One thing that people and Canadians are not paying attention to is that Canada is not the country of equality and racial integration that it used to be. People migrated from all over the world but few actually embraced the traditional values that Canada was known for.
When I say “affinity between the candidate and the employer”, I literally mean social and racial affinity. The first thing the recruiter and the employer will look at in your resume is your name and the location of education. From there, they know who you are and where you come from. If the recruiter is john and you Steve, he is Young and you Li, or he is Jordan and you are Jackson, then you may have a chance, otherwise you will not make the first cut. This is just the reality here. It is exactly the same thing that I experienced outside of Canada. Personally, I am highly education, have an extensive experience in one of the field highly in demand here, but I still struggle to make it to an interview.
Twice I was invited for an informal interview about jobs opening at two different companies. From the moment my host walked into the waiting room, I could read in his/her face “you are not the person I was expecting”. I have to admit that I am not handsome like Decaprio but I was more professionally dressed than they were. The reality is I was different.
Suddenly, the positions available shrink for many to one or less, there are not lot of tasks, the salary is brought down to a level inacceptable to anybody, just to make me give up. And I did, because I understood. At some moment, I asked myself “is it really worth it to go to the interview”?
To answer your question Mr.nj123
Your friends maybe lucky! To understand whether they are truly lucky match their ethnic group with that of their employers or check whether their employers have business ties in South Africa. I have seen people highly educated, living here for years but never got a chance to interview.