Joining the Workforce: IIB Job Club Members Learn New Skills

The International Institute of Buffalo’s Job Club helps New Americans roll up their sleeves to gain integral skills and knowledge to enter and navigate the job market quickly and successfully.

Job Club is a 16-hour, comprehensive program offered through our New American Integration Department, where participants learn about the American workplace and how to succeed despite cultural differences. 

The eight two-hour workshops focus on tangible, real-world applications that include resume building and mock interviews, in addition to attaining and advancing employment opportunities. Other classes offer lectures on financial management, taught by local banking professionals, and workers’ rights, presented by the Department of Labor.

Our current Job Club class consists of 19 refugee clients from Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, and Myanmar. Recent graduates have found employment with many types of businesses such as like hotels, assisted living facilities, and restaurants.

In August, Job Club will launch new workers’ rights classes in collaboration with the New York State Department of Labor and its Agriculture Labor Specialist Kristin Hibit from the Division of Immigrant Policies and Affairs. Kristen will be attending each Job Club session on-site, at our home on Delaware Avenue. The new partnership will educate clients on their rights in the U.S. Workplace.

This past spring, we announced our new partnership with the Central Library. The collaboration provides education, access to library resources, study guides, and other avenues to success. Each class wraps up with graduation, with continued support following employment; it’s all part of a holistic, multipronged program to assist our newly settled refugee clients in finding long-term, meaningful work.

The International Institute of Buffalo’s Employment Program provides pre-employment training, employment placement, and post-placement services. Services include World of Work orientation, weekly job club, contextualized English classes with industry-specific training, one-on-one remote English as a new language class, resume preparation, interview skills training, and job placement. Once a company employs a client, we provide follow-up with ongoing services and advocacy when necessary to ensure job retention.

You can support Job Club graduates’ transition into their new careers by donating reusable water bottles and/or lunch boxes to take to work. Both go a long way in making the adjustment to their new positions easier. If you’d like to pitch in, please email: donations@iibuff.org

Click here for more information on how we help New Americans.