The case for hiring our immigrants…
The numbers tell the story: We do not have enough residents in Greater Cincinnati to fill our open jobs. The scenario is going to get worse over the next decade as people in the Baby-Boom generation continue to retire at unprecedented rates. Like the rest of the country, where 65 percent of population growth has been from immigrants, our largest source of new residents is immigrants (City of Immigrants: The growth of Cincinnati and other cities depends on immigration (soapboxmedia.com).
In Northern Kentucky, we have seen a substantial increase in refugees with 601 refugees resettling here since October 2021, per Ally Hermes of Kentucky Refugee Ministries (KRM) in Covington. This year alone, 420 people have resettled here. These numbers do not include immigrants who moved here under immigration statuses not served by KRM.
Connecting immigrants who want to work to jobs is a critical priority for the workforce-development community and was discussed at the quarterly Workforce Workshop on September 12. Perfetti Van Melle shared their experiences in recruiting Spanish-speaking workers for their distribution center. The process started by examining their internal readiness to embrace these workers.
“As employers, we tend to talk about whether or not the worker is ready for us,” shared Perfetti’s Krizia Cabrera-Toro. “But what if we flipped the question and asked, ‘Are we ready for them?’”
Perfetti took intentional measures before hiring non-English speakers. “Language is the first and most obvious barrier. We translated all our materials into Spanish. We posted our safety rules in both English and Spanish throughout our warehouse,” Cabrera-Toro said. They also promoted a bilingual staff member to a supervisory position and hired a certified interpreter to support the communication process.
She stressed the importance of using professional interpreters rather than “culturally taxing” Spanish-speaking employees to fill that role. “I am bilingual,” she said. “Can you imagine how many times I’ve been asked to translate at work? I’m happy to help, but I am not a trained, professional interpreter. I may not always translate accurately, especially when dealing with technical, job-specific language.”
Perfetti also offers free English courses to their Spanish-speaking workers, as well as free Spanish courses to their English-speaking workers. They conduct “implicit bias” training onsite to help workers examine the ways they may unintentionally be treating groups of employees differently than others.
Her biggest recruiting tip: Do not rely on online application materials. In addition to language barriers, many immigrants have limited digital literacy. They often don’t own computers, so they typically try to apply on their phones. They frequently give up on online applications without finishing them because the process is just too cumbersome.
FIESTA’s Theresa Cruz agreed. She recounted a recent job fair she hosted at FIESTA, a nonprofit organization providing support services to Northern Kentucky’s Hispanic community. “We had dozens of jobseekers and a good mix of employers at our event on Thursday evening, yet not one person successfully applied for a job, because all the applications were online. Lesson learned.”
Cruz said at her next event, they did not invite any employers, but instead invited volunteers to help jobseekers find and apply for appropriate jobs. “It was a much better use of everyone’s time, and many people successfully applied for jobs.”
Since opening January 2024, FIESTA has helped 1,681 Northern Kentucky adults from 12 Spanish-speaking counties. Thirty percent of them came to FIESTA seeking help finding a job. While FIESTA has had some success, she said there are many more immigrants who would like to get on the pathway to legal employment in our community.
Other best practices and tips shared by the presenters included:
Many immigrants learn about jobs through word-of-mouth. That often means their understanding of the job responsibility is limited or even mistaken. It is critical that jobs are clearly explained during the recruitment process.
Immigrants are more likely to use “WhatsApp” to communicate than they are the social media platforms more commonly used in the United States, like X, LinkedIn and Facebook. They likely won’t have existing accounts through which they can communicate about jobs.
Posting jobs on Indeed and other job sites will not attract immigrants. QR Codes do not appeal to them. They respond better to in-person, face-to-face experiences, preferably including a contact who can speak their language.
Once hired, immigrants frequently tell their family members and friends about job openings. They like to work together. Grouping them with other workers who speak their language increases their success and retention.
It is critical to recognize that there may be different cultural norms that come into play at work. One example cited at the workshop was about time orientation. Some cultures are less rigid about start and end times than the typical American employer. Clearly communicating all job expectations and the consequences of not following expectations is paramount to success.
Making sure all company leaders are invested in hiring immigrants and informed about the process is important. Frequently, the Human Resources Department is the gatekeeper. Changes in staffing in HR can derail immigrant-recruitment efforts if the entire organization is not invested in the process.
While hiring immigrants does require more upfront planning and effort, the presenters all agreed it is well worth the effort.
“You won’t find a more loyal and dedicated employee than an immigrant who feels they are respected and valued by their employer,” Cruz said. “They will be your best employees if you show them you appreciate them.”
Employers who want more information about hiring immigrants should reach out to NKY Works at NKYWorks@NKADD.org or 859.657.WRKS. We will connect you to resources to help develop an immigrant-recruitment process at your workplace.