Sakamoto says that according to her research, the Canadian professional experience has two components. Hard skills are what appear on a resume: where a candidate studied, what professional certifications they have, or a portfolio of work they have completed. She hopes Bill 149 will deter discrimination on this basis.
However, soft skills, or a potential employee's “fit” into the company culture, are also an important consideration for hiring managers. Sakamoto says it can refer to a range of characteristics: for example, the ability to fit into an industry's workplace culture, interact with colleagues and generally work in a Canadian office. Unlike hard skills, an applicant cannot provide a diploma or certificate to prove that they have advanced soft skills. These are largely earned through time spent at the water cooler or in the boardroom or at after-hours social events.
Sakamoto says employers are increasingly relying on these soft skills as a barometer for hiring, both in Canada and around the world. In her experience, they can also be an avoidable way to reject a newcomer's application despite excellent qualifications and work experience. The real reason for a rejection could be that an employer doesn't like a person's accent or the smell of the food they bring for lunch. But that never needs to be discussed.
“You don’t even need to talk about Canadian professional experience in this field,” says Sakamoto. “They can just hide behind 'soft skills' and these elusive, nebulous terms that people can't really define.”
Martins is a newcomer himself – he came from Brazil almost a decade ago. In his experience and that of the clients he works with, employers don't openly request Canadian work experience. Still, he says, “I've applied for a lot of jobs in the past, and for a lot of those jobs I didn't get a call, or I got interviews and didn't get hired. It can give any reason – I just can't.” I say it's because I'm a newbie.
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Ontario's legislation is perhaps the best known, but other provinces are gradually taking similar steps. For example, British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province and home to a significant newcomer population, introduced similar legislation last October. If these policies come into effect, they could have a significant impact on Canada's overall workforce compared to other North American countries due to its large immigrant population.
Sakamoto hopes the legislation gets traction in Ontario, but also hopes employers don't simply use coded language and ask, for example, for soft skills that can only be acquired with Canadian work experience. Instead, she says, employers should take the inclusion of Canadian newcomers to heart, something a law banning overt discrimination can't necessarily address.
“If the motivation to discriminate against immigrants does not disappear,” says Sakamoto, “then there will be other forms of discrimination.”