Enable’s Refugee Employment Support team, RES, has been steadily growing since October 2022 following its successful launch in the Shrewsbury area. The team has been formed to support individuals who have been relocated to Shropshire due to the conflict in the Ukraine, and is proud to work in partnership with organisations including Shropshire Supports Refugees and Job Centre Plus to help the client group progress into meaningful, sustained employment, education and training opportunities.

Accessing the service is easy from our online enquiry form. On completion of the form a detailed welcome pack will be sent with immediate access to our support.

We welcome self-referrals from Ukrainian refugees or anyone who is currently hosting a Ukrainian refugee who would like further support. So far we've engaged with 60 Ukrainian nationals resettling in the county. As of January 2023, 27% of our clients have secured an outcome to include paid employment, volunteering, work experience or training courses. Most have chosen to remain in contact with the team for continued support.

RES provides a wide range of bespoke and targeted support to its client base, including CVs, application support, job search, interviews skills, travel to interviews and careers advice. This support targets individuals:

• Seeking employment - creating a vocational profile and action plan, supporting with CVs, getting to know the individual and their aspirations, job matching, job searching, interview support and on-the-job support if needed
• To access the right training and education to support their future aspirations
• In the provision of employment-related conversation classes
• Who may want to start their journey with volunteering, seeking opportunities that meet their aspirations
• In pre-employment support, where they'd like to progress in the direction of work. This support could be a group training session or via 1:1 or via workshops such as confidence building, money management, CV writing, job application skills, interview skills, access to support services and peer networks, digital skills plus many more created or adapted to meet client need
• Requiring travel training enabling them to learn local transport routes to help them commute in Shropshire, often challenging in a rural county
• Who are currently in a job but may need support to retain their employment for a variety of reasons 

We also work with employers to help them fill vacancies and support them to offer suitable and sustainable employment to Ukrainian refugees who have a wealth of experience and talent to offer local businesses.

The most popular of our events are our bespoke job clubs, tailored to the qualifications and experience of the participants, helping them to convert qualifications. While we endeavour to have an interpreter available for all provision, we have adapted our delivery to use of simultaneous translation in presentations and training – allowing us to share information quickly with within groups in-person and online. We're also developing training videos so that participants can access training whenever they choose.

Our ESOL cafes were introduced in December 2022 as a direct request from clients who wanted more opportunity to practice their business English and simulate conversations that may occur around the recruitment process or in the workplace once in employment. Groups of 3-7 clients meet once a week to run through a syllabus of employability topics, and have seen significant boosts in their confidence in speaking the language after just a few classes. Following the successful launch, RES is timetabling more cafes across the county, with opportunities for local employers to attend and facilitate Q&As about their sector and job opportunities. Clients are welcome to access our ESOL café even if they don't require further employability support. 

Working with employers

While the goal is to best match the client to the field of work that suits their experiences from back home, many have been able to take on alternative work to get on the career ladder to start earning and reclaiming their independence while studying the language skills required to return to their original line of work. We've been able to work differently with employers, encouraging them to offer work experience placements initially alongside networking and advertising to ensure that they're aware of the RES service. Local employers have been really engaging and are keen to support with employment opportunities where they're able.

Uliana – a RES success story

Uliana attended a job club hosted in partnership with JCP, initially lacking in confidence and unsure what work opportunities would be available to her in the UK. Like many of our clients, Uliana was already well-qualified with a varied career in healthcare and the beauty industry, but was unsure where to start with her search for employment, and was anxious that her English would be too limited to secure work in the UK. We were able to support Uliana with updates to her CV and help her to write cover letters designed for speculative applications. With encouragement and a list of employers provided by our team, Uliana quickly secured a work trial with a local salon which shows promise to lead to paid work. 

Enable's RES scheme has been a success in providing support to Ukrainian refugees in Shropshire, and will continue to create an atmosphere of positivity and optimistic forward progression.