Refugees are searching for work in Canada with absolutely zero network.

You can help:

• If a refugee is recruiting for your industry: Perfect! Offer them advice on their situation, how they can further improve their resume, what job role might be best for them, and what companies might be hiring in your industry. If you can, introduce them to other people in your industry - especially hiring managers.
• If a refugee is not recruiting for your industry: Have a call with them to see what kinds of jobs they are looking for and how you can help. If anyone in your network comes to mind as a useful connection, introduce the refugee to them. Its totally fine if nothing major comes out of this call - part of networking is slowly building your connections, and a short call with you is already useful for a refugee!

If you’re able to, we recommend making a LinkedIn post about the refugee you are helping to try and reach more Canadians that may be able to help.

To get involved:

Step 1: Make a post on Haven offering to help a refugee build their Canadian network.

• Sign up or log in to your account at https://app.findhaven.org/
• Go to “My Dashboard”, and click “Add a New Offer”
• Select “Employment” and “Mentor: I can help refugees build their Canadian network”

You can then wait for a refugee to contact you. You can also look at the “Discover” page, and see what help refugees are requesting.

Step 2: Once you are matched with a refugee, organize a 30 minute video call with them. Try to have this be a video call. If a video call is not possible, an audio call is fine as well.

Ask for them to send their current resume to you ahead of the call. Refugees should have followed our Haven Resume Guide - if the resume has major mistakes, ask the refugee to read the Haven Resume Guide prior to your call.

Step 3: On the call, ask about the refugee’s work experience and what job they are trying to get in Canada. In general, the job that they should try to get will either be:

• A “starter job”: Basic jobs in Canada that do not require advanced English / French or Canadian work experience. These jobs are easier for refugees to get, and allow refugees to build-up Canadian work experience and start to become more independent.
• Meaningful work: Jobs that require more extensive work experience and skills. We want all refugees to eventually get to this level, but for many, they will need to first improve their English / French and gain more work experience.

Step 4: If the refugee is recruiting for your industry, offer advice on how to navigate the recruiting process, and think of potential introductions that you can make. If they are not recruiting for your industry, help them think through what job might make sense for them given their experience, and see if you have anyone in your network that you can introduce them to.

Step 5: Grow their network - introduce a refugee to your connections, and make a post on LinkedIn. For this post, ask the refugee for a quick summary of their story, and write a description of the type of work they are looking for. Your LinkedIn network might have many people who can help.

Questions? Ask us at [email protected]