Podcast 234: Recruiting and supporting refugee talent in the workplace

According to UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), there are approximately 548,400 refugees in the UK – yet many highly qualified, experienced people remain locked out of meaningful work. Not by ability, but by structural barriers: recruitment processes that filter out valuable candidates, unrecognised or unfamiliar qualifications, and in many cases, a basic misconception among employers about whether refugees can legally be employed at all.

Join Nigel Cassidy and this month's guests – Jenny Walton, CEO at Refugee Employment Network; Nikki von Bulow, Director of HR Consultancy Services and CIPD Trust Rebuilding Futures Mentor; and Oksana Hulyk, Legal Adviser and HR Professional – as they draw on lived and professional experience to explore how people professionals can remove these barriers and open up meaningful employment for refugee talent.

In this episode, our panel explores:

What role people professionals can play in removing barriers to refugee employment, from right-to-work misconceptions to recruitment processes that filter out valuable candidatesWhy supporting refugee employment is a workforce strategy, not a philanthropic gestureHow to equip line managers with the skills and confidence to support refugee talent once they’re in post

---

Your next listen:

CIPD Podcast 226 – Closing skill gaps from within: the case for internal mobility

CIPD Podcast 217 – Willing and able: Unlocking opportunities for prison leavers

More from this episode:

Guide: Hiring refugees – Guide for people professionals (CIPD Trust)

Case study: Rebuilding Futures and forming a friendship that goes beyond mentoring (CIPD Trust)

Website: Refugee Employment Network