‘Back to work’—factors facilitating migrants’ re-entry into their previous vocations

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on ‘successful migrants’, who have succeeded in gaining employment in Sweden in their previous vocational area. The aim is to describe factors on various levels – individual, organisational and national – that have facilitated migrants’ way back to work as well as their inclusion at workplaces. Twenty migrants and five employers/mentors were interviewed. The overarching theme of facilitating factors concerns language proficiency, individual factors, enabling frameworks, and supporting persons and networks. The migrants’ own ambitions and motivations, and the support they got in interpersonal encounters were especially emphasised as important. In the migrants’ narratives, a central theme in relation to the theoretical perspective was how to deal with threats to their social and professional identity in the new country. For them, maintaining a positive self-image was key to the strength needed to fight for a return to working life. People in the environment were important in this struggle – for positioning them as competent persons and for offering support.

KEYWORDS:

• Migrants
• employment
• facilitating factors
• identity

Introduction

While many studies emphasise the factors that hinder migrants’ inclusion in the labour market, this article focuses on ‘successful migrants’, who completed vocational training before they arrived in Sweden and who succeeded in gaining employment in Sweden in their vocational area. The aim is to describe factors that facilitated their path back to work. We ask: what did they do differently, and what societal and social conditions supported them in gaining access to their previous vocations where many others in similar situations failed? In this study, the concept of migrant is used as an umbrella term for a person who has left their place of residence or moved to another country for a variety of reasons (Almohamed & Vyas 2019: 3). Although Sweden is the context, the findings are relevant for all countries that receive migrants. In policies and research, finding relevant employment is emphasised as key to integration for many reasons, including financial, well-being, and health (Ager & Strang, 2008), cultural competence (Ganassin and Johnstone Young 2020), and acceptance as a full-fledged citizen (Wehrle et al. 2018). Like other migrants, the participants in this study encountered difficulties on their journeys, but by focusing on the success factors that define them, we evade the one-sided story of marginalised and incapable refugees.

Previous research in the field highlights four crucial factors for inclusion and employment of migrants. First, language proficiency (Johansson & Sliwa, 2016; Musgrave and Bradshaw 2014; Roberts, 2013; Ganassin and Johnstone Young 2020; Knappert et al., 2019). However, Johansson and Śliwa (2016) and Piller (2014) found that language proficiency does not automatically produce social inclusion and some studies even suggest that a focus on migrants’ language deficiencies can itself create exclusion (Butorac 2014; Major et al. 2014). Second, personal motivation and persistence in job seeking. Verwiebe et al. (2019) found that personal agency and proactivity when seeking opportunities was key to overcoming early barriers. Other constructive aspects were strong work motivation, resilience, and a willingness to resume careers. Third, the ability to build social and professional networks. Gericke et al. (2018), found that horizontal bridging social capital, i.e., having family members or friends of the same nationality or ethnicity often led to low-skilled work, while vertical bridging social capital, e.g., contacts with social workers, volunteers, co-workers, and supervisors were valuable resources for attaining more fitting employment. The ability to build networks can be considered a personal factor but broader society is important for developing vertical networks. Swedish Employment Agency efforts to actively create networks for migrants seemed to have positive effects on their entry into the labour market (Joona & Nekby 2012). Fourth, cultural competence, curiosity, embracing other cultures and the ability to interpret and evaluate other perspectives and practices was highlighted (Ganassin &Johnstone Young, 2020). For managers, migrants’ commitment to the host country’s way of life was more important than their job skills, educational level, and language proficiency (Dehghanpour Farashah and Blomquist 2020).

Furthermore, Rajendran, Farquharson, and Hewege (2017) found that highly skilled migrants’ inclusion at workplaces was facilitated by both formal (e.g., introduction programme, a diversity committee with policies regarding discrimination) and informal workplace practices such as peer mentoring and ‘empathetic’ supervisors. Rajendran et al. (2020) stated that social–informal inclusion at the workplace promoted both job satisfaction and upward career mobility and seemed to be more important than formal settings. The explanation was that personal informal interactions can be seen as more genuine and meaningful. Inclusive leaders were important because implementation of diversity management practices may foster a climate of inclusion in the workplace (Davis, Frolova, and Callahan 2016) and sympathetic national media coverage stimulated employers’ willingness to hire migrants (Knappert et al., 2019).

In this study, migrants’ perspectives are important for understanding pathways to employment and gaining insights into their experiences at workplaces. However, their experiences need to be related to the opportunities offered by society, and the various measures and options that might function as door-openers. Migrants’ experiences are always connected to society at various levels, e.g., government decisions, meetings with authorities, employers’ attitudes, and human encounters. In this study, facilitating factors at individual, organisational and national levels are highlighted as well as the connections between macro-, meso- and micro levels (Syed and Özbilgin 2009). Taking this line a step further, Knappert et al. (2019) stated that most explanations of refugees’ limited access to the labour market in their host countries focus on the individual and the country level, while the organisational level and interrelations between the three levels are rarely explored. We therefore also interviewed employers and mentors at workplaces about their views of the migrants in their companies or organisations, to get a broader picture of the organisational (meso-) level.

Since prior research emphasises personal motivation and resilience as facilitating factors for getting a job and being included, the migrants’ construction of social identities is part of the analysis. One’s previous self-identity can be threatened in the new environment by experiences of one’s shortcomings and how one is positioned; in other words, how one’s identity is constructed by others. This in turn can lead to difficulties in maintaining self-esteem and motivation. This study thus contributes to the discussion by exploring various facilitating factors that are intertwined with the different levels and by focusing on how identity is constructed in narratives. We ask:

• What are the factors facilitating migrants’ access to their previous vocation and for inclusion at the workplaces in Sweden, from the perspectives of migrants and employers/mentors?

• How do these facilitating factors operate across various levels – individual, organisational, and national?

• How do migrants construct their social identities and describe how others’ construct them?

Below, we present an overview of the Swedish migration context and national programmes and measures targeting skilled migrants’ access to the labour market. We discuss the effects of these programmes and measures, outline our theoretical and methodological frameworks, and present our results.

Swedish policy and national programmes to facilitate skilled refugees’ access to the Swedish labour market

Swedish society employs various measures to facilitate the entry of newly arrived migrants into the labour market. Measures that focus on strengthening migrants’ competence are, for example, general and vocational education, language training, and vocational practice; interventions that are often similar to those offered to people born in Sweden (Forslund, Liljeberg, and Åslund 2017). Some aim to increase the employer’s willingness to employ migrants, such as wage subsidies in entry-level jobs (ibid).

Many migrants received vocational training in their home country and some measures specifically target this group. The aim of Fast Track is to help newly-arrived skilled migrants to enter the labour market quickly (Vågen et al. 2019). The programme is individualised and consists of, for example, validation, work practice, language training, and supplementary education. Another programme, established in 2010, is The Short Route, especially targeting migrants with academic degrees (Rodin, Rodin, and Brunke 2017).

It is worth asking if measures and programmes have succeeded in fast-tracking migrants’ entrance to the labour market, and for the target group of this study, facilitated access to migrants’ previous vocations. An evaluation of the Swedish Public Employment Service’s Fast Track programme (Vågen et al. 2019), showed that about 50% of participants were employed 19–21 months after the programme started. The rate was lower (40%) in higher-level professions such as medical doctors, where a licence was required. Bengtsson and Mickwitz (2019) studied teachers in the Fast Track programme and found many challenges, both formal – such as with Swedish language competence and lack of teaching qualifications, and informal – such as with understanding norms and values about what it means to be a teacher in Sweden. The researchers concluded that what is important is the interplay between the regulatory structures that the participants encounter during their time in Fast Track and their own approaches and actions in programme meetings. Rodin, Rodin, and Brunke (2017) examined The Short Route programme which provides resources like language training and internship and concluded that while it offered real opportunities for employment, other resource provision outcomes were more difficult to assess.

The validation or recognition of prior learning (RPL) can be either integral to programmes or is conducted separately. Critical questions have been raised about the assessment of prior learning using formal assessment criteria. Diedrich (2014) calls for a broader, more flexible criteria that could capture the heterogeneity and multiple knowledges of skilled migrants. Andersson and Osman (2008) concluded that validation practices consign immigrants either to subordinate positions or exclude them totally from their vocations, contrary to the validation programme agenda. Bucken-Knapp et al. (2019) capture migrant descriptions of the lengthy and complex administrative procedures involved in validation.

Theoretical perspectives

Syed and Özbilgin (2009) suggest using a relational framework that bridges the divide between macro-, meso- and micro levels to gain a more realistic and contextual framing of diversity management. With our interest in factors that facilitate employment and inclusion, our focus is slightly different. Syed and Özbilgin’s (2009) relational framework is, however, useful for examining facilitating factors and their interrelationship at different levels in society (cf. Knappert et al., 2019). Indeed, although migrants and employers have different vantage points, their awareness and experiences embrace all three levels (cf. Knappert et al., 2019).

Syed and Özbilgin (2009) discuss issues at the micro-individual level related to individual power, motivation, and agency. They argue that despite the influences of macro- and meso-level factors, each individual has unique resources and agency that affect their response to various situations and challenges. They also emphasise that individual actions must be understood as interrelated, which means that individual identities are dynamic and constituted in social interactions with others. This reasoning resonates with this study’s links to the micro-individual level. At the meso-organisational level, Syed and Özbilgin (2009, 2436) refer to ‘organizational processes, rituals and routinised behaviours at work that establish the rules of meso-level gender and race relations. Since the focus in this text is on factors that facilitate employment and inclusion, gender and race relations are not always visible. However, these aspects are sometimes mentioned to make the reader aware of their existence in exclusionary processes. At the macro-national level, Syed and Özbilgin (2009) emphasise national structures and institutions. In this study, we mostly describe national measures supporting employment and inclusion, and participants’ experiences of these.

As Syed and Özbilgin (2009) state, individual identities are constituted in social interactions with others, including cultural values, negotiations, and role expectations. Jenkins (2004) means that understanding these processes of being and becoming is central to understanding identity, stressing that identities are never fixed and stable but constructed in an ongoing interaction of individual definition and redefinition throughout our lives. ‘Identity is our understanding of who we are and of who other people are, and, reciprocally, other people’s understanding of themselves and of others (which includes us)’ (Jenkins 2004, 5). Thunborg and Bron (2019) define identity as how people see and present themselves and how they regard others.

A previous vocational background is often a resource in a new country, but feelings of loss of professional identity, self-esteem and self-confidence can present if there are obstacles to re-entering this vocation (Wehrle et al. 2018; Rodin, Rodin, and Brunke 2017). In a new country, identities are threatened in many ways – by own experiences of shortcomings and how one’s identity is constructed by others. To maintain strength and ability to act, migrants must maintain a positive self-image. It is therefore interesting to observe how migrants construct their identities in interviews, in descriptions of their characteristics and actions in different situations. In their narratives, they share how other people’s categorisations of them are based on preconceived notions. Migrants’ perceived identities, both social and professional, are in themselves important because of how these are connected to social inclusion.

Method

Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted between 2020 and 2021 with skilled migrants working in their previous vocations in Sweden. Five employer and mentor representatives were also interviewed. Purposeful sampling was used to find the participants. Informed consent was secured from all participants and confidentiality was assured, and the study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr 2020–01139).

Participants consisted of 14 women and six men from 17 different countries representing Asia, Africa, and Europe. Time of arrival in Sweden varied from the 1980s to the 2010s. Reasons for migration included humanitarian, economic, family reunion, or career (but not recruitment). Participants’ vocational areas included health care, childcare, industry, the food sector, and finance. Ages ranged between 25 and 61. Three of the employers were women and two men. Two were working as mentors and directors for migrants (in hospitals), one was working as a regional coordinator responsible for health care personnel, and two were entrepreneurs (food sector, home care).

While some interviews were conducted face-to-face, most were recorded and conducted via video conferencing or telephone due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. The interviews lasted between 30 and 100 minutes for the migrants and 17 to 45 minutes for the employers. All, bar one conducted in English, were conducted in Swedish. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed with NVivo software in four phases (Braun and Clarke 2006). In the first phase, all interviews were read by the research team. In the second phase, preliminary codes were identified inductively from the data. In the third phase, all statements focusing on factors facilitating employment and inclusion at workplaces were highlighted. In the fourth phase, the statements were analysed and organised into main themes. The data from the main themes were then distributed according to content connection to micro-, meso- or macro levels. Subthemes were then constructed to clarify the various facilitating factors at every level (see table below). Verbal quotes were used, but minor linguistic corrections were made when translating into English. After every quote, the participant’s vocation, country of origin and year of arrival in Sweden were indicated. In the analysis of themes and subthemes, the narratives were interpreted based on the theoretical framework of social identities. Throughout the process, attention was paid to the relationship between the three levels within the main themes.

Results

Host country language proficiency

Facilitators at the micro-individual level

Migrants perceived language as a key factor for access to their previous vocation as well as inclusion at workplaces. However, vocations differ regarding Swedish language competence demands. The lowest language demands were placed on chefs. For other vocations, such as nurses and teachers, the situation was different. Nurses needed to pass a vocational knowledge in Swedish exam to qualify, something they all described as challenging. However, when language proficiency was judged sufficient, doors ‘open(ed) up’, both in relation to workplaces and to society generally.

Initial language strategies

Some participants who had waited a long time for a residence permit described their strategies for learning Swedish while they waited. One of them mentioned how surprised and lucky she felt when she could borrow a Swedish book from the library without being charged. One participant used an English and Swedish bible, comparing the same parts, to learn the language. One of the migrants described many activities where she and her children met Swedish speakers, e.g., open pre-schools and other activities for children.

The welder in the quote below suffered during the years he was not allowed to work, but used the time to start his language training.

When I came to Sweden, after five to six months, I started to learn Swedish by myself. I had goals. I said, Arash, you are here in Sweden, life is here in Sweden, you will live here, you have goals, so start fighting. So, I started to learn Swedish, I watched YouTube and other programmes and then I learnt by myself. (Welder, Iran, 2015)

The welder describes an inner voice that can be regarded as a support in the construction of his new identity in Sweden where language is identified as important. He also constructs an agentic identity with clear goals and his choice of the word ‘fighting’ shows that he understood it would be demanding. He simultaneously acknowledges his understanding that Sweden would become his permanent home, and this is the crux of his motivation.

The migrants who started language training by themselves before getting residence permits did not need much time to pass the courses in Swedish for Migrants (SFI). Language strategies were also used after employment, e.g., carrying a Swedish dictionary at work, asking colleagues, and using the internet for translation. Struggles with language were generally present during the first years of employment. One nurse said that whenever she failed at something, she always suspected it was due to a language mistake.

Courage to use the language

Some migrants expressed feelings of insecurity and were afraid of making mistakes in Swedish and used English instead. The teacher/economist in the citation below thought that using English in the first years in Sweden decreased his opportunities of getting a higher-level job, but then he changed his strategy.

For two years, I just talked English because I was afraid of making mistakes. It was my greatest mistake. […] But then I decided, it was two years ago, Mario, you should only speak Swedish. On the phone, on email, with everyone. And this has helped me a lot. I nagged at my colleagues, ‘[h]ow do you say this in Swedish? How do you say this in Swedish?’ […] Without Swedish, you are nobody. You can do nothing here without Swedish. (Teacher, Economist, Master’s degree, Croatia, 2016)

He thus highlights the Swedish language as a key factor that supported his access to employment in the education sector. The claim that ‘(w)ithout Swedish, you are nobody’, reflects a perceived social identity constructed by others in society. Like other participants, he talks of a conscious choice that guided the pathway he followed.

Facilitators at the meso-organisational level

In the previous subtheme, migrants mentioned libraries and open pre-schools as institutions available at the meso-level. At the meso-organisational level, it was mostly employers and persons responsible for practical training who described their view on language acquisition at workplaces.

Specific measures to support language acquisition and inclusion at workplaces

Gaining access to workplaces is mentioned by both migrants and employers as a facilitating factor for language learning. Supporting language acquisition at workplaces is often considered to be closely related to supporting inclusion. The homecare employer was the participant who talked most about how to support language learning processes in the workplace. Something she was proud of and that worked well was the double staffing system they had designed.

They always worked two at a time, so the customers always had double staff available to them. And there we saw a breakthrough with job learning. Because then there was always one who was fluent in Swedish, while the other did not have to speak as much, was more there to take in information. Because there we saw that when you knew your work tasks, when you proved that ‘I know this even though I do not fully understand the language’, then the customers had huge confidence in them. (Entrepreneur, homecare)

This employer also pointed out that employees in the double staffing system learnt Swedish much faster than others because of dialogue with the colleague, for example, in the car between home visits. The same entrepreneur also constructed mixed groups of different nationalities that visited the care recipients together, based on the aim of becoming better at communicating in Swedish as well as getting everyone to be part of the group. Another strategy was getting employees to take turns disseminating information to the other persons in their group instead of having big workplace meetings. Even if there were some difficulties for the persons that were not as fluent in Swedish, their self-confidence increased. To facilitate the task, the manager wrote easy-to-read summaries of the essential information as a support. According to the employer, these strategies enabled both language development and the view of the migrants as professionals; in other words, their professional and social identities were strengthened.

Facilitators at the macro-national level

Language trainings offered

Some language development strategies at the meso-level were employer initiatives, but successfully gaining access to workplaces was related to initiatives being part of a national programme, as mentioned earlier. One reason for this, among others, is the opportunity provided by national programmes for participants to learn Swedish, and, crucially, vocation-specific Swedish terminology. Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) and sometimes also SVA (Swedish as a Second Language) has been a part of many migrants’ journeys. These language training courses at various levels had been studied independently by our informants or within the framework of specific programmes, such as SFX (Swedish for migrants with previous vocational education), Fast Track, and The Short Route. However, the migrants often had an ambivalent attitude towards SFI education. Some of them pointed out differences between themselves and other students and positioned themselves as having been capable of faster pathways. Especially for the migrants with higher education, it seemed necessary for them to maintain a positive identity and to emphasise the differences between themselves and other students in the language learning group.

To summarise, individual facilitating factors included starting to learn Swedish before gaining access to formal language courses, using Swedish in all situations, and searching for activities and situations where Swedish was spoken. At the meso-level, strategies mentioned for language acquisition were gaining access to workplaces, the double-staffing system, mixed working groups, and speaking tasks. At the macro level, SFI, SFX, and SVA were language education programmes that migrants had attended.

Individual engagement

Facilitators at the micro-individual level

Migrants’ own agency was a common subtheme that was identified in all migrants’ experiences – how they had taken responsibility for their own pathways to employment and then managed their work once they had accessed workplaces.

Motivation, ambition, and tenacity

I just want to say that if you have goals, you can reach them. When I came to Sweden, I told myself, ‘Okay, Arash, you have goals, you continue, you want to succeed, no one can stop you, it is just to follow … ’ I said to myself just to follow my goal. (Welder, Iran, 2015)

After years of waiting for a residence permit, Arash’s pathway back to his original vocation as a welder went quickly once he had the permit. A few months in language training for migrants was followed by SFX. After a year of vocational knowledge acquisition, language training, and internship, Arash landed a probationary position and then a permanent job at the same company where he had done his internship. At the time of our interview, he was thriving in the company and felt included by his manager and co-workers. His success made him content and he believed that he had forged the pathway back to work primarily through his own efforts.

Most migrants described adversity on their way back into their professions. Like Arash, they talked about being goal-oriented and motivated as a personal asset, but difficulties and struggles to achieve their goals were more prominent. Their efforts were sometimes mentioned as pathways to ‘become someone’, to obtain a social identity that would be confirmed by society.

Self-confidence, courage, and strength

While inherent strength and courage can be discerned among the statements in the former subtheme, both migrants and employers also made specific utterances about courage and self-confidence. One nurse described her inner motivation and expressed her strength and agency when things did not go her way in her ambition to get a Swedish Nurse’s ID. She described making contact with both national and local authorities to reach her goal. She positioned herself as having been strongly proactive in contacting higher authorities when required and also to using controversial methods where necessary. She succeeded in getting her licence to practise.

The economist showed an unusual but successful strategy

I stopped cleaning hotels, and I said; ‘No’. And I said to my manager (at the Employment Agency), ‘if you want me to clean you can send me to the office’, because I had a strategy, I had a plan. And I knew it … I knew that, if I came to the office … and cleaned the office, then there was always the finance department. (Economist, Uganda, 1982)

The agency manager complied with her request and placed her in an office as a cleaner. During this appointment, she made contact with the manager whom she told about her education and background. Her strategy proved fruitful and after some months she was employed as an economist, and a lengthy career in this line of business ensued.

One of the medical mentors also addressed the importance of individuals’ courage, something he thought could be hindered by differences in vocational cultures. The mentor describes a situation that could challenge and threaten the professional identity of a migrant who had previously practised as a qualified physician in their home country but had yet to be licenced to practise in Sweden. Such a person may have been used to enjoying a higher rank on the professional scale than nurse colleagues but then finds that things are done differently in Swedish hospitals.

They may not be used to having equal contact in the ward [with nurses] when they still lack a title and that the nurses make their own decisions. And it can, sometimes I have seen, it can almost lead to a backlash where they do not dare to do anything and are completely withdrawn and do not dare to embrace their role as a doctor. So, some have had a hard time, others have not had a hard time at all. (Physician/Mentor 2)

Herein lies the risk that they lose confidence in their role and become passive because they are afraid of acting inappropriately in this new context. In contrast to this, is a nurse’s statement:

Often when I’m in uniform, I’m not there as an African representative, no matter what my colleague thinks. I am there because of my brain, which is my knowledge. You know, ‘knowledge is power’ my dad used to say. […] And it is the power I have that has helped me all the time in Sweden. (Nurse, Uganda, 1991)

The nurse stated that her education and vocational knowledge had been a resource in Sweden. She positioned herself as an educated individual with her knowledge as valuable property and refused to see her ethnicity as relevant. However, she had also felt that her opportunities had not been the same as native Swedes, and it is obvious in her statement that her colleagues had constructed her based on ethnicity, something she objected to.

Humility

The welder mentioned another type of personal trait, humility, as follows:

Because I’m not the type of person who comes and says, ‘I know everything’ or ‘I can, I can’. No, I want to try to listen, find out, because even if I can […] it will not work out [well for me] … where I was, for example, if you were in a small company, everyone who works there tries to protect their position. So, if you just come and say, ‘Okay, I know everything, I know everything […] it’s … no good.’ (Welder, Gambia, 2016)

Humility can be considered a personal trait as well as a strategy for acceptance and inclusion, as an example of adaption to a cultural phenomenon. If this citation is seen as a reaction to a cultural phenomenon, the welder’s understanding of the workplace culture is that you cannot have an attitude where you show all your skills and claim that you know everything, because your colleagues may perceive you as a threat. Another possible aspect is that the welder acted against stereotypes of African men by listening and positioning himself as innocuous and humble. His assumption was that it would then be easier to keep his job and be included in the work group.

Another participant stressed that her willingness to work whenever needed during her internship facilitated her entry into employment. However, her own experience had been that too much bending over backward can also lead to exploitation and to a sense of one’s own inferiority in the workplace – too much humility and helpfulness can be counterproductive.

Facilitators at the meso-organisational and macro-national level

The theme of individual factors that facilitate access to previous vocations and inclusion at workplaces is in itself a subtheme on the micro level. However, in contrast, migrants also mentioned societal conditions that had affected their ability to achieve individual agency and this is here presented as a counterbalance to the individual perspective. In other words, some actions would not have been possible without authorities to contact, or national policies and measures. The importance of networks and other persons for staying strong and motivated are not discussed here since these statements were so common that we present them as a main theme later.

Enabling frameworks

To the question of whether there had been periods where it felt heavy and overwhelming, the industrial worker answered:

Yes, God, several times were … you were about to give up. And several times I asked myself: ‘but why do I have to fight like this to get into society?’ And then, remember that it is difficult. It is really difficult. But one thing I have known all along is that; ‘but God, Sweden has given me a chance’, because this is what many people forget; they say, ‘oh, it’s hard. What is … why did I not come in?’ No, they still gave you a chance to do your best. (Industrial worker/Production technician, Nigeria, 2004)

The industrial worker recognises the opportunities in Sweden without overlooking the struggles and efforts required to take advantage of these opportunities. Other migrants confirmed this: ‘there are opportunities; ‘despite that it is difficult I can move on’; ‘you can constantly develop in Sweden’. Others mentioned financial compensation and free literature provided during their studies, internships, and validation of previous competencies.

Swedish values were mentioned as a positive factor regarding opportunities for entering society, with values like equality even provided as reasons for migrating to Sweden. The chefs referred to difficulties getting work in their home countries due to their age, a discrimination factor they had not encountered in Sweden. However, not all Swedish values were seen as positive; notably, the experience of discrimination based on ethnicity was raised.

In summary, individual and micro-level facilitating factors were motivation, goals, an active approach, tenacity, and humility but also the ability to engage useful strategies such as contacting relevant authorities, for overcoming obstacles. Migrants highlighted their own strengths and ambitions more often than the opportunities presented by society (which were a common feature in all the narratives). At the meso- and macro levels, awareness of the opportunities offered by society such as values, internship, and validation appeared in some statements. However, while these were regarded as facilitating factors, validation procedures and access to internship were sometimes criticised as being insufficient.

Supporting persons and networks

Facilitators at the micro-individual level

Private contacts

In this subtheme, factors relating to supportive people and networks in the personal sphere are addressed. Relatives such as husbands and siblings were mentioned as important people in relation to job-seeking and orientation to society. Support included the practical, such as help with translating documents or finding information about available options. It could also include a personal champion. Private contacts and networks with persons from the same country were mentioned, as well as Facebook groups with others in similar situations.

Actively meeting people

Some migrants took initiatives such as engaging in politics or associations, such as this chef who coached a rugby team and who shared his views on socialising.

I think it’s very important to socialise. Because it has been very helpful for me, to meet people. Then you always find a job afterwards. When you meet people, you have more opportunities. My first job was with a friend of mine; she gave me my first job. And then afterwards, I would say that people knew about me, and they came with proposals afterwards. (Chef, France, 2015)

This chef suggests that having contacts in society could lead to job offers. Meeting places function as arenas where other people get to know him and acquire knowledge about his profession and skills.

Some meetings can have unforeseen consequences. One teacher and business economist described a meeting with an unfamiliar woman where he worked as a hotel receptionist as a turning point in his career in Sweden. When she heard that he had a Master’s degree, she wondered what he was doing in the hotel. She positioned him as a skilled person with options and confirmed what he already knew, that he was not in the right workplace. His first years in Sweden were difficult, doing any job he could to earn a living. His expectation as a university graduate had been that the Swedish labour market would open to him. Besides positioning him as a competent, educated person, the woman gave him a concrete job suggestion, which immediately got him started on the process of seeking a more suitable job. To be constructed as a well-educated person through another person’s eyes strengthened his self-confidence and supported his job-seeking.

Facilitators at the meso-organisational level

In this subtheme, factors that deal with supportive people and supportive networks in schools, organisations, workplaces, and authorities are addressed. The migrants often found authorities to be unhelpful, and even obstructive. When asked whether they had been helped by authorities, it was not which courses or other support the authority had provided, but rather interpersonal aspects that they highlighted. While nurses who had come as refugees to Sweden in the immediately preceding six years finding the Employment Agency to have been helpful, Swedish authorities were often perceived by the migrants to be unconstructive, and thus they cannot be presented as a facilitating factor,

Teachers/managers

Teachers at schools were often valued and described as helpful because teachers respected them as individuals. The preschool teacher appreciated the lofty demands made on them by their language teacher.

I also had a very strict teacher in Swedish, although it was good too. Then we could learn a lot. Since then, I feel that I have not developed much with the grammar. It was with Lena that I was able to develop. She was really a great Swedish teacher. (Preschool teacher, Armenia, 2012)

The Swedish teacher positioned the preschool teacher as a competent learner, who with guidance could make progress in her language development. Some teachers also mediated contacts with companies. Both welders got jobs at the companies where they had done internships. When one of the welders lost his job, he contacted one of the teachers, who gave him tips which led to a new job.

Managers were also perceived to be supportive. Managers opened doors to the labour market by employing migrants and providing references and work tips. One employer talked about a personal relationship with the migrants working for her and how she also helped with practical and personal issues.

Colleagues/meeting places

The employers and mentors emphasised their responsibilities for inclusion at their workplaces, but they also emphasised the importance of colleagues.

Yes, I think it’s where the formal responsibility lies (the employer). But everyone has an informal responsibility as a fellow human being and colleague. And in general, I would say … I have changed the workplace more than 25 times. In general, I would say that people are somehow a little curious, and if you only have one coffee place, so making contacts often goes by itself. (Physician/mentor 1)

The importance of meeting places is mentioned. Most of the employers had adopted the strategy of using mentors to facilitate introductions for migrants in the workplace. They emphasised how being a mentor was not just about introducing newcomers to work tasks, but also about inviting them to lunch and being a person they can call on if they need to talk or ask for something.

Networks in small towns

Some of the informants lived in smaller towns, where, if you knew someone in the municipality, networks seemed to be easier.

But … living in a small town … there are benefits, because there will be more of your personality that attracts others, if you understand what I mean. Because some, they know me, and someone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone. They have never spoken to me. I know nothing about it. But maybe they … they’ve heard of … about me. So, when I write my CV and send it, then it is easier. (Industrial worker/Production technician, Nigeria, 2004)

This industrial worker was not positioned as ‘the other’ since he was a member of the community, and his ethnicity as an African did not seem to play a significant role. In his eyes, and in his construction of his identity, he was an accepted member of society

Facilitators at the macro-national level

This subtheme includes national measures aimed at creating contacts and networks. Many of the national programmes aim to facilitate contact with workplaces. Contacts with employers and other persons involved in education and work are central to creating opportunities for establishing networks.

National Projects

One of the informants talked about the Nema Problema programme, where migrants were assigned a mentor with similar education and vocational experience. The focus of the programme was to find education or work but also to develop personal relationships. The economist got a contact through this programme.

And then I got a really fantastic girl, they arranged nice meetings too, when we got to meet each other, and talk to … there were also mentors, and … candidates … and it was very interesting! And I said it from the beginning, I do not need help to find a company, or education, … I need a person … I need a friend. (Economist, Russia, 2016)

Further, she described how her mentor and friend supported her when she had not found a job during her internship period. She believed that the support she received from the mentor was invaluable and encouraged her to make fresh attempts, and she finally managed to get a job as an economist. For her, the psychological support was essential. The mentor both confirmed and understood her disappointment and sadness but still managed to make her believe in her ability and not give up.

Positive attitude in society

The schoolteacher below summarises her experiences of facilitating factors as follows:

It has been great to have people, to have friends, who speak Swedish. To have the support of people around who encourage you. Who do not care so much about saying things wrong. Who hires you even if you have a last name that sounds different. It has been more about that mental support, the welcoming into society. That has been the most important thing. (Subject and pre-school teacher, Lithuania, 2000)

First, she mentions the importance of friends, the individual level, who were not bothered by her language difficulties. Then she mentions employers, the meso-level, who gave her a chance despite having a foreign surname. Finally, she talks about being welcomed into society, the national level. Aspects from all three levels were important for her feeling included.

To summarise, at the micro level, facilitating factors included support from relatives, friends, and networks, regarding both practical and psychological issues. Networks could develop through voluntary assignments and proved helpful in finding jobs. Random encounters could also be a facilitating factor and lead to a change in professional career. At the meso-level, teachers were often an appreciated group, where helpfulness, strict demands, and contacts with companies were mentioned. Managers, colleagues, and meeting places at work were other facilitators for work and inclusion at workplaces. At the macro level, national programmes and society’s positive attitudes towards migrants were essential.

Discussion

This study has explored factors that facilitated skilled migrants’ pathways back into appropriate vocational work in Sweden and their inclusion at workplaces. In addition, the study has focused on three levels – micro-, meso- and macro levels – from the diverse perspectives of migrants and employers, and how social identities were constructed in the research interviews.

Syed and Özbilgin (2009) brought into the discussion the relational framework that points out that a range of factors related to migrants’ access to working life and inclusion are interrelated and intertwined. Previous studies had focused on separate elements such as language abilities (e.g., Johansson and Śliwa 2016; Ganassin and Johnstone Young 2020) or cultural competence (Dehghanpour Farashah and Blomquist 2020). The results of this study show how various levels are indeed interrelated and intertwined (See Table 1). Three interrelated themes were identified in the talk of both migrants and employers. Language proficiency in the host country played a crucial role on all levels. Individuals’ language strategies and the courage to use the language were intertwined with specific measures aimed at supporting language development at work. At the macro level, language training courses supported individuals’ language learning. Individual motivation and ambition to continue one’s career was intertwined with enabling frameworks such as various integration programmes. Individual agency was interrelated with having supportive people around who opened doors to institutions and national programmes. One example of how all levels were interrelated was in the pre-school teacher’s statement. Her friends were accepting and promoted her linguistic competence, positioning her as a person of worth who should be heard despite her language challenges. Her employer recognised her vocational knowledge and competence, provided access to the workplace, and positioned her as a valued employee. People and authorities in society positioned her as an accepted member of society and treated her with friendship. All three levels were important for her identity as a friend, employee, and member of society. The strength of using a relational framework lies in the opportunity it provides to focus on individuals’ strengths and ambitions without losing sight of the importance of meso- and macro levels for the possibilities of success.

Table 1. Themes and facilitating factors.

Themes	Facilitating Factors At The Micro Level	Facilitating Factors At the Meso-Level	Facilitating Factors At the Macro Level
Host country language proficiency	Initial language strategies Courage to use the language	Gaining access to workplaces for language development Specific measures to support language acquisition at workplaces – double staffing system, mixed groups, disseminating information	Language trainings offered – SFI, SFX, SVA
Individual engagement/ Enabling frameworks	Motivation, ambition, and tenacity Self-confidence, courage, and strength Humility	Enabling frameworks – overall opportunities, values, internship, validation	Enabling frameworks – overall opportunities, values, internship, validation
Supporting persons and networks	Private contacts – family, national networks, Facebook groups Voluntary assignments Meetings with unexpected outcomes	Teachers Managers Colleagues Meeting places at work Networks in small towns	National projects – Nema Problema Society’s positive attitudes towards migrants

For the migrants, the two principal facilitating factors were their own ambition and motivation, and the support they got in interpersonal encounters. They also, however, highlighted unsuccessful interpersonal encounters, events that could risk constructions of negative social identities. Meetings with friends, mentors, teachers, study counsellors, employment officers, and employers were either positive or negative and were perceived to be important for their journeys. For employment officers, for example, it is not just about offering participation in programmes and other interventions, it is about how the migrants’ identities are constructed in the meetings – as competent, trustworthy, and a valuable resource in society, or the opposite. Overall, the quality of the meetings may be important for whether migrants succeed in regaining their professions. The meso-level is, furthermore, not isolated from the macro level in society. Knappert et al. (2019) claim that employers are more willing to hire migrants if media coverage is sympathetic to migration and migrants, which implies that society’s attitudes to migration may affect interpersonal encounters on the meso-level, how identities are constructed in these encounters, and the opportunities being offered.

In line with Jenkins (2004), the migrants’ narratives were stories of being and becoming in an ongoing interaction where identities were negotiated. Identities are never fixed and stable in this perspective, but it is obvious that migrants experience greater challenges and re-constructions of identity in a new country than other residents. Migrants’ identities are often constructed in a collective way in their new homes, such as ‘refugees’ or ‘non-European refugees’, and negative constructions such as ‘unemployed refugees’ and ‘benefit scroungers’ may appear (Wehrle et al. 2018). To avoid such stigmatising epithets, migrants will sometimes change their professional careers just to ensure that they have a job (Rhodin et al., 2017). After their arrival in Sweden, many migrants in this study had been employed in positions out of keeping with their previous education. Participants who had invested in higher education seemed to experience greater difficulty doing unqualified work (cf. (Chwialkowska 2020). Not being allowed to practise one’s profession can be perceived as a threat to one’s professional and social identity Eggenhofer-Rehart et al. (2018) claim that strong professional identity and fear of status loss can even be a burden for highly skilled refugees if they do not strive for new career capital and renegotiate existing career capital. However, Wehrle et al. (2018) found that combining the protection of their previous identities with a restructuring of these identities to suit the new situation was a successful strategy. One may conclude that knowing what parts of one’s professional identity must be restructured and what parts should remain to make it possible to re-enter one’s previous vocation is a key facilitating factor for employment and inclusion.

In this study, there are some methodological aspects to consider. One is that some of our respondents had lived in Sweden much longer than the others. Reception, support interventions, and attitudes have varied over time in Swedish society, something that affects opportunities for inclusion. However, irrespective of their diverse arrival times, there were obvious similarities among the migrants’ narratives, where they expressed similar experiences and feelings. Another effect related to the time that had passed since their arrival in Sweden was that the participants who came to Sweden in the 1990s had had a long time to establish themselves whereas those who arrived in 2017 were still struggling with issues (such as learning the language) despite access to workplaces. The picture they paint of access and inclusion differs from migrants who have come further in the process.

Another methodological issue was that the findings regarding pathways to the labour market and inclusion at workplaces were integrated. One reason was that migrants’ struggles to gain access to their previous vocations and then, once employed, to feel included at their workplaces, started with their first language lessons, in meetings with teachers and mentors, and in the construction of networks. These efforts were necessary both for access and for inclusion. However, in this study, the employers and mentors tended to focus more on the workplaces – how inclusion practices could be designed and how interpersonal encounters could lead to sustainable relationships. Further research with employers and migrants’ colleagues could contribute additional knowledge about factors that facilitate inclusion at workplaces.

A question to be asked is whether the requirements for Swedish language competence are generally too high. None of the migrants emphasised knowledge of English as a facilitating factor, rather the opposite. Statements such as, ‘without Swedish you are nobody’ was common, with chefs the only exception in this study.

This article has raised further questions. For example, in one article in progress the interactions described in the material are studied in depth to determine how the encounters affected the migrants’ pathways to education and work, and if and how aspects of gender, ethnicity and class were part of the construction of social identities in the interactions. In another article in progress, the migrants’ pathways to employment are studied in relation to the support offered by society.

This article’s contribution to an international debate is to elucidate how skilled migrants’ paths to work can be facilitated, and the importance of interaction between different levels in that process. Although the social efforts vary in different countries, many of the facilitating factors are general and can form a basis for further research in other contexts. We conclude that interactions at the meso-level are important for the migrants’ success (cf. Dente and Coletti 2010; Coletti and Pasini 2022), indicating that more research on that level is needed.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Forte [Beslutnr: 310000556].

Notes on contributors

Eva Eliasson

Eva Eliasson is a Senior Lecturer in Educational Science in the Department of Education, Stockholm University. Her research interests mainly concern vocational and teacher knowledge, especially in health care education, and the interplay between power relations and vocational knowledge. Her current research concerns how migrants in Sweden gain access to their previous vocation.

Marianne Teräs

Marianne Teräs is a Professor in the Department of Education, Stockholm University, Sweden. Before joining Stockholm University (2016) she worked as a researcher and a lecturer at the University of Helsinki. Her research mainly focuses on vocational and professional learning, immigration and interculturality. She is currently leading a research project called ‘Integration and Inclusion of Migrants in and through Vocation and Work’.

Ali Osman

Ali Osman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education, Stockholm University, Sweden. His research interests are migration, recognition of prior learning, transition between different educational systems and working life.