Professional bodies and supporting highly-skilled refugees into employment

Refugees may be highly qualified and experienced professionals, yet many remain unemployed or under employed, in a lower-grade occupation than their skills merit. This has consequences for these individuals, but also the UK economy where there are many areas of skills shortage. Mainstream employment and refugee support organisations lack the specialised knowledge to help these individuals, knowledge which is the basis of professional bodies and their members. This project sought to produce a research-informed review of the policies and activities of professional bodies to support refugees into employment in their disciplines, to understand current issues, barriers, and provision, and to provide recommendations to assist professional bodies in developing their practice. Three approaches were taken: • A scoping review of global literature on highly skilled migrants and professional bodies • A review of websites and relevant activities of a sample of professional bodies in the UK to evaluate some of the support currently available • Interviews and discussions with key informants, including professional body representatives and related organisations, refugee and employment support organisations, and refugees with a professional background themselves The research shows that highly skilled migrants in general (which are not always refugees) face barriers in (re)entering their professions, including qualification recognition and skills assessment, limited access to appropriate language support and high quality information, advice and guidance (IAG), lack of host country work experience and knowledge of workplace norms, lack of professional networks and high quality mentoring, specialised job search assistance, CV and interview preparation, and volunteering or work placements. The huge diversity of professional bodies in the UK presents, to an outsider, a confusing array of names, terminology, roles, powers, relationships, degrees of specialism, and geographical reach. While some may recognise refugees as potential client groups, few professional bodies acknowledge that there are those with the skills or capacity to work in their profession, and even fewer provide clear and accessible support for those wishing to do so. With a few exceptions, the literature is largely blind to the potential role of professional bodies other than as institutions accrediting qualifications where they are a regulator. They are not represented as having the capacity through their operations and members to be agents for change to address the consistently recurring support needs identified. There is however evidence of willingness to understand the issues and support needs, with much goodwill which can be harnessed. While some successful initiatives have been short-lived due to funding, there are also some areas of more embedded and sustainable good practice, innovation, and partnerships in the health, IT and engineering sectors which could be used as models and developed. The research has therefore produced a series of practical recommendations, and an accompanying guide for professional bodies who wish to extend their support and inclusion.