Refugees trained in job readiness are standouts at Oregon companies
Morning after morning, the young man from the Central African Republic pedaled his bicycle through Portland’s pre-dawn streets. He wasn’t taking any chances on being late – not for this opportunity.
This kind of dedication is what Oregon employers are discovering as they tap into an unexpected source of talent — refugee workers.
It’s become a win-win.
Refugees being resettled by Catholic Charities of Oregon need work. And local industry needs workers. Catholic Charities ensures clients are authorized to work in the U.S., and have the necessary documentation to show, before connecting them with local employers. This gives employers access to job seekers who are verified, vetted and prepared for the workforce.
Early this year, Catholic Charities began offering job readiness training to refugees and found placements in hotels, grocery stores, warehouses and other businesses.
“At first, I would spend hours searching and applying for jobs that clients may never get interviewed for. Having direct connection with employers made jobs and the hiring process more accessible to refugees,” says Fiori Redie, Employment Support Specialist at Catholic Charities.
Employment partners include Hyatt Hotel, Embassy Suites, Bob’s Red Mill, the Multnomah Athletic Club, The Nines Hotel, Signature Graphics, Relay Resources, The Tao of Tea, William Sonoma, La Crosse Footwear, Fed Ex and more.
Kimberly Reed works in human resources at Embassy Suites near Portland’s airport. After hesitating, she has been thrilled with the partnership with Catholic Charities.
One of the agency’s refugee clients started there as a housekeeper with limited English and now is a supervisor in the department. He has recruited dozens more refugees to join the staff. Their home nations include Eritrea, Malaysia and the Central African Republic.
“I was nervous at first,” said Reed. “No English? How to make it work? It’s a busy hotel. We’re often sold out. Not a lot of room for error.”
Catholic Charities staff convinced Reed that refugees, with training, can become superb workers who show up every day and who are grateful for the opportunity. All have enrolled in school and are learning to speak and write English. Reed chokes up when she talks about them.
“I have watched this young man become what he is today,” says Reed. “He is now a leader. These people have impacted my life. They have taught me about patience and a higher level of understanding.”
“They are so eager to learn and are willing to go the extra mile,” she says. “It takes time, but they are successful.”
The refugee who became a supervisor earned his driver’s license, bought a car, got an apartment and even became a U.S. citizen. He’s working to bring his wife and children to the U.S.
“I have watched this young man become what he is today,” says Reed. “He is now a leader. These people have impacted my life. They have taught me about patience and a higher level of understanding.”
Redie says that most refugees show keen enthusiasm to work, especially those who spent years, sometimes more than a decade, in refugee camps. They are eager to have the chance to earn income to support their families. She recalls the young man who was so excited for the opportunity to work that he cycled for an hour and got to his workplace an hour early. Many others walk, take public transport or rely on friends to give them rides to work.
All Catholic Charities’ refugee services are interconnected: airport pickup, housing placement, food, school enrollment, cultural orientation, government benefit signup and employment.
Catholic Charities caseworkers help refugees overcome barriers to jobs such as a lack of acceptance of overseas degrees, disregard for work experiences in other countries, and varying levels of English literacy.
Mobile phones supported by the Light the World Giving Machine last year help refugees translate conversations, stay in touch with prospective employers and find their way to interviews. The Giving Machine is an initiative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In addition to ESL classes offered in conjunction with Goodwill Industries, Catholic Charities offers the job readiness trainings in the Catholic Charities classrooms, just up the steps from where refugees meet their caseworkers.
There, Redie coaches refugees on employment skills such as resume creation, job applications, interview answers, workplace expectations, and analysis of paystubs and taxes. She conducts mock interviews.
The room is half full of whispering language interpreters speaking Spanish, French, Swahili, Pashto, Dari and other tongues.
The job readiness trainings, funded in part by the Oregon Department of Human Services, are an element of the comprehensive assistance Catholic Charities provides to facilitate refugees’ self-sufficiency.
Refugees come with many different backgrounds: journalists, lawyers, barbers, laborers, health workers, business owners.
Redie interviews each carefully to get a sense of work experience and goals. The aim is to help clients get jobs quickly and become self-sufficient. If possible, she helps clients return to their original field of work.
But with the language and education challenges they face in the U.S., most at first find work in the service industry. They are not picky.
“They want a job,” says Redie. “They want to pay their bills.”
Catholic Charities staff advocate for their clients who apply for jobs, making sure employers know the applicant’s stellar qualities.
“That way, the application is not overlooked,” says Redie.
Some local businesses take full advantage of the partnership with Catholic Charities.
The Hyatt Hotel near the Portland Convention Center is not only hiring refugees to do the usual hotel work but assigns some employees to train and mentor their peers.
Hyatt has done a lot to make refugee hires a success. The company adjusted schedules and workloads and even brought in interpreters for hiring fairs. Hyatt has provided detailed work instructions in a panoply of languages.
Redie is exploring more employer relationships at places like Oregon Health and Science University. She knows some may balk at the prospect of refugee workers and the extra training it might take at the start.
She tells them this: “If you want employees who are productive and will stay in the job and will do anything to keep the job, you need to invest something at the beginning.”
And many employers respond to the bigger values at play.
“They know that what they are doing is creating an opportunity for someone to have a second chance, a chance to start from scratch and build a future,” Redie says.
She knows what she’s talking about. An immigrant from Eritrea in East Africa, Redie was a respected high school teacher back home. But when she immigrated to the U.S. and landed in Oregon, her first job was at Goodwill.
For that new start, she will always be grateful.