Initiative: Competence Checks for Refugee Women, ABZ*Kompetenzcheck
Institution: Public Employment Service Austria, AMS in partnership with ABZ*Austria
Problem: Austrian companies faced difficulties in integrating refugee women, who were unable to make their competences and qualifications visible to the labor market and secure decent employment.
Solution: The initiative offers training to update the skills of refugee women and to identify possible career opportunities in the Austrian labor market. The training and counselling are carried out exclusively by mother-tongue experts in Farsi and Arabic. In this project, the women are accompanied for 7 weeks and have the opportunity to do internships. The possibilities of internships are explored together with the women. In addition, previous professional experiences are described and an assessment of the identified competences is checked. The results of the competence check will then be incorporated to the Austrian Labour Market Service as a "results report". At the end of the competence check, each participant has a completed CV, an overview of the qualifications and, in many cases, an internship or a concrete job offer. The initiative, in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection, has developed a close cooperation with companies willing to support this integration process.
Impact: Due to the increased immigration, there was a greater need to support integration into the labour market and recognize/certify qualifications. Refugee women were able to be contribute their knowledge, bolster their language skills, expand their social network and become financially independent.