Announcement
IRC employment program participants partake in a speed networking event at Starbucks HQ.
Photo: IRC
Many newcomers arrive in the U.S. with a wealth of professional skills and experience, but starting one’s career over again in a new country can be a long, overwhelming process. Career Connect is a new IRC program helping refugees take steps toward re-entering professions they were forced to leave behind. Many roadblocks exist and it can be difficult to know where to start. Career Connect is designed to help clearly define each step clients may take to achieve their individual career goals.
Career Connect is an intensive six-week program. Participants commit to attending three workshops, as well as additional off-site homework. The workshops are each three hours long and are facilitated by guest speakers who cover a variety of professional development topics, such as managing culture shock in the workplace, how to identify strengths and weakness, and verbal and written professional communication skills.
Each Career Connect participant is also paired with a volunteer mentor who shares their field of interest. Participants and mentors meet one-on-one several times over the course of the program, helping to provide individualized support and networking opportunities.
Two pilot cohorts – a total of 21 participants – have now completed the Career Connect curricula. Participants come from a range of career backgrounds, including technology, business, healthcare, engineering, the arts, and more. Most of the participants arrived in the U.S. just within the last year. While all are employed, participants expressed that they are not working in jobs related to their career backgrounds and aim to eventually move into more professional and rewarding jobs.
Minoo is a refugee from Iran and one of the only woman participants in the first Career Connect cohort. She was resettled in the Seattle area earlier this year from Turkey. Her mentor, April, currently works in the medical field and formerly worked as a State Refugee Health Coordinator. April was excited to contribute her unique experience to this new program: “Because of my previous job, I know how important career development is for refugees and I felt it was a great opportunity to meet somebody and to get to work with IRC.”
Career Connect was Minoo’s first time having a mentor and says it has been incredibly helpful. She has aspirations to become a dental hygienist and April has been helping her figure out the next steps to take. Minoo expressed, “Career Connect helped me understand how I can keep a job”. She continued to explain that Career Connect has helped her learn how to get along with people and how to contact people. She found the presentation on body language and verbal and written communication to be the most helpful to her. “Now we can find a job, and keep that job.”
Minoo and other Career Connect participants leave the program with a better understanding of professional culture and norms in the U.S. and in their fields, in particular, as well as a clear pathway to achieving their career goals. Working with a mentor also opens up new networking and interview opportunities to participants.
The IRC is currently seeking resources to expand the Career Connect program to help more newly-resettled refugees identify pathways to achieve their goals. We are excited to follow the professional journeys of Career Connect graduates and see what the future holds for these ambitious newcomers.