Helping young refugees into employment

During Refugee Week ACH ran an innovative new programme with UK Youth and Starbucks to get young refugees work ready. Together we ran a 1 week Youth Action course for 16-25 year old refugees, providing these young people with the opportunity to learn life skills through employability training. The week-long programme focused on personal development, including raising confidence and aspirations.

It also included information on the UK jobs market, and workshops which foster communication, resilience and intercultural competencies, offering participants the knowledge, skills and attitudes that would serve them in any future context. Though basic knowledge of English was required to take part, the course is designed to be as experiential as possible and thus accessible to those with varying language abilities. 

On the final day of the course, Starbucks held mock interviews with the young learners. This programme was designed to align with our #rethinkingrefugee approach, which encourages employers to focus on candidate competencies to find the right employee and rely on more than just CVs.

Julia Palmer, Career Advice and Employment Manager at ACH said: “We’re proud to partner with UK Youth and utilise our expertise to adapt the Youth Action programme. Through the programme, we hope to get more employers #rethinkingrefugee and better support the young refugees in Bristol to engage with employment.”

If you are an employer and would like to find out more about working with us, please contact holly.fowden@ach.org.uk or visit https://www.ach.org.uk/businesses