Job Hunting & Employment Preparedness
The World Relief employment team will let you know how best to work with someone on their employment goals. Here are some helpful ways to support refugees and asylees with employment preparation and assist the World Relief team:
Set up an email account
- If someone does not have an email, help them to set up an account and practice using it.
- Send some emails back and forth to practice email communication, punctuation, and etiquette.
Set up voicemail
- Many people do not set up voicemail right away, which makes it more difficult to communicate with managers, the employment team, and volunteers. Help write a script and practice a couple of times before recording.
Practice Interview Questions
How to Fill Out a Job Application
1. Find jobs that are accessible (close enough to their home to walk, or on a bus line: commute of no more than an hour and half)
2. Identify which aspects of the job application process they can do on their own. This can be based on English level, confidence with using public transportation, and how long they have been in the United States.
3. If they have an email address, internet access, and sufficient English to fill out an application for themselves:
- Send them the link to the job applications you find.
- Offer to help them if they need it, particularly in reference to the assessment sections of applications. Going through a job application questionnaire with the refugee can serve as a good opportunity to help them understand the values and priorities of an American workplace.
4. If they do not have the ability to fill out an application themselves, you can fill it out on their behalf.
- a. You need to know their pertinent information (education level, work history, English level)
- b. Use either your email, or a WR staff member's email as the primary email address.
- c. Use World Relief’s phone number if the client does not yet have one. d. Fill out all the pertinent information.
- e. If the job requires that an assessment be taken, you may do it on behalf of the refugee. Try to answer to the best of your ability as the refugee would answer.
- f. On the tax questionnaire, you will want to know whether the clients are receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA), or any other form of federal cash assistance.
5. If you are a World Relief intern, please record all relevant data in the Job Applications online document.
6. Don’t forget to follow up after applying for a position! You may go with them or advise them to follow up on their own. If you would like any materials to help with informing the employer about refugees’ legal work authorization or the role of World Relief in our community, please contact Santa at spradhan@wr.org
7. We ask that you please notify one of WR's employment specialists if you arrange an interview for a refugee or receive notification that they have been offered a position. You may also contact the employment specialists for any employment related questions.