Show Notes
According to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are approximately 548,400 refugees in the UK – yet many highly qualified, experienced people remain locked out of meaningful work. Not by ability, but by structural barriers: recruitment processes that filter out valuable candidates, unrecognised or unfamiliar qualifications, and in many cases, a basic misconception among employers about whether refugees can legally be employed at all.
Join Nigel Cassidy and this month's guests – Jenny Walton, CEO at Refugee Employment Network; Nikki von Bulow, Director of HR Consultancy Services and CIPD Trust Rebuilding Futures Mentor; and Oksana Hulyk, Legal Adviser and HR Professional – as they draw on lived and professional experience to explore how people professionals can remove these barriers and open up meaningful employment for refugee talent.
In this episode, our panel explores:
What role people professionals can play in removing barriers to refugee employment, from right-to-work misconceptions to recruitment processes that filter out valuable candidates Why supporting refugee employment is a workforce strategy, not a philanthropic gesture How to equip line managers with the skills and confidence to support refugee talent once they’re in post
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Your next listen: CIPD Podcast 226 – Closing skill gaps from within: the case for internal mobility CIPD Podcast 217 – Willing and able: Unlocking opportunities for prison leavers
More from this episode: Guide: Hiring refugees – Guide for people professionals (CIPD Trust) Case study: Rebuilding Futures and forming a friendship that goes beyond mentoring (CIPD Trust) Website: Refugee Employment Network Refugee Employment Network: Training for Employers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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