Hiring event touts refugees to Utah businesses as excellent employees

Friday, Jun. 24, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — As Utah looks to settle about 1,200 refugees each year through Catholic Community Services and the International Rescue Committee, finding work for the breadwinners of the 250 families is one of the many hurdles that must be faced.

“They just want somebody to give them the first opportunity so they can support and provide for their families,” said Adan Batar, director of CCS’ Immigration and Refugee Resettlement.

Batar speaks from experience; in 1994 he came to Utah as a Somalian refugee. Although he had been an attorney in his home country, he took a production job in Logan, and “I was very proud to do that job” to support his family, he said June 17 at CCS’ annual Business Networking Hiring Refugees event. 

“One thing I would like you to remember is that much of the strength of America lies in its history of embracing immigrants, refugees,” said community advocate Pamela Atkinson, one of the event speakers. “They enrich our culture, they work hard and they encourage their children to succeed.”

The event’s keynote speaker was Lane Beattie, president/CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, who said that as a business leader he sees great advantage to hiring refugees because of their experience and dedication.

Many of the refugees are adults with previous experience who “are people who know how to work, who know how to show up on time,” Beattie said, adding that some recent college graduates, when they are hired, ask “‘You mean I have to be here at 8 o’clock every morning?’ I want you to know that refugees don’t ever ask that question. They are anxious about the opportunities that they have.”

With Utah’s unemployment rate currently at 3.5 percent, many companies are eager for job applicants, Beattie said.

That’s particularly true at the entry level, said Pat Richter, owner and CEO of Americom Technology, which was recognized at the event with the “Best New Employer” award.

The company contacted CCS this spring and hired four refugees, said Richter, a Blessed Sacrament parishioner and member of the Catholic Business Network, which is how he heard about the CCS job placement program. 

“It’s worked out well for us,” Richter said in an interview after the event. “We see that it’s a great opportunity not only to allow us to give back to the community but it also gives us a good resource.  … We have a great development program within our company that we take entry-level people and we train them. It creates a great opportunity for a refugee coming in, who may not be versed in our type of business, to get training.”

He has seen two difficulties in hiring refugees. One is teaching them the telecommunications industry’s technical jargon, and the other is integrating them into the company’s culture, which also includes former members of the United States military, who may have served in the refugees’ home countries.

Still, “those are easy things to overcome,” said Richter, who anticipates that about 30 percent of his company’s new hires in the next year will be refugees.

Among those attending the event was Ali Villarruel, human resources director of Salt Lake Brewing Company, who said in an interview that she was looking for information about hiring refugees for open positions at the company.

In a previous position, Villaruel had worked with the refugee program and “I absolutely loved … helping build their lives and contribute to their lives and their livelihood, integrate them into the community and the workforce,” she said.

She also appreciated the refugees’ work ethic, their commitment to the job “and how excited they were to learn new skills and a new trade,” she said. “That was really fun to be a part of.”