Today, 20 June is World Refugee Day. As we celebrate the resilience of refugees worldwide, Global Skills affirms our commitment to supporting refugee job seekers into sustainable employment which goes beyond just earning a living. Employment allows refugees to contribute their skills and talents to our local communities while providing stability, self-reliance and a sense of belonging.

Global Skills is proud of the range of tailored services and community partnerships offered to our refugee job seekers. These include interpreting services, our ‘Lingo Lounge’ conversational English workshops, referral to language programs and tailored refugee specific partnerships such as the IKEA NSW pre-employment program and Australia’s first social enterprise bakery, The Bread & Butter Project.

Global Skills frontline staff speak more than 36 languages and offer diverse experiences and backgrounds. Global Skills Senior Employment Consultant Vedrana is just one of our amazing staff who shares a similar journey. When Vedrana first arrived in her new Australian home, Vedrana describes her English language skills as “zero”. Vedrana and her family were forced from their home in Bosnia as a result of the Balkan War in Europe and were granted refugee status to Australia in 1996. Vedrana says, “I love helping my job seekers because the majority are in the same position I was in over 25 years ago. They come to a new country with limited or no language skills and I understand them. When they start employment, I am so happy and it’s not about the placement, it’s because I know what it felt like for me when I started my employment, it was for my family.”

If you would like more information on Global Skills and the services we offer, go to https://www.globalskills.com.au/