Why are capacity-building programs needed for labour mobility?

Capacity-building programs are essential to improve recruitment outcomes by improving and increasing candidate capacities and, thus, preparedness and competitiveness for international employment opportunities. 

A fully “prepared” and “competitive” candidate: 

• Has a strong CV that highlights their skills and experience; 
• Can verbally articulate their skills, strengths, and abilities to an employer during an interview;
• Can perform well in soft skills & technical interviews & technical assessments;
• Has the required language skills and/or support (through translation) needed to conduct a job interview successfully; 
• Can study for and pass the required language qualification exams for visas;
• Can pass other required qualification exams; and 
• Has skills and experience and/or can gain these in order to qualify for recruitment opportunities. 

Common challenges faced by candidates: 

• Knowledge gap: Candidates don’t know about labour mobility for refugees or existing pathways or their eligibility for those pathways. Candidates also don’t know how to search for jobs. Some candidates can’t unpack job descriptions and fit their capacities into complex job descriptions.
• Some candidates have no CVs or present very weak CVs:
  • CVs are not tailored to the job description
  • CVs are not specialized to meet sector or country standards. 
  • Candidates are unsure how to prepare strong CVs. 
• Candidates who don’t meet the language requirements of employers and visas can’t be put forward for opportunities. Some also lack the language skills to perform well during official interviews. 
• Some candidates are unprepared to successfully conduct soft skills and technical international interviews, which can affect the outcome. Some candidates perform poorly as they feel nervous or anxious.
• Some candidates exhibit weakness in clearly and confidently communicating their skills, personal profiles, experience, and qualifications, as well as skills on how to build rapport with employers.
• Some candidates struggle to pass English qualification exams for visas and licensing. 
• Candidates with skills gaps, or mainly freelance experience, are often passed up by employers, even if a visa pathway exists for them. 
• Candidates also face difficulties accessing online resources and classes due to lack of stable electricity and internet.
• Candidates may not be aware of the specific purpose of the job interview, what the employer is looking for, and how they can perform well in the interview
• Candidates may not be aware which specific aspect(s) of their language skills needs to be improved to perform well in a language exam or job interview

Capacity-building programs can address these challenges and ensure candidates are fully prepared.  Some specific ways in which capacity-building programs help to ensure that candidates are fully prepared include:

• Providing resources and study plans for candidates preparing to take an English-language exam.
• Sometimes paying for paid services to help a candidate study/practice for a test/interview (services evaluated on a case-by-case basis)
• Providing resources on interview preparation, information on specific aspects of interviews which candidates may not expect/be used to, providing sets of industry-specific common interview questions, and what to expect from different types of interviews(Screening/HR, General, Behavioral, Technical, etc.)