Ukrainian refugees being offered jobs across Europe

PARIS • German companies are touting thousands of jobs for Ukrainian refugees. Portuguese firms promise language training for Ukrainians looking for work. In Lithuania, businesses are providing on-site childcare to help Ukrainian women move seamlessly into the workplace.

As the wartime exodus from Ukraine grows larger, companies are rushing forward with offers of employment, from high-level engineering jobs to retail and factory work, to help those displaced by the fighting settle quickly - as well as to fill their own labour shortages. The outreach is happening with speed and scope that is rare for the European Union.

Unlike refugees who have flooded Europe from wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, the three million Ukrainians fleeing Russian bombs are being placed on a fast track for protection and employment, as governments waive visa requirements and provide almost instant access to labour markets and education.

Thousands of jobs are being offered exclusively to Ukrainian refugees by recruitment agencies and through a vast network of online job boards that has sprung up across social media.

"I will work at anything," said Ms Nastya Filipas, 25, who escaped to Romania last week with her 15-year-old sister, Viktoryia, as Russia's assault came closer to her home town Odessa.

With just US$200 (S$270) in their pockets, the sisters planned to stay with a Ukrainian friend who rents an apartment in Bucharest.

Ms Nastya said that back home, she worked in restaurants, doing needlework and making handmade carpets. "I hope I will find something," she said, adding that she worried her inability to speak Romanian or English would be a handicap.

For many others though, the jobs have been offered even before they have decided whether to stay.

Some offers are aimed at filling openings that have languished in Europe since the reopening of economies after coronavirus lockdowns, in industries ranging from healthcare in Germany to warehouse work in the Czech Republic.

The global temporary staffing agency Adecco launched a recruitment site last week to match Ukrainian jobseekers with employers. Over 200 firms have posted jobs and about 900 Ukrainians have registered on the platform.

"Work underpins their ability to begin new lives and secure their futures," said Adecco CEO Alain Dehaze.

In Germany, where over 300,000 jobs are unfilled, a group of entrepreneurs created JobAidUkraine to help refugees find work as they arrived by rail, bus and air. On a recent day, nearly 30,000 online visitors scrolled through over 5,000 jobs listed by companies from London to Lisbon for McDonald's shift work, human resources specialists, software developers and nursing aides.

"We've been amazed to have big and small companies advertising in every industry, from programmers to farmers to bars," said Ms Christina Kaesshoefer, a co-founder of the website. "People want to do anything they can to help."

Ukraine is recognised for its skilled workforce, with 70 per cent of workers holding secondary or higher education degrees. The country boasts the largest tech engineering force in central and Eastern Europe, drawing Microsoft, Cisco, Google and other multinational companies to outsource work there.

NYTIMES