Is volunteerism truly a pathway to comparable employment for recent immigrants in Canada? : Insights into the volunteer experiences of recent immigrants - their perceptions, motivations, and outcomes of volunteering.

Immigrants account for almost a quarter of Canada’s population with a significant portion facing barriers to finding meaningful employment. Notable barriers include non-recognition of foreign credentials, language proficiency, and the lack of Canadian (work) experience. Volunteerism has been recommended as one of the most suitable strategies that recent immigrants can utilize to

overcome these challenges. This paper presents an analysis of 8 in-depth interviews with recent immigrants living in the Ottawa-Gatineau area of Ontario. The interviews give an insight into the volunteer experiences of recent immigrants - their perceptions, motivations and outcomes of volunteering. Two main findings from the analysis are that immigrants engage in formal volunteer work for; one, to improve upon their essential soft skills, which have become increasingly more important to Canadian employers and two, to prevent the onset of depression and loneliness that may arise from being home alone with no one to talk to.