Focus group with Tuesday's Child TV production company Friday 5th September 2014

Below is information about a focus group that Transitions held on Friday 5th September with Tuesday's Child TV production company. The subject was exploring the experience of UK jobseeking professionals with refugee background. Tuesday's child are looking into making a TV programme on the subject. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION : Development of TV Programme for potential commissioning by Channel 4.

Tuesday’s Child is a TV production company founded by Karen Smith, previously BBC Creative Director   https://www.linkedin.com/pub/karen-smith/14/ab0/524  

They wished to consult a range of individuals and organisations in order to produce a TV programme, commissioned by Channel 4, to explore the topic of the very considerable challenges that jobseeking professions with refugee backgrounds face in the UK, with no statutory services for refugee orientation/settlement and a range of refugee-related issues to solve and perhaps come up with some potential solutions. They are aware that Refugees and Asylum Seekers are sometimes maligned in the press and misunderstood by the public and wish to contribute to addressing that.

They are in the process of creating a robust Factual arm, spearheaded by award-winning Executive Producer Steph Harris. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/steph-harris/6a/394/127   The Production manager is Richard Langlois  http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/richard-langlois/87/467/63

Tuesday’s Child read the article published by the Guardian Weekend magazine in March 2014:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/08/professional-refugees-lawyers-doctors-minimum-wage-uk

They want to explore your experiences and ideas, in particular around how to connect with more people and organisations in the UK, for mutual benefit. For example, the idea of a ‘Brokerage’ or ‘Alternative Job Centre’ of skills and experience offered and accepted by refugees from other individuals and organisations.    

Tuesday’s Child wished to host a focus group for around 6 Transitions candidates, as part of the consultation process for developing the programme.  Please find the Focus Group discussion points below.

In terms of data protection they would not require or release any names of participants of the focus group and would not want to film anyone. The meeting is purely for research, to hear about personal, first-hand experiences. They will use the information they learn when they go to their next meeting with the channel commissioner. They would like to take a still photograph of the members of the meeting- purely to show the commissioners when they discuss the project. Individuals could decide not to be in the photo. It would not be used for any other purpose without written permission from individuals.

If any of the focus group members were interested in being involved further, then they would start building more formal data protection and confidentiality agreements at a later date, after they have got concrete interest from the broadcasters. Both Tuesday’s Child and Channel 4 are committed to stringent data protection guidelines, so they would make certain that anything they learn from the focus group would go no further than between them and the commissioners at Channel 4.

TUESDAYS’ CHILD FOCUS GROUP WITH TRANSITIONS CANDIDATES: DISCUSSION POINTS

Tuesday’s Child Television

33 Foley St

London W1 W7Tl

0207 927 6470    

10-15 minutes walk from Oxford Circus or Goodge Street tubes http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=529152&y=181696&z=110&sv=foley+street&st=6&tl=Map+of+Foley+Street,+London,+W_1W&searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf

Friday September 5^th 2014.

10.00am – 12.00

Travel expenses provided.  Please bring receipt.   Please arrive on time.

* Your background & coming to the UK

* Your time as an asylum seeker

* How your experience has changed since being granted refugee status

* The job hunting experience

* Did you do any volunteering as an asylum seeker?

* How important is having unpaid, relevant work experience?

* The biggest challenges in their view as a refugee

* How much contact and support do you receive from other asylum seekers/refugees

* Would you consider offering some of your professional skills to assist other people in London and gain UK experience in return? Eg Accountancy, CAD design for small organisations or maths coaching for individuals.

* What would you like a programme such as the one we are proposing to achieve for asylum seekers and refugees?

* What concerns would you have about a programme such as ours?

* Would you personally consider being involved in this project if it progresses?

Economic case of Statutory Body universal employment services for new refugees.

Transitions' support for the economic case for re-instating Statutory Body Universal Employment services for new refugees. 





We would like to see the reinstatement (they were closed in 2010) of publicly funded, quality employment advice services in this country for all new refugees and we are actively engaged in collaboratively seeking to see that happen. 

We believe it is wrong in principle and also economically inefficient not to provide such statutory services to a group of people who are so clearly disadvantaged in the labour market and who have the right to work and settle here.  It is clear that current mainstream statutory employment services are not serving the needs of refugees. 

Transitions is working in this gap in statutory body provision in an extremely difficult economic and political climate and would welcome the opportunity to provide quality, not-for-profit partnership employment services for statutory bodies, in collaboration with other refugee supporting organisations.

Refugee skills in the UK jobs market

           

Last month, I wrote an article about the social enterprise Transitions and the treatment of refugees in the UK for the online paper Friend's Gazette. While I was writing, one of the things which struck me most was just how convoluted the terminology could be, for the various processes and positions which refugee professionals have to negotiate along the factory-line towards stable employment. More than once I had to double-check that I'd written it correctly, and indeed the final article had a few slip-ups in it.


Seeking employment through internship, work experience, staff volunteering or any method at all is a difficult and intimidating enough process for anybody. That's without having unfamiliar, or worse, already stigmatised terms like 'asylum seeker' and 'conditional refugee status' attached to you in any way. It seems that what these terms actually mean, and their true purpose of protecting refugees from bias is overshadowed by what employers think they mean; that refugees have some kind of 'risk factor' attached, and that employing one would be, at best, a way of ticking their CSR box for 'diversity' and at worst, an act of charity.

Whether or not new terms would actually help, however, is a different matter. It's true that there is limited widespread misunderstanding of, for instance, the difference between 'asylum seekers' and 'refugees', and it's also true that because of this, both have decidedly negative connotations in the job market, but it seems likely this is a symptom rather than a cause of the problem. Simplifying or changing the terms for shiny new ones would ultimately be futile, without seeing to the problem of how they became tarnished in the first place. The real problem it seems is simple unconscious bias, caused by the inherent suspicion we have in this country towards migrants of any sort. Just looking at the success of UKIP in the recent European elections will confirm this suspicion's prevalence in anybody's mind.


Whatever the cause of the UK job market's inhospitable attitude to refugee professionals, the problem is there, and it's never going to completely go, either. However, it seems to me that the work done by Transitions and social enterprises like it is admirable, and what's more, invaluable. Not a charity but a business, Transitions proves that business and social responsibility are completely compatible, on any scale, from small enterprises to the largest multinationals, and not only that, but of mutual benefit. By employing more refugee professionals, businesses not only reach their targets for diversity management and responsible procurement, but would also benefit from a wealth of experience and qualifications which many refugee professionals can bring to the table, if they are simply given the chance.

You can find the full article at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/221274199/FRIENDS-GAZETTE-April-edition
by Sophie Shao, guest blogger

Transitions meeting amongst candidates on international development/humanitarian relief employment.

Minutes of Refugees’ Sharing Information Meeting: Finding work in the International Development and Humanitarian Relief sector, in the UK and overseas.


Date: October 31st, 2013
Venue: At Stockwell Resource Centre, 1 Studley Road,
Stockwell
London
SW4 6RA
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 pm
Present: Abdirahman Ahmed (Human Rights law and international development), Mebrahtu Ateweberhan (Marine Biologist and conservationist, employed), Benti Debella (Agronomy and Food Security), GM (International development and interpreting, employed as interpreter), FA (Pharmaceutical scientist, background in public health/international development) Ahmedin Ali (facilitator, employed by Oxfam as Emergency Food Security and Livelihoods and Cash Transfer Team Leader, Jordan) and Sarajuddin Isar (Political Science researcher)

Minutes by: Isar

The objective of this meeting was to exchange information and views on different aspects and challenges of employment for refugee professionals in the UK job market, in the field of international development, which could help tackle these challenges and increased the chances of employability for these refugees. The meeting also aimed to learn the experience of Ahmedin Ali who has recently been successful in being employed by OXFAM.

Mr. Ahmedin Ali was kind enough to present his experience and information with regards to his recent job in OXFAM. He discussed how he managed to get the job and also touched upon some of the growing challenges of refugee professionals in the UK job market. He discussed the challenges he faced as a refugee when he started his job. He also advised that a number of strategies would be helpful in tackling some of the challenges of employability. He mentioned that establishing online network through mobile, computer and other means of communication would initially be supportive. Refugees should try to have some kind of voluntary job engagement before getting any kind of paid jobs. It would also help to seek jobs with smaller organisations first and then target the bigger names. Refugees should develop their assertiveness and be more confident in seeking more challenging jobs.

His presentation was followed by open discussions and sharing experience from all participants of the meeting. Some concerns that were raised included but not limited to:

- Highly professional refugees find it hard to get employed.
- Refugee status makes a different with respect to normal citizens and other immigrants.
- Immigrants from other countries are more easily employable than those of the professional refugees.
- Refugees are 6-8 times less employed than other segments of the population.
- Employers are often unaware about the suitability of refugee professionals for their jobs, thus often ignore them at the very first step.
- Being unemployed for a while creates a gap in career which further risks the employability of refugee professionals.

Isar proposed that in order to make much out of this meeting, it would be best if a group email network should be created. He asked that everyone at the meeting should introduce himself/herself giving some more details about their background and the kind of job they are looking for. This was because once the group is created, and once it is known who is looking for what, then any kind of job opportunity, which could potentially match the background of each group member, would be shared through the email network.

The participants then gave more details about their background and job interests. All participants were potentially strong professionals from a range of areas including research, environmental studies, humanitarian affairs, pharmacy, international development, nutrition services, law, conflict, governance, security, political economy, finance and others. It was decided that upon creation of email network, everyone should share information and job opportunities, which could be relevant to these areas mentioned.

Guide to Graduate scheme assessment centres

Your
Guide to
Assessment
Centres













What is an assessment centre?

An assessment centre is part of the application process. It is very popular with employers because they can assess many candidates at the same time and see how candidates react to real tasks.

Assessment centres may include a combination of the following:

- Psychometric tests
- Group exercises
- In-tray exercises
- Interviews
- Presentations

They may last from a few hours to two days, but you should be told in advance the types of activities you will be involved in.


What are the assessors looking for?

They are looking for people who match certain key skills and competencies, who also understand their business and who will fit into their culture.


How to prepare for an assessment centre

Research the organisation. Try to speak to people who work there – recent graduates if possible.

Research the role by reading the job description very carefully and thinking about the skills and competencies required. You will probably already have demonstrated some of these skills in your initial application. Try to contact someone doing the role you are applying for.

Another form of research is to do an internet search on the organisation and ‘assessment centre’. This may bring up a forum or comments from candidates who have recently attended. Remember, though that assessment centre tasks may change from one week to the next.









Psychometric and personality tests

Psychometric – or aptitude – tests are a way of assessing your skills in certain areas, typically, numerical, verbal reasoning and diagrammatic reasoning and data interpretation.

Remember - You cannot prepare for a personality test. Remember that there are no right or wrong answers. The tests are set to see how you will fit into the organisation.

Group exercises

Most assessment centres include one or more group exercises. These can be difficult to prepare for as you generally don’t know in advance what the group activity will involve.

Group exercises often fall into one of four main categories:

- Discuss a general topic, such as “The national speed limit on UK motorways should be higher”.
- Debate a work-related problem and come to a joint decision.
- Decide on a list of priorities such as who to rescue from a cave or desert island.
- Complete a task such as constructing a bridge out of straws and paper.

The assessors are usually assessing you against the key skills for the role, not against other members of your group. It is important to be yourself as the assessors want to see how you operate in real life situations.

If you are naturally quiet you may need to assert yourself to make your opinions heard. If you are naturally a dominant character, make sure you give others an opportunity to speak.

What to remember on the day:

✔ Listen carefully to the instructions.
✔ Don’t assume you need to win, you may need to co-operate with another group.
✔ Agree on objectives and priorities – keep these in mind.
✔ Try to use other people’s names and include quieter members of the group.
✔ Keep an eye on the time and remind your group of how long you have left.
✔ Be positive, even if the task seems trivial.
✔ Be prepared to put forward creative ideas.






Case studies, in-tray exercises and written exercises

These exercises are usually closely related to the role. They are designed to examine skills such as communication, organisational ability, problem-solving, data analysis, planning, time management and decision making. There is usually a time limit on these exercises. After the task you may be asked to discuss your decisions.

Inbox or in-tray exercises

Typically you are presented with an inbox on a laptop with 10 or more emails. You need to sort through and prioritise, then respond appropriately to those emails. You may also be given other information about the task so that you can respond to the emails appropriately.

Approach the task logically and read through all the available information before you start. Don’t worry if the subject is unfamiliar to you; the assessors are looking for your organisational and prioritising skills, as well as the way you analyse and interpret the information in front of you.

Case studies

Case studies can be used as individual and group exercises.

As an individual exercise, you may be given some time to review a case study and then either provide written answers to questions or verbal answers as part of an interview.

Watch the time and make sure you have read all the information provided. You may be allowed to make notes.

Written exercises

There are many types of written exercises so it is important to think carefully about the role and job description to determine what sort of writing will be required. It could be a press release, a webpage, an analysis of complex data, or a reply to a complaint from a customer.

In any written exercise check and double check your grammar and spelling. Use professional language and set out your writing in a clear and logical format.

How to prepare

It is difficult to prepare for these tests, unless you are told what sort of test it will be. Important things to remember are:

- Read the instructions carefully and understand the task
- Read all the information provided before you start the task
- Use a logical system for the task so the assessors can see how you work
- Check and double check for spelling and grammar when you have finished


Presentations and Interviews

You may be asked to prepare your presentation in advance and will probably be given a time frame of a few minutes to deliver it. You may be able to use visual aids such as PowerPoint, handouts or flip-charts. If it is not clear, you can ask.

To prepare your presentation, think about:

- Aim of your talk and key points to get across
- Time available
- Audience
- Resources

When writing your presentation, think about:

- Structure and content
-  Introduction – include your name and subject of presentation
- Main theme – be clear about your main points, address the audience‘s needs, use examples
- Conclusion – summarise your main points, prepare a good ending

When practising your presentation, think about:


Delivery
-  Rehearse as much as possible, and remember to time yourself
- Make eye contact with your audience
- Use prompt cards if necessary, but don’t read from a script
- Prepare a strong start and finish and remember to smile
- Think of likely questions and how to answer them

Visual aids
- Find out what is available and if there is a choice, use what you’re most comfortable with
- Make sure you know how to operate any equipment before you start
- If you use PowerPoint, bring a hard copy of your presentation in case of any technical problems
- Consider providing a handout

Interviews

There are different types of interview and you may be told in advance what to expect.


These are some of the terms used to describe different types of interview:

- Group (more than one candidate)
- Panel (more than one interviewer)
- Motivational (why that role, that organisation, that career – what motivates you)
- Competency (evidence of competencies or skills required for the role)
- Behavioural (how you would behave in certain situations)

For any interview, the key issue is PREPARATION. These are the key areas to cover:

- The role (job description)
- The organisation (look at website, but also look at news about them)
- The sector (competitors, current issues)
- The skills required (with examples for each)
- Strengths and weaknesses










FAQs

Q How can I prepare for a written test?
A Look at the job description and think about what sort of writing you will need to do. It may be reports, press releases, web pages or proofreading. You will then be able to practise that type of writing.

Q Can I use PowerPoint or props for my presentation?
A If it is not clear, you can contact the organisation and ask what facilities are available. You can also ask them if you can use your laptop, but check that there will be a projector. If you are not confident about using PCs and laptops, you can always use your own props or handouts.

Q Am I competing against all the other candidates?
A Not necessarily. They may hire all of you, or none of you. It is best to work with the other candidates so that the assessors can see how you function in a team.

Q I have been invited to an assessment centre that includes lunch. Will I be assessed over lunch?
A Assume that you will be and be on your best behaviour at all times during the day!

Q Will I get feedback if I am not successful?
A If you do not receive feedback on the day, you should ask as soon as you hear that you are not successful. After all, the assessors have taken notes of your performance.

Q What are the competencies I need to demonstrate?
A The competencies should be clear from the job description or from the employer’s website. If they are not clear, check at the Careers Centre.

Q Can I prepare for the social event?
A Not specifically, but you could watch the news and read newspapers in the week before so that you can talk about current events. Be sure to be aware of any recent new stories that may affect that organisation, or industry sector.









Top Tips for Success

1. Prepare for an assessment centre by researching the role, the organisation and the sector.

2. Prepare specific examples of the required skills and competencies, using the STAR model (Situation, Task, Action, and Result).

3. Remember that all tasks will be designed to assess you against the competencies.

4. Engage with the staff and other candidates from the minute you   walk through the door.

5. Try to use other people’s names.

6. Check and double check any written tests.

7. Remember that you are not usually competing against other candidates – but working with them.

8. Act naturally and be yourself.

George Osborne's Elephants in the room..

George Osborne talked today about Jobcentre Plus customers being 'incentivised' by the  benefits system not to work.

We agree that longterm unemployment must be addressed.

So do our clients.

We agree that wasting money on the benefits system is not good.

So do our clients.

For our clients, desperately seeking work, George Osborne's ideas are simplistic,  insulting and unfair.


Here are 2 elephants I spy in Mr Osborne's room..   I like elephants. Let's talk about them.



1. The expensive crisis in Jobcentre Plus, who are overworked and who we are not trying to unjustly criticise.  But our client feedback is consistently that Jobcentre Plus and its Work Programme providers are not providing services to them that are fit for purpose and are effectively keeping customers away from finding work....    That costs money.

These low quality services are costing the tax payer huge sums of money.

Our candidates consistently tell us about being prevented from taking up work experience that they need, being sent to the same, simplistic workshops time after time, being prevented from participating in other, better, services and not being advised on how to effectively jobsearch, with their overseas qualifications, overseas experience and CV gaps - some of the issues they face.

2. The economy.  Where are all these jobs that all these people are choosing not to apply for?  Surely Mr Osborne has noticed there is a market problem?


Here are some suggestions to save money and to assist more people out of unemployment: 

1. Save money on the Work Programme. How?  Invest in quality services and monitor them for quality. For quality services and quality job outcomes. Not longterm inactivity.

JCP and their Providers are are not required to operate under Employment Services Quality Standards systems such as Matrix.

Providers' financial clout means that they can afford to take on the 'payment by result' deal on offer.

This prevents less wealthy but quality, specialist employment services from participating.  Investment in specialist employment services especially for highly disadvantaged customers results in suitable employment outcomes.  Not longterm unemployment.    Recently, quality services like EcoActive in south London have had to close not because they weren't effective but because the money was with the Prime Provider and not with them..

This is not acceptable. For jobseekers or for taxpayers.

 2. Train all employment advisers in any organisation, including Jobcentre Plus and Work Programme providers, who  come in contact with jobseekers to at least NVQ4 level in Advice.  It is not a job that anyone can do without training.  Investing in training staff saves money by increasing job outcomes.



3. Continue to encourage good employers to use quality, diversity-focussed  recruitment methods and  to monitor them.


In an established democracy such as ours let's have a more informed debate on this.  

Congratulations again to National Grid. Where are the other corporates who can match them?

Corporates,  CSR and Recruitment 

I'm going to congratulate National Grid once again.  They have shown us that they get the business case for applying both equalities and competencies to recruitment - in order to find the best candidates.

A quick look at their website tells you that they value the business merits of attracting candidates from every background - and putting some effort into finding those candidates.

Jobcrowd like them.  

http://www.thejobcrowd.com/employer/national-grid/profile

We like them. 


Where are all the others??  Having trouble finding them....  The trend seems to be for corporates to use  narrower and narrower ways of attracting candidates and relying on simply inviting everyone to apply without addressing the reasons why some great candidates don't get past the first post...

Disagree? Want to know more about us?   Contact us and let's talk.


Sheila. Managing Director.

Transitions good practice in internships: to pay or not to pay.

Overview of Transitions’ good practice model of Internships and recruitment.

Thank you for your interest in Transitions. Our employer and internship clients understand the bottom line value of good diversity management and we’re delighted that you want to know more. 

The Transitions internships and recruitment programme is a partnership between Transitions, its candidates and good employers who wish to widen their pool of strong job applicants. Via Transitions, they can access the extensive skills of refugee professionals and enable the competitive jobs market to work more efficiently and fairly regarding refugee applications. Without that, refugees cannot compete. 

Including Transitions social enterprise in the competitive recruitment process to fill any post is, of course, optional. If a Transitions intern or other Transitions candidate is successfully selected for a post, recruitment fees start at a highly competitive one-off 5% and are never more than 15%.  This funds Transitions’ intensive employment support services to our candidates. Our Internships service has no fee. We do not charge our candidates anything at any point. We take the financial risk because we believe in our candidates and in the potential for the jobs market to respond better. 

Refugees in the UK are 6 times less likely to be in employment than the UK average, even though c 25% of them are highly skilled, multilingual, experienced & all have full permission to work, with no visa requirement. 

Barriers in the skilled jobs market for Professionals with refugee background. 

• ¬ Misinformation in the market about refugees’ right to work
• ¬ Negative media images and assumptions have become mainstreamed
• ¬ Miscommunications on qualifications requirements and equivalence of overseas qualifications and experience  
• ¬ Both early career and established career applications from refugees often rejected at initial application. Often ill-informed assumptions made by employers on suitability.  Refugees’ applications often not well presented due to lack of access to UK careers advice.   
• ¬ Need for UK professional work references and recent relevant experience: many experienced professionals with a refugee background have gaps of several years in their CV where they may have been persecuted, imprisoned and/or had to wait for the Home Office to make its decision.
• ¬ Mutual miscommunications both by employers and by refugee professionals on mutual expectations on how the UK jobs market and organisational cultures work.
• ¬ Almost no statutory support for jobseeking refugees. Jobcentre Plus categorises refugees as ‘mainstream’ customers with no specific support provided as statutory. This usually lengthens the unemployment period for highly skilled refugees and creates a Catch 22 situation of ‘no UK reference’ = ‘no job’ = ‘no UK reference’.  Refugee professionals generally require fast, informed careers support, with access to professional work experience in order to find employment. 
• ¬ Effects of Trauma from having been persecuted and forced out of their job and country
• ¬ Poverty after a period of asylum, where they have had no permission to work and no recourse to public funds while they wait for their case to be heard. This means they often do not have good ICT access, cannot buy expensive textbooks or easily pay professional body fees. 
• ¬ Housing is often a major issue for a long time for refugees.  Individuals and families often remain in temporary housing for months or years. 
• ¬ Family reunion is very difficult to manage. There is no specific funding or support.
• ¬ English language. All Transitions candidates are highly educated, have advanced English skills and most are multilingual, but many other refugees are not. 

Transitions’ programme is underpinned by good practice, as recommended in the Volunteering England guide to internships, 2010:

http://www.volunteering-ni.org/fs/doc/civic-engagement/internships-explained-volunteering-england.pdf

We also support the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) recommendation that internships receive an internship allowance, in the way that apprenticeships do. 

You may wish to match the allowance to the London Living Wage (£8.30 per hour) or the Minimum Wage (£6.08) 

(http://www.cipd.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/5A28F718CC394B9597BCB0C93123BF8D/0/5258_Internships_report1.pdf  However, in the UK internships may be unpaid and only receive an allowance for travel and meals. 

All our candidates are already professionally qualified (often with both overseas and UK University qualifications) and usually already have extensive overseas experience. They are all professionals who have fled persecution overseas & been afforded protection by the UK as refugees. They all have full permission to either work or volunteer in the UK. What they wish to acquire via an internship is UK professional orientation and targeted experience in order to add this to their international profile and enhance their competitiveness in the UK jobs market in their field of work. Without such initiatives, in spite of their professional background, most refugee professionals cannot compete in the UK market, either for internships or for work and stay out of work. This is a loss to ‘UK plc’ and, of course, to them. It is also avoidable. We provide specialist, quality ‘effective jobsearch’ 1-1 and group support and this internship partnership programme. It works. Our partner employers co-design with us part-time professional experience programmes of 3-6 months in length. The organisation accesses the extensive skills of our intern candidates, in return for a structured & supervised internship, which enhances the interns’ competitiveness in the jobs market. 

The structure of an internship 

       We liaise with organisations to jointly provide our interns with:

• ¬ A structured internship role description (which may be adapted as the internship progresses) Pls see  example below. 

• ¬ Clear supervision

• ¬ Time to reflect and study as well as gain professional orientation and experience

• ¬ Monthly joint reviews with Transitions

• ¬ Ongoing APEL Portfolio building with Transitions (record of accredited and experiential learning) 

• ¬ Targetted Jobsearch support with Transitions 

EXAMPLE Voluntary International Development GIS Mapping Internship Role Description

 Main Intern Tasks 

• • Convert available and useful datasets into an accessible and structured format. The data is arranged around geographic standards like post codes, LSOA (Lower Super Output Area) or perhaps other geographic standards like GPS coordinates
• • Develop and expand on our options for data summarising, manipulation and viewing. Currently we are looking to exploit mapping solutions to provide data to users in the most accessible format
• • Assist with standardising UK geographic data and assist with the implementation of this data
• • Spend agreed time in the office reflecting and self-assessing on this experience, using a professional development portfolio, for use in effective Jobsearch, supported by superviser and by Transitions 
• • Spend agreed time in the office researching the UK jobs market and receiving Jobsearch advice and networking support from colleagues

Example Internship Person Specification

Role Title : Geographical Information Modeller – Intern
Qualifications / Training	• Degree or relevant experience in International Development or related area
Experience / Knowledge / Technical Skills	• Experience of researching and managing data, ideally data relating to issues around International Development & Disaster management  • IT skills and a good understanding of basic databases and their uses.  • Experience of or interest in learning use of geographic tools such as GIS software and KML files. • Experience or interest in open source and online visual / map analysis tools and online content development. -  Valuable but not required
Personal Skills	• Good interpersonal and communication skills. • Receptive to new ideas and a willingness to accept change. • Ability to work as part of a team and as an individual.
Career Development	• Desire to self-assess & receive supervisory feedback on employability in chosen career, with support of Transitions  • Willingness to develop a career development portfolio and Jobsearch during internship, with support of Transitions and superviser

Transitions Advisory Network meeting 29 June 2012 on transferability of overseas qualification and experience

Thank you for coming to this page. If you are any participant at all in the UK graduate jobs market please blog your comments and experiences of assessing overseas qualifications and experience.


Transitions is delighted that organisations such as UK Naric, the IET & IMeche and CIWEM engineering professional bodies and National Grid all participated in this meeting on 29th June 2012 and - most importantly - all told us that it is plainly within their business interests to engage with Transitions in order to more easily assess candidates' applications for professional assessment. Transitions is delighted to offer that facilitating service. Please read on for the summary of this very interesting meeting and thank you again to all participants.

  

Minutes for Transitions Stakeholders’ Advisory Network meeting #5

Theme: Transferring overseas qualifications and experience: Engineering 

Date: Friday 29^th June 2012  Time: 2.00 – 5.00

Venue: Stockwell Community Resource Centre, SW4 6RA  http://www.stockwellcommunity.com/content/view/90/124/

Present & Apologies: 19 colleagues present. 19 colleagues requested minutes. 

NAME	(A-Z)	ORGANISATION/Role
Sanjay	Aggarwal	Managing Director TLM Search Recruitment Ltd
H	A	Mechanical Engineer, Transitions candidate
Dick	Bacon	Professional Development Manager, IET Engineering Professional Body
Bassam	Bashir	Mechanical Engineer, Transitions candidate   (Speaker)
Karen	Bayless	Senior Manager of the Membership and Professional Development department at IMechE
Saffa	Gabber	Civil Engineer, Transitions candidate
Iyob	Ghebrekristos	Electrical Engineer, Transitions client
Sharon	Goymer	National Grid Graduate Resourcing Manager
F	H	Telecommunications Engineer, Transitions candidate
Sheila	Heard	Transitions Managing Director
Paul	Horton	CIWEM Professional Body, Director of Membership and International Affairs
Indira	Kartallozi	CARIS Haringey Senior Adviser
Hayatullah	Khan	Civil Engineer, Transitions candidate
Katherine	Latta	UK NARIC, Head of European Programmes   (Speaker)
Beryl	Randall	Director, Employability Forum
Andrea	Rannard	Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Volunteer Engagement Manager
Jeanita	Snowden (or Richard Breedt)	Cardinal Hume Centre, Adviser
Mudher	Takhialdeen	Electrical Engineer, Transitions candidate
Rosemary	Ward	Metropolitan Housing

Apologies (A-Z)

Khalil	Ayub	Campus Futures Graduate Recruitment, Managing Director
Ian	Basset	Deputy Director, NARIC   (Speaker)
Andrew	Braye	Finance Manager, British Red Cross
Justin	Brett	Transitions Director/ Circle Housing Employment Adviser
Yvette	Giles	HR Officer, ODI
Andy	Gregg	Refugee services consultant
Biniam	Haddish	Electrical/Electronics Engineer, working for national grid. Recruited via Transitions
Mulugeta	Hagos	Sanitation Engineer/Water Chemist, Transitions client
Arash	Hesami	ICT Engineer, Transitions candidate
Heather	Knight	Kingston Refugee Action
Alastair	Lomas	CARA UK Programme Assistant
Shelley	Partridge	RAGU
Gill	Price	International Programmes Director, RedR
Veerinder	Puri	HR Director, ODI
Alex	Robertson	Crossrail Job Brokerage Consultant
Ben	Rosen	CES Inspiring Interns
Louise	Salmon	Refugee Health Professionals programme manager, RAGU, London Metropolitan University
Isar	Sarajudding	Transitions steering group member, political scientist, Transitions candidate
Katy	Turff	Head of International, Engineering Council
Sara	Wickert	Migrants Resource Centre, External Projects Co-ordinator

1) Welcome and introductions.

Short powerpoint presentation by Transitions on objectives/structure/outcomes todate of Transitions and the Stakeholders’ Advisory Network. Highlighting small numbers of refugees in UK and that Refugee Status dates back to the 1951 UN Convention on refugees, has saved millions of lives and no country has ever withdrawn from it.  

The key question for the meeting was: What are connections between the systems of assessing overseas qualifications and experience and the extremely high unemployment rates in the UK of experienced graduate engineers with refugee background? Many engineering employers are experiencing staff shortages while engineers in this group remain unemployed.

2) Presentations by

Mechanical Engineer from Iraq, Bassam Bashir.

13 years’ Graduate experience in major companies in Iraq as an engineer. Specialism in air conditioning.

·       NARIC opinion of Degree: Diploma of Higher Education

·       3 years with no Home Office decision, during which time not allowed to work

·       2011 given permission to work

·       Employers appear to see him as either over- experienced for posts or under-qualified 

·       UK Work experience would assist employers to understand and value his profile more

·       Not yet member of IET; unsure if he would be rejected for above reasons.  

Questions/Comments

Discussion around whether it was more/less difficult to find employment with refugee status than overseas students or other graduates. Refugees do not require a visa. They experience a wide range of other difficulties, most of which are founded on avoidable mutual miscommunications between employers, professional bodies and other stakeholders. Refugees often highly uninformed on how the system works in the UK graduate jobs market. Employers & professional bodies often highly uninformed on the difficulties described by the speaker. 

Refugee Health professionals who have been forced out of their countries by persecution have a more obvious ‘pathway’ to assessment and employment than other professionals who have also been persecuted.  Engineers very exposed to an open market that they are not familiar with. Not competing on a level playing field.

Suggestion that refugee engineers should go to their Professional Body local branch meetings more and ensure that employers/colleagues know they are there and looking for job opportunities to apply for. Meetings are advertised on the professional body websites and may be free.

Discussion around attitude /conflict of interest for recruitment companies, whose main aim is financial and would rarely put a refugee engineer forward over a more competitive ‘mainstream’ candidate. Refugee engineers with no UK experience are very rarely selected for interview. 

This is common for applicants who apply directly to employers as well.

Mainstream misinformation that refugees do not have permission to work  - which is wrong.

Some asylum seekers also have permission to work.

UK NARIC, Katherine Latta, Head of European Programmes (kindly standing in for Ian Bassett, Deputy Director who was ill). 

·      UK Naric licensed to provide an informed opinion to range of stakeholders, including Universities, employers, professional bodies and individuals

·      Around 10 staff carry out assessments

·      Recognised institutions in each country

·      Many factors involved in the evaluation, including entry requirements, duration, content, structure, date of qualification, learning outcomes, teaching/learning methodology, like-for-likeness of modules, grading schemes, quality assurance

·      The assessment is an average and is not about individual institutions

·      For assessment, original documents in the original language are required

Most UK colleges and careers services have UK Naric subscriptions and can offer free information from the UK Naric database to their students/enquirers.

Questions/Comments

Discussion about the criteria used by UK Naric and request for the criteria to be made available.

Discussion about the UK Naric opinion being a powerful opinion and sometimes not clear that it is an opinion that is optional for institutions to use or not.

For refugee teachers, engineers and other professionals can be a great source of problems when looking for work or further study – without an assessment of experiential learning to balance any low UK Naric opinion.

Question about whether UK Naric takes into consideration published work by experienced professionals/ academics.  That should be at least made clear on CV and application forms.

Payment – opinion available free from careers services who have a UK naric subscription.

Discussion that UK Naric’s view is only one part of someone’s profile that they present to employers and professional bodies and Colleges.   Employers are not assessing applicants against Chartered Status. They are assessing against Job Descriptions/Person Specifications. The key is mutual communication. Also to clearly present added value that an experienced professional from overseas presents to a UK employer.

3) Small group notes: (4 groups)  Questions:

What are the main issues keeping employers and professionals who are refugees apart? What are some reasons for those issues existing? What can be done?

Key written points recorded by small groups:

·      Rights Many employers and particularly recruitment agencies are under-informed about the legal and skills status of refugees in the jobs market. Many believe that refugees may not work or require complicated visa applications, which is not the case. Refugees do not require a visa and already have a national insurance number.

·      Assessment systems Many organisations have systems for assessing overseas qualifications or experience that disadvantage experienced overseas professionals who are forced to come to the UK, with no professional contacts. This especially affects mid-career professionals, who have not yet had the opportunity to gain UK experience. This eventually drives them out of the market.

·      Presentation Many refugee candidates do not effectively present their overseas qualifications and experience to UK organisations in ways that those organisations can easily access. Most refugee professionals  are not familiar with UK employer/assessment expectations to present information in terms of competencies, especially soft competencies,  and are more used to presenting qualifications and length of service.   

·      Pathways There are no clear pathways for experienced overseas professionals to re-start work in the UK. Many experienced professionals re-qualify and still face unemployment.  They miscommunicate with their  professional body and are usually not selected for jobs, as either being non-UK experienced or over/under skilled.

·      Market Awareness Most employers are unaware that this is happening and that there is a pool of refugee professional applicants being turned away by most employers.  They believe that inviting all applicants to apply is adequate in terms of finding staff fairly. Virtually no employers include refugees in equalities systems developed to ensure that they fairly enable people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups to compete for jobs, such as the double tick system or work experience programmes. Refugees are not seen as facing specific barriers.  Refugee applications are rarely monitored.

·      Catch 22 situation of often having a career gap because of having to flee from overseas. Gap makes finding a job more difficult and increases the gap…

·      Government services The Coalition Government has closed all statutory employment services for refugees in the UK, including those in Jobcentre Plus. Refugees are not protected under the Equalities Act 2010 and they are required to negotiate the jobs market without statutory help and are mainstream customers of Jobcentre Plus, with no specific assistance. 7 out of 10 are unemployed. Regardless of skill level.   

·      Government services Pressure from Jobcentree Plus to intensively jobsearch to find any skill level jobs, where they are mostly seen as over-qualified and under-experienced and rarely selected. Highly distressing and stressful.  Jobcentre Plus colleagues often continue to be confused about the right to volunteer of jobcentre plus customers. 

·      Financial barriers of applying for UK Naric opinion and Professional Body services.

·      Work experience hugely assists employers to recognise skills and assists refugees to compete in the jobs market.

·      Mutual adaptation/enhancing diversity  Some issues are mutual cross- cultural assumptions and miscommunications. Work experience greatly assists with both demonstrating technical skills and cross-cultural /diversity adaptation of candidates and employers.  (Note from Transitions: Most Transitions’ work experience placements result in employment.)

·      Recession

Written actions recommended by small groups    

·      Rights Organisations can ensure staff are informed of refugee employment rights.  Organisations can state that they welcome the applications of refugees.

·      Assessment systems  & Pathways Adopting enhanced/alternative methods for demonstrating and verifying overseas qualifications and experience that link UK Naric and Professional Bodies and employers more effectively/easily. NB Mid career professionals. UK Work experience key to this.    

·      Collaboration Employers and Professional bodies to consider liaising with refugee supporting organisations such as Transitions to assist in this process, for mutual benefit. Collaborative publicity campaign to allow the labour market to access the skills of refugee professionals.

·      Information Organisations to consider offering information and advice workshops to groups of refugee professionals

·      Government services to the jobs market Collaborative lobbying for Coalition to reinstate some statutory employment services for refugees on behalf of employers and other labour market organisations.

Round discussion

Work experience a highly effective way of addressing/enhancing diversity management skills in organisations/recruiting from this group without shortcutting rigorous competitive recruitment systems. Work experience candidates apply for advertised jobs and can compete more effectively in that open market.

Need for flexibility by all.

Government refugee policy appears to be targeted at reducing asylum applicants by making the experience extremely difficult. This causes great difficulties for those who are given refugee status and trying to rebuild their careers and lives.

Professional bodies have range of essential services to assist, many are free online: jobs boards, sector information, advice, route to Chartered status.  Most refugees currently reluctant to engage and doubtful of success.

Many refugees have limited access to computers and finance.