Apply Apply Negative Reply: Understanding Job-Seeking Experiences of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Job-Seekers in Australia

The phases of migration are interlinked with significant life events, personal factors, and relational factors that “must be considered separately and continually” (Bhugra & Jones, 2001, p. 29) in order to develop effective strategies for successful assimilation into the new culture. In particular, those migrants from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities are confronted with a plethora of situational and emotional difficulties (Barrett, Sonderegger, & Xenos, 2003). Within recent research, “a range of socio-demographic variables have been assessed, including both premigratory (e.g., prior travel, language proficiency, socio-economic status), and post migratory factors (e.g., accommodation, employment, education, isolation, and intercultural difficulties) to determine strategies for acclimatising to new cultures” (Nesdale, Rooney, & Smith,1997, p. 570). Assessments indicate that issues of ethnic identification (Nesdale & Mark, 2003), self-esteem (Barrett et al., 2003), and language barriers (Bhugra & Jones, 2001) increasingly influence migrants physical and mental health during the adjustment process. Issues of migration are fundamentally psychological. However they remain under researched in psychology and require psychologists to undertake a broader perspective requiring a serious consideration from a cultural perspective (Dovidio & Esses, 2001).