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Description
Diversity Development Group (LT) together with Lithuanian Red Cross and KUN Centre for Equality and Diversity (NO) implemented the project "Open to Immigration: empowering vulnerable immigrant groups in Lithuania". The main goal of the project was to strengthen the socioeconomic inclusion of vulnerable groups by creating a sustainable matching process and labour market inclusion solutions. To guarantee that the newcomers contribute to prosperous societies, project partners developed an IT tool SCOBO that matches job-seeking immigrants with employers. There are thousands of vacancies in Lithuania and many of them do not require Lithuanian language. Nonetheless, the majority of job ads are in Lithuanian and it is hardly possible for immigrants to navigate the market due to linguistic barriers. SCOBO overcame this challenge and offers a friendly and simple way to search for jobs in a multilingual environment. Currently, it has more than 300 job ads published only for immigrants and the number is increasing every month. In the first 3 months, more than 1300 foreigners registered at SCOBO while 300 employers announced they had positions suitable for non-Lithuanian speakers. The platform is still growing and developing functionalities for even more diverse candidates.
Project partners also did an extensive analysis about labour market and its inclusiveness. A representative business survey showed that Lithuanian companies were satisfied with migrants'' performance and would be willing to employ them further. However, until SCOBO there was no tool or platform for matching migrants and employers based on required skills and competencies, one of the major challenges emphasized by business representatives. Lastly, DDG and Lithuanian Red Cross consulted migrants on the labour market specifics and did tailored training for businesses about diversity and inclusion in work environment.
Summary of project results
The main goal of the project was to strengthen the socioeconomic inclusion of vulnerable groups by creating sustainable matching process (between newcomers and employers) and labour market inclusion solutions.
To guarantee that the newcomers contribute to prosperous societies, project partners developed an IT tool SCOBO that matches job seeking immigrants with employers. There are thousands of vacancies in Lithuania and many of them do not require Lithuanian language. Nonetheless, the majority of job ads are written in Lithuanian and it is hardly possible for immigrants to navigate the market due to linguistic barriers. SCOBO overcame this challenge and offers a friendly and simple way to search for jobs in multilingual environment.
Currently it has more than 300 job ads published only for immigrants and the number is increasing every month. During the project 300 immigrants who were searching for jobs registered and now, at the time of writing, there are more than 1000. Job ads at SCOBO offer jobs for immigrants in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipeda, Taurage Alytus. SCOBO is the only app in Lithuania that invites candidates and companies to an open conversation. Employees see the employers that suit them best, and companies see potential employees who meet their requirements. And if immigrants do not speak Lithuanian – or other language – not a problem, SCOBO will take this into account when offering job positions.
Project partners also did an extensive analysis about the labour market and its inclusiveness. Representative business survey showed that Lithuanian companies were satisfied with migrants'' performance and would be willing to employ them further. However, until SCOBO there was no tool or platform for matching migrants and employers based on required skills and competences, one of the major challenges emphasized by business representatives. Lastly, DDG and Lithuanian Red Cross consulted migrants on the labour market specifics and did tailored trainings for businesses about diversity and inclusion in work environment.
Summary of bilateral results
The project partnership has led to a relationship with KUN, an organisation from Norway. Their training was very useful as the lecturers presented their many years of experience in working with the integration of migrants into the labour market and what employers should do if they want to ensure safe, friendly and suitable working conditions for foreigners. We discussed with the representatives of KUN that, if possible, we could organise thematic sessions for employers exclusively on the recruitment of migrants and how to control bias in the selection of employees.