A jobs fair for refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced people marked a Scottish first for Aberdeen.
More than 220 New Scots attended the ABZWorks and Refugee Employment Network (REN) jobs fair, which was delivered in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and supported by EY and Skills Development Scotland.
Although REN had previously run events in England, this was the first partnership of its kind in Scotland, and proved to be so successful that the ABZWorks team has been asked to advise on delivery of future REN jobs fairs for
Refugees, displaced people and asylum seekers were supported by employability keyworkers and a team of 23 interpreters fluent in Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, Pashto and Farsi. A creche was available for attendees with young children to ensure that parents could participate.
All had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with employers offering live vacancies in a variety of sectors including energy, security, hospitality, retail, construction, and health and social care.
The 30 exhibitors included: Thistle Seafoods, Aberdeen City Council, Skyform, M&S, Leonardo Hotels, Greeneking and NHS Grampian, as well as support agencies, educational establishments, and partner organisations.
An exit survey revealed that more than 95% of attendees found the event useful and over 80% were able to speak to employers in their field of interest.
The survey showed that the main barrier to employment faced by attendees is language, along with lack of experience and differing qualifications from overseas.
Positive feedback was also received from exhibitors with one saying “The event was very well organised and a lot of thought had gone into it. We found that we had many suitable candidates come speak to us, who were very engaged and interested in our roles. Overall we thoroughly enjoyed the event, meeting organisers, partners and candidates and it was definitely a success for us.”
Here at ABZWorks we’re really pleased with the feedback we received, and we are planning to run similar events in the future. This was our first time working with REN on one of their events and we would love to work with them again The jobs fair was such a success that REN has asked ABZWorks to advise on the delivery of future events in other cities.
To find out more about the Refugee Employment Network and the support they provide visit – https://refugeeemploymentnetwork.co.uk/
Picture – Representatives from the event partners: ABZWorks, REN, EY, DWP, and SDS.
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