Overseas experience is often seen as positive by employers, even for people with most of their education and work history in Australia. It’s often a different story for refugees. According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, only about a quarter of refugees find work in their first two years in Australia.
It’s a problem that a recently launched digital skills training program for refugees is tackling. Over the next 18 months, the five-month program will develop skills and find job opportunities for at least 65 participants. It will also play a part in eliminating the shortage of workers in IT roles.
Shahad Almajidi (right) with Sarmad Sako, who is also participating in the program.
Each organization will offer the benefits of its expertise or network: ServiceNow leads eight weeks of technical training and accreditation, Community Corporate provides soft skills training, and 12-week work placements in Woolworths or Accenture help participants gain valuable local experience.
“This program helps unlock this untapped talent pool and address the huge need we see among our customers and partners for tech talent,” said Eric Swift, vice president and managing director for in ServiceNow Australia and New Zealand.
For Shahad Almajidi, a refugee from Southern Iraq, programs like this are key to cracking tech jobs in Australia. Since arriving in Australia in 2019, he has taken a year of intensive study in English, completing courses at TAFE NSW in information technology and, more recently, web development. He also actively takes up opportunities provided through the Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre. It was not easy.
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“I applied for many IT or web development jobs, but never heard back from a single one,” he said. “I thought my Cert 3 and diploma would help, but almost all the tech jobs I looked at asked for a bachelor’s degree or wanted experience working in tech.”
After recently completing skills training, Almajidi began his work placement at Woolworths. The opportunity to use his newly developed IT skills made him feel positive: “I learned a lot and met so many amazing people. I feel it helped me create a great network of people like me, who face the same challenges, and also want to work in the technology industry,” he said.
Almajidi’s story will probably be familiar to Harriet Pope, project manager of Ikea’s Skills for Employment program. As part of Ikea’s global commitment to support 2500 refugees and asylum seekers with job skills, Pope is working on a similar project at Community Corporate, albeit in a different industry. IKEA has so far provided paid work placements for 100 refugees in customer-facing roles in its Australian stores.