Recertification Opportunities for Refugees with Professional Backgrounds

Abstract

Recertification allows refugees with university degrees and professional training to remain in their chosen career fields. And job upgrading can lift refugees out of entry-level employment and increase their income level and self-sufficiency. In this training, you will hear success stories from refugees who have reclaimed their careers or built new ones and meet recertification specialists. You will also learn more about new refugee populations and hear about RefugeeWorks' Iraqi Refugee Employment Survey findings.

Full text

Refugee Recertification
Presenter: Daniel Sturm
Consultant & Managing Editor
RefugeeWorks
Refugee Recertification
2009 ORR Wilson-Fish Workshop
Why Focus on Recertification?
Professional Areas of Interest
RefugeeWorks’ Contribution
Sample Program Models

An Iraqi physician who had successfully passed
the first three steps of the multi-year
recertification process told us that his application
had stalled, because his Iraqi alma mater was not
responding to requests for a transcript evaluation.
Without this last step, he said, he had no chance of
Why Focus on Recertification?
Field Trip to Detroit, Michigan
Without this last step, he said, he had no chance of
advancing to the final stage of recertification, which is
needed to apply for and obtain a physician’s
residency. (…)
Some Iraqi professionals doubted whether
recredentializing their professional degrees was
worth the effort. An Iraqi civil engineer said that he
was discouraged about the job prospects in Michigan
due to the economic crisis. A cousin from Detroit who
worked in the construction industry told him that his
business was in a deep economic crisis.
He advised him to pursue other options.
RefugeeWorks Field Trip to Detroit, Michigan (2007)

Why Focus on Recertification?
Field Trip to Detroit, Michigan
RefugeeWorks Field Trip to Detroit, Michigan (2007)
Job developers acknowledge the impossibility of
providing additional services, such as
recredentialising programs, in light of the high
percentage of clients on a limited budget.
percentage of clients on a limited budget.
RefugeeWorks Employment Survey (2008)
Showed that 63% of Iraqi Refugees are college-
educated, but 62% are underemployed.
Fact Sheets on Refugee Re-licensing (2008)
Published as a collaboration between DOL/ETA and
DHHS/ORR. RefugeeWorks has been asked to
continue this project.
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/resources
http://tinyurl.com/lxnk49

Q: What types of support are available from your
agency or other sources you use for those seeking
recertification?
A: We are helping them to understand the process.
Unfortunately, there is
no financial assistance
Why Focus on Recertification?
RefugeeWorks Field Trip to Mich.
Unfortunately, there is
no financial assistance
available to help pay for the required
testing/evaluation of transcripts, etc.
A: Assistance with finding recertification options, schools,
testing sites, and applying for student aid. All
assistance is limited due to time/cost.
A: Wish I knew. All I’ve seen so far are pipe dreams
and faux programs.
A: Limited support. We usually give them the
information provided by RefugeeWorks and recommend
that they contact local universities.
Source: RefugeeWorks’ Refugee
Professionals Employment Survey (2009)

Why Focus on Recertification?
Professional Backgrounds
Flexibility
• The “one size fits all” approach of insisting on early
employment is not necessarily the best policy for many
refugees, the resettlement program, or American society.
•
The current economic downturn has exposed the
extreme
•
The current economic downturn has exposed the
extreme
dependency of the program on early employment in
order for the refugees to thrive.
• Many Iraqi refugees arrive with high levels of
educational and professional experience. To make best
use of the talents and skills they possess, funds need to
be spent on recertification programs to ensure
that refugees can enter the workforce as professionals.
Source: Iraqi Refugees in the United States: In Dire
Straits (International Rescue Committee, June 2009)

Professional Areas of Interest
Professional Backgrounds
Source: RefugeeWorks’ Refugee Professionals
Employment Survey (2009)

Professional Areas of Interest
Concentration on Four Fields
Professional Background Suggested Career Path
Physicians Radiology technicians; public health
administration jobs; nursing school teaching
positions; dietitians; occupational therapists;
social workers; physical therapists; clinical
laboratory technicians; pharmacists;
laboratory technicians; pharmacists;
Physicians’ recertification
Nurses Certified nursing assistant; vocational nurse;
practical nurse; bachelor’s nurse; master’s
nurse; nurse practitioner; nurse midwife.
Teachers Alternative certification & private schools;
Teacher’s aides; administrative jobs at
universities; high school community
liaison/ESOL tutors.
Engineers University employment;
Computer Industry;
Green jobs

Professional Areas of Interest
Focal Point on Healthcare
1. Many refugees have received training in
healthcare fields back home.
2. Which professional backgrounds are in
demand?
demand?
Healthcare. Nearly 1 million nurses will be
needed by the year 2010. Home-care aide is
the second-fastest growing occupation, and
is expected to increase >50% by 2016.
3. How successful have immigrant medical
professionals been in this sector?
Very. In 2005, 15% of all U.S. health-care
workers were foreign born.

Distribution of healthcare jobs
3.6%
Professional Areas of Interest
Healthcare Job Distribution
Source: Migration Policy Institute 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2tlbox
21.1%
75.3%
Outside metro
Metro areas
City Center

RefugeeWorks’ Contribution:
Publications, Training, Consulting
Research
Program Design
Best Practices
Networking
recertification.ning.com
recertification.ning.com
Publications
[Guides]
Opportunities for
Engineers, Teachers,
Physicians, Nurses
[Newsletters]
Healthcare Hotspots
Conferences
National Conference on
Refugee Professional
Recertification (2009)
RefugeeWorks
Employment Training
Institutes (2009-10)
Consulting
Job Developers
Refugee Clients
Program Managers
Employers

RefugeeWorks’ Contribution:
Analysis of Barriers
•Lack of access to required transcripts
from foreign colleges (i.e. U-Baghdad was
bombed).
•Lack of an organized system for
understanding the complicated licensure
process in the U.S.
•High costs associated with the licensure
process.
•Language barriers that prevent
applicants from understanding
information.
•Need for coaching, advocacy, family and
peer support.

Integrating Foreign-Trained
Healthcare Professionals for
Self
-
Sufficiency
Sample Program Model I:
Minnesota
Self
-
Sufficiency
Interview with Wilhelmina Holder, executive director of
Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) &
The African and American Friendship Association for
Cooperation and Development.

Program Design:
Tuition Assistance & Mentorship
Tuition Assistance
•Program provides $800 to nurses who
apply for licensure exams.
•
Program provides $1,500
to
•
Program provides $1,500
to
physicians who apply for licensure
exams.
Mentorship
•Licensed doctors provide phone
assistance and give advice on how to
prepare for the interviewing process.
•Partnering MDs review the personal
statements that clients include in their
residency program applications.

Minnesota Recertification
Success Stories
Successes
• A hospital hired a doctor who had
originally been trained in Somalia.
• When news broke in the Somali refugee
community, many Somali refugees
switched providers to become patients
with this doctor.
• Due to the increased demand, the
healthcare provider hired several
additional Somali doctors.

Sample Program Model II:
Welcome Back Initiative
Interview with José Ramón Fernández-Peña, Director
of the Welcome Back Initiative Director
Offices in Calif., Mass., R.I., Md., Wash.

Program Design:
Specialized ESL & Peer Support
Health-Focused ESOL
•Accelerated, health-focused ESOL
curriculum that’s contextualized in the
health setting and focused on oral
health setting and focused on oral
communication.
•Written emphasis on medical charts
and notes, electronic and on paper.
Peer Support
• The Welcome Back Center has
developed workshops and activities,
licensing exam study groups and
general information meetings to provide
peer support groups by profession.

Welcome Back Initiative
Success Stories

Discussion
Further Readings
RefugeeWorks Resources
Guides for Refugees with Professional Backgrounds
RefugeeWorks Employment Quarterly Newsletter
RefugeeWorks Electronic Newsletter
www.refugeeworks.org/about/publications.html

Daniel Sturm
RefugeeWorks
Consultant & Managing Editor
Consultant & Managing Editor
700 Light Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Phone 410/230-2758
Fax: 410/230-2859
E-mail: dsturm@refugeeworks.org
Web: www.refugeeworks.org
To sign up for the RefugeeWorks E-Newsletter, visit
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