Guiding a young migrant into adult life
Soraya Mohamedi Mohamed · Ubuntu Canarias · 5 min read
Working on employment guidance with young migrants who are approaching independence has taught me that the job is only one part of the problem. Sometimes the most urgent part, but almost never the simplest.
When a young man or woman has to start supporting themselves, everything else comes up behind the job search: papers, training, language, the experience they bring from their country, studies that aren't recognised here, having no family nearby, finding somewhere to live. In some cases, also the need to send money home.
And it all happens at once, in a hurry. They want to work as soon as possible, stop depending on a programme or an organisation, have their own money, rent a room, feel they are getting somewhere. Building a career path calmly is a luxury they don't always have.
A CV doesn't tell the whole story
One of the first tasks is to find out what lies behind that piece of paper. A young person can arrive with an almost empty CV and have worked in farming, construction, a family shop or caring for others. They may speak several languages, have carried serious responsibilities within their family or have learned to find their way alone in an unfamiliar country.
What they often lack is the ability to translate all that into the language employers here understand. That is where guidance has a lot to do, and it isn't about inventing experience or dressing anything up. It's about seeing what they can really do, what they can certify, what they still need to learn and how to get it recognised.
Before sending a CV
There are questions worth asking first, and they are very concrete. Whether they can work right now and whether their documents allow them to apply for that job. Whether they have training they can certify or need to have their studies recognised. Whether they really understand the conditions of the offers they are answering, whether their Spanish is good enough for the post, what hours they can take on. And one that is often forgotten: where they would live if they got the job.
Any one of those answers can change the whole plan. That's why I have never seen employment guidance as handing out job offers and preparing CVs.
Frustration needs work too
Some young people spend months sending CVs and hardly get a reply, or go to interviews and never hear back. At some point they start to think the problem is them. That they're no good, or that they'll have to accept whatever comes.
At that moment, guiding means above all looking at what is happening, together with them. Maybe the goal isn't realistic yet, or the CV doesn't reflect what they have done. Sometimes they are looking in the wrong places, or applying for offers that don't match their profile. Sometimes their work-level Spanish needs improving. And sometimes they are running into barriers that don't depend on them.
Not every rejection is a personal failure, and it helps a lot when someone tells them so with reasons.
The first job shouldn't be the finish line
A first contract can be a huge step. But it's worth asking what comes next: whether that job allows them to keep studying, whether the salary brings them closer to having a home, whether they are learning a trade or whether it has any continuity.
You can be working and still be a long way from independence. For me, getting a job and becoming independent are not quite the same thing, and mixing them up leads to closing processes that have barely begun.
We also need to know what they want
From talking so much about difficulties, we sometimes end up portraying young migrants only through what they lack. And that is a mistake too.
Some want to be mechanics, cooks, electricians, IT technicians, educators, or to start something of their own. Some don't yet know what they want to do, and some only know they want to work, have a home and live in peace. All of that needs to be heard. Guiding is not deciding what suits someone based on their situation, but helping them see their options and decide with more information.
What remains when the support ends
I don't think good guidance is measured only by how many CVs have been sent or how many interviews someone got. What the person takes with them also counts: being able to search for offers without depending on anyone, recognising a fraudulent offer, explaining their experience, knowing their rights, knowing where to go when something goes wrong, keeping on searching when an application doesn't work out.
That stays with them, and in the long run it can weigh as much as the first contract.
Accompanying a young person into work requires knowing the resources, the regulations and the job market. It also requires something less visible: time to listen, an eye for what is holding them back and respect for the decisions of the person in front of you. They are someone trying to build an adult life in a country they are still getting to know. Our job is to walk that road with them, not to walk it for them.