“The war has been going on for almost a year now,” says Nadia Varkhal, a 20-year-old Ukrainian attending a job fair in Poland. “And now you feel like that was another life, you’ve gone through so many different things.”
On February 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine in the largest assault on a European country since World War II. Within the first day, tens of thousands of people were forced to flee, leaving behind their homes, jobs and lives they knew.
That same day, Indeed put together a task force focused on helping Ukrainian refugees find jobs and employers hire them, while supporting organizations providing them aid.
Indeed has continued to partner with humanitarian organizations and government agencies, such as the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to guide our response. Most recently, Indeed held two job fairs in Poland, hosted alongside the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent).
These events reached over 1,900 job seekers, leading to 1,000+ interviews and 600+ job offers. But this is only a small drop in the bucket; there are millions still displaced and jobless. Here is what we’ve learned so far at Indeed so that we and other organizations can continue to help.
Understand What Refugees Are Up Against
Employment is one of the first steps for refugees to find economic wellbeing and integrate into a new country. “I had to find a job to be able to live here,” Varkhal says. “It didn’t even matter what kind of work it was.”
To expand recruitment efforts to refugees, employers should first understand the obstacles they face in the job search:
Lack of basics. In suddenly being forced to move to a new country without notice, many refugees lack access to basics like housing, transportation, childcare, computers and the internet — essentials to search for a job, get hired and work.
“Part of what makes this work so important and inspiring and empowering is just the recognition of how many challenges refugees often face — things that you and I may take for granted,” says Parisa Fatehi-Weeks, Indeed’s senior director of social impact programs and partnerships.
For example, in 2022, Indeed created the Essentials to Work program, which helps U.S. job seekers access technology, transportation and criminal-record-clearing services. Upon its launch, the program provided Lyft rides and over 100 computer devices to job seekers at a hiring event in partnership with Refugee Services of Texas.
Communication barriers. Refugees might not be native speakers of their new country’s language. Following the invasion of Ukraine, we saw a daily peak of 1,752 job seekers using our German site in Ukrainian. In Poland, the daily peak was 1,870.
Proof of education and certifications. A refugee might not be able to easily provide proof of their qualifications to be recognized for the skills they already have in order to get a job.
HealthProm is a UK-based charity supporting vulnerable children, women and families disadvantaged by poor health, disability and social exclusion, including Ukrainian refugees living in the Islington and Camden areas. “I have many years of work experience in Ukraine, but it does not count in England,” one refugee says.
Another says they spend a lot of time searching for free English courses and going through a complicated process to get their diploma. “You have to study a lot to get the qualifications you already have in Ukraine. Ukrainians are hired more often for low-wage jobs,” they say.
Legal hurdles. It can be difficult to understand and navigate the legal requirements around immigration, visas and work permissions for hiring international employees. Indeed has created employer FAQs to help identify these guidelines in several countries, which have been viewed over 10,000 times by employers since the war began:
How to Hire Refugees
Consider making job descriptions accessible and inclusive. Think about only including the skills necessary to do the job. If you don’t, you risk overstacking the language requirements and eligibility criteria, which might screen out high-quality candidates.
Informed by the IRC about the importance of this issue, Indeed found more than 70,000 jobs on the platform that don’t require applicants to speak the local language and over 50,000 that offer language training to those they hire. If applicable, you may want to include support like this in your job descriptions.
Be mindful not to reject a candidate just because they seem overqualified. This has been a prevalent issue affecting refugees with extensive education. They may need to pivot to a very different kind of job than what they had in their home country, but this shouldn’t rule them out — you may get a very strong team member.
Partner with local or national organizations providing aid to refugees. Refugees are not a monolithic group. Partnering directly with organizations that work with refugees every day can help you adapt to the complexity of a given situation. Together, you might not only create a strong bond with an organization that can advise you on how to be the best employer and recruiter, but you may also increase your pipeline of potential candidates.
For example, Indeed recently partnered with the German-based organization Kiron, which provides free online courses to refugees and underserved communities. Germany has the largest refugee population in Europe, so it’s a natural location to deepen partnership with groups contributing to refugee aid.
It is also impactful to show up financially for these organizations. In addition to the contributions we made to UNHCR, IRC and several other organizations, Indeed provided a $45K donation to the Irish Refugee Council in 2022. That donation was used to assist Ukrainian and Russian-speaking refugees in accessing work papers, protection status and information on other basic needs like language classes. The funding also supported the creation of their new “Ukraine Employment Officer” role, helping Ukrainian refugees find work in Ireland. In total, one donation directly or indirectly supported 3,138 people.
Refugees at Work
Employers who use these strategies to reach refugee talent pools may be rewarded by highly resilient and adaptable workers who learn quickly. Fatehi-Weeks says this is a common observation from organizations and employers Indeed has partnered with.
In a survey conducted by Tent, 73% of U.S. employers reported higher retention rates for refugee employees than for other workers, regardless of industry. Refugees are often very loyal to that first employer who recognizes their talent, especially when that employer invests in their growth, such as providing language support or classes and skill-building opportunities.
“Ukrainians are a very hardworking [people]; everything they undertake, they do with love,” one refugee at HealthProm says. “[They’re] very responsible [and] will never leave the employer without a good reason.”
Varkhal says she was most excited about her new job because of its opportunities for development: “It’s important for me to know that I won’t just work in one place and see nothing but that.”
She also emphasizes the importance of her team welcoming her to her new job. “We noticed how they treated us kindly [and] sincerely, and openly helped during our first few days at work when [we didn’t] understand anything because [we] don’t know Polish,” Varkhal says.
Overall, embracing the diverse perspectives of refugee talent strengthens your workforce. “We believe that hiring people with different skills, languages and life experiences is an investment that will pay off in multiple ways — for the quality of work your company produces and the bottom line, but also for the strength of the communities we call home,” says Fatehi-Weeks.
Show your company’s commitment to supporting refugees by joining Indeed as a member of the Tent Partnership for Refugees. To learn more about Indeed’s response to the war in Ukraine, read this statement.
