In Simple Words
Imagine a bank accepting foreign currency. If a customer brings in British pounds, the teller accepts them at full value without hesitation because the bank understands and trusts the currency system. But if a customer brings in currency from a developing nation, the teller demands extra verification or refuses to exchange it, assuming it is too risky to evaluate.
Applications to Canadian job postings
- Canadian education and experience
- 15.8% callback rate
- British education and experience
- 14.1% callback rate
Selected resume types with English names. Estimated difference was uncertain; this does not prove equal employer responses. Other country arms omitted.
See source →Research question
Employers often justify discounting foreign work experience based on concerns about evaluating overseas work environments and firm standards. However, foreign experience acquired in English-speaking, Western nation-states like Great Britain receives virtually no hiring penalty compared to domestic host-country work experience.
Participants
N = 12,910 mock resumes sent to 3,225 job postings in Toronto and Montreal, including resumes with British education and experience.
Study Design
Randomized correspondence audit field experiment comparing callback rates for resumes listing British undergraduate degrees and British work experience against native Canadian resumes and non-Western foreign resumes.
Results
Resumes listing only British work experience received a callback rate of 14.1%, which was not statistically significantly different from the 15.8% callback rate for Canadian-experienced control resumes (Type 0), contrasting sharply with the 5.9% callback rate for resumes listing Indian, Pakistani, or Chinese experience.
Takeaway
Policy makers should acknowledge that foreign experience discounting is selectively applied based on source country rather than being a universal penalty against all overseas work.