Microsoft Denmark’s Refugee Academy and Job café support refugees in their new lives

As with many other European countries, Denmark has seen an influx in the number of refugees entering the country.
Many of these refugees have left their houses in dangerous areas of conflict, entering a new country after long periods or hardship, in search of safety and stability.

Stepping foot into a new world can be an extremely daunting experience however, and one that often brings many hardships and challenges of its own.

From finding a suitable place for you and your family to live, to obtaining and maintaining a steady job and enough income to ensure a good quality of life, and adjusting to new cultures and languages, the transitional period can be incredibly daunting, confusing, and stressful. These are the challenges brought to light today, on World Refugee Day.

Preparing for the future

To help refugees settle into their new world, Microsoft Denmark has offered a number of initiatives to help newcomers into the country find their feet and start setting up a stable foundation.

The first programme hosted by the company was a Job/CV café on 6 April, which saw over 100 well-educated refugees attend, with the aim of increasing their personal development to help them find a job.

Over the course of the session, people were given help and advice with their CVs to help increase their employability, and given information on how to apply for a job, and best interview practices.

In addition, there was a focus on creating a strong LinkedIn profile to further increase appeal to employers, as well as making their skills more easily discoverable.

By making themselves more employable, people who, in their home countries utilised their skills to build up careers to support themselves and their families, can increase their chances of finding a job that is suitable for them, worthy of the skills that they already possess.

In addition, Microsoft also completed a Refugee Academy for 15 participants at Microsoft Denmark and its partners, which consisted of a six-month internship working and training in Microsoft Azure, from 1 May to 1 November last year.

Following this internship, six of the 15 participants are now in paid jobs, while the remainder are either in a paid internships, or are studying to further their education.

Reuniting loved ones

Aside from various courses and programmes, there have also been other efforts to offer assistance to refugees.
Liv Tornquist, a Microsoft employee, developed an app during Microsoft’s Hackathon event. The mobile app, called the Family Finder app, uses cloud technology to help refugees locate missing loved ones.

The concept began with the story of a boy which Liz helped at the Red Cross, who fled Afghanistan and was sadly separated from his mother and two sisters, without any way to locate them.

Soon employees from all across the company, in different countries, pitched in and worked together to help create the cloud-powered app – echoing the passion felt around the globe in helping people rebuild their lives.

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