Made up of over 100 corporations, Upwardly Global’s DEI Employer Working Group aims to engage corporate America to better understand the roadblocks in hiring international talent and to co-create solutions. Upwardly Global’s unique position of working with many employers over the last 20 years gives special insight to trends, pain points, and best practices. This invite-only working group is a platform to engage with peers, share best practices and challenges, and co-create solutions to better integrate immigrant and refugee talent into our workforce. Email us to learn more.
We know creating a successful immigrant and refugee inclusion program requires a strong foundation, ongoing cultivation and training, and consistent execution against strategy. During this session, three Upwardly Global partners, PepsiCo, Accenture, and Euromonitor, shared insights from these different stages of their journey.
Building an effective refugee- and immigrant-hiring initiative
“One of the things I appreciate about our partnership with UpGlo is their commitment to understanding PepsiCo and our processes in a way that works for us, and not assuming we’re like everybody else. They have also helped us see things that other companies are doing that we can bring into our processes.”
— Blair Bennett, Senior Vice President of Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo
Recognizing the diversity of skills needed and the range of skills refugees bring, PepsiCo built a multipronged strategy to meet their goal. They are working with local resettlement agencies focusing on entry-level roles at production, warehousing, and distribution facilities and have partnered with Upwardly Global to access mid- to high-skilled talent for corporate HQ roles. Most recently, PepsiCo hired an Upwardly Global alum from Afghanistan as their Talent Acquisition Representative to manage this partnership and bring unique lived experience into the equation. This high level of attention around the refugee applicant experience is a key component of a strong foundation.
Upwardly Global is proud to partner with PepsiCo to create an inclusive hiring initiative, as part of PepsiCo’s commitment to hire 500 refugees in the U.S. by 2026.
Leveraging digital inclusion training to support commitment to hiring refugees
“Two specific modules that were especially helpful for us at Accenture were [the] Cultural Awareness and Hiring Bias and Legal Pathways and Work Authorization modules. The Cultural Awareness module breaks down definitions of certain myths and how they can affect hiring decisions, and the Legal Pathways module helps avoid misunderstanding about work authorization of immigrants and refugees. The sample scenarios and candidate stories throughout the training modules made it easy to apply to our day-to-day work. There are also great resource PDFs within the modules that you can download as takeaways that can be shared with other recruiters or hiring managers.”
— Recruiter, Refugee Recruiting Team, Accenture
As a leader in refugee hiring with a long-standing commitment to refugee inclusion in their workforce and the U.S. economy, Accenture has partnered with Upwardly Global over the last 20 years to advance this work. They have committed to the ongoing training of their employees to support inclusive hiring practices and will leverage Upwardly Global’s e-learning inclusion training courses in working with recruiters and hiring managers to more effectively screen and interview refugee talent and advocate for the candidates.
Learn more about Upwardly Global’s e-learning inclusion training here.
Committed engagement to dismantling barriers for immigrant and refugee talent
“We have asked hiring managers at EMI to commit to doing a first-round interview. We just need to do a round-1 interview and provide feedback if Upwardly Global is bringing us a candidate they feel is a good match for our role. It starts with that. We have to get to know each other and create a strong feedback loop. We are committed to this, and we want to widen our exposure and be involved with Upwardly Global’s immigrant and refugee candidates on their job journeys, whether it’s a job at Euromonitor or just supporting them in their journey wherever they may go.”
— Zandi Brehmer, Global Director at Euromonitor International
As a long-standing employer partner, Euromonitor International has supported Upwardly Global’s mission of supporting immigrant and refugee professionals by implementing a human element along the way to help dismantle barriers. A few strategies that have been successful at Euromonitor include conducting live inclusivity training, offering candidates interview feedback, and executing specialized engagement events to increase exposure to and awareness of refugee talent.