Negotiating entry to the professional labour market among Vietnamese skilled migrants in Australia: The impact of cultural distance

Abstract

This study investigates the employment transition among Vietnamese skilled migrants in Australia and examines the cultural factors that influence this transition. Employing a qualitative approach, we conducted fifty semi-structured interviews with Vietnamese skilled migrants who migrated to Australia within the last five years and twelve interviews with Australian recruiters to gain further insights into the barriers skilled migrants face. The findings highlighted the cultural challenges encountered by Vietnamese skilled migrants as they moved from Vietnam to Australia, two countries of great cultural distance. Without cultural adaptation support, most skilled migrants had to experience career setbacks before recognising and devising strategies to overcome these hurdles. This study emphasises the need for specialised human resource management (HRM) interventions and strategies that account for the cultural dimensions influencing employment outcomes for this international mobile workforce. Additionally, it calls for future research to expand beyond the examination of skilled migrants’ human and social capital and incorporate various contextual factors in investigating the employment journey of skilled migrants.