason, return to their countries of origin. The current study investigates the challenges and success factors for Latin American immigrants trying to secure their first jobs after graduating with an MBA degree in Canada. It does not examine the long-term career success of such individuals. The factors that influence hiring decisions may be quite different from those in place as these immigrants attempt to climb the corporate ladder in Canada. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to track the career trajectories of Latin American professionals in Canada over time to identify the unique challenges they experience and the success strategies they employ. For instance, it is possible that a phenomenon similar to the glass ceiling, frequently addressed in studies on women in organizations, also takes place in this case or still, that it is present in a different degree for Latin Americans than it is for other immigrant groups. 84

12 Finally, it would also be relevant to expand this investigation to MBAs of other nationalities, in order to analyse whether the perceptions expressed in this study are specific of Latin Americans or generic to international MBA graduates in Canada. If the latter case were true, this could motivate new approaches of Canadian MBA programs towards their MBA students and may eventually influence new approaches in public policy towards highly qualified immigrants in Canada. Appendix 1 Interview Guide I. Background 1) What is your country of origin? 2) Are you a landed immigrant? 3) How long have you been in Canada? 4) Tell me about your academic and professional background. 5) What were your professional expectations when you first came to Canada? II. Entrance to Job Market 1) What were your professional goals and expectations when you finished your MBA? 2) How long did it take for you to find your first job after finishing your MBA? 3) What was the process of job hunting like (include experiences coordinated by your school s Career Center and opportunities that you pursued on your own)? 4) What were the greatest challenges you faced when job hunting? III. Current Status (for those currently working in Canada) 1) What is your current position? 2) How long have you been in this position/company? 3) In your opinion, how are your prospects for professional advancement in your current company? Why? 4) What are the greatest challenges you faced or are facing in your current company? 5) Do you intend to stay at your current company in the long term? IV. Further reflections 1) In hindsight, how do you see your experience of entering the job market in comparison to Canadians in your graduating MBA class? Please provide an example. 2) How do you perceive your chances for professional advancement if compared to Canadians in a similar role as yours? Please provide an example 3) If considering only professional aspects, do you intend to stay in Canada? 4) Is there anything else you would like to add? 85

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