A recent article from the Texas Standard, “Immigrants with degrees often struggle to find jobs. Adult education programs are trying to help,” highlights the challenges faced by adult newcomers in Texas who arrive with advanced degrees but struggle to find skill-aligned employment. Despite their credentials and experience, many immigrant professionals encounter significant roadblocks, including language barriers, lack of cultural knowledge of the U.S. hiring and recruiting system, lack of connections, and translating their international credentials into appropriate U.S. equivalents.
Upwardly Global’s Senior Employment Services Lead, Tamar Frolichstein-Appel, was interviewed for the piece. She emphasized the importance of recognizing the untapped potential of immigrant professionals and the role of workforce development programs in helping them succeed.
Without these services, immigrants often end up underemployed in a phenomenon sometimes called “brain waste,” according to Tamar Frolichstein-Appel, a senior employment services lead for Upwardly Global, a national group that partners with other organizations to help immigrants secure employment.
“They’re the folks you meet when you’re riding in an Uber or at Walmart,” she said. “If you get talking, you realize that they have vast skills and experience in a professional field, but they’re struggling to get a job.”
Over the last 20 years, Upwardly Global has worked with over 7,800 people in Texas. They partner with Community Action Inc., among other organizations, to help immigrants find jobs in healthcare, engineering, business and more.
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“We won’t have enough doctors very, very soon,” Frolichstein-Appel said. “So our work is about helping people to bring their skills, their experience, their training to the U.S. economy to benefit everyone.”