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Trust or betrayal: immigrant engineers’ employment-seeking experiences in Canada

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Discourses of Trust

Abstract

While trust has been empirically studied and emically defined in a number of studies of employment-seeking practices among second/additional language speakers, particularly in the context of gatekeeping encounters1 (for example, Kerekes 2006; Campbell & Roberts 2007), it is generally presented as important from the point of view of the (prospective) employer. It is the job seeker’s/employee’s responsibility to make a positive impression on the job interviewer or employment supervisor, in great part by proving her/himself to be trustworthy. Far less research has examined the job seeker’s/ employee’s trust: what role does a job seeker’s or employee’s (dis)trust in her/his (prospective) work environment play in the employment experience, and why might this be important? In the case of internationally educated professionals, the majority of whom speak a second or additional language in their employment environment, how do their experiences with work culture in their country of immigration affect their (dis)trust of local professionals in their employment (-seeking) experiences?

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© 2013 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Kerekes, J., Chow, J., Lemak, A., Perhan, Z. (2013). Trust or betrayal: immigrant engineers’ employment-seeking experiences in Canada. In: Candlin, C.N., Crichton, J. (eds) Discourses of Trust. Palgrave Studies in Professional and Organizational Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-29556-9_17

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