BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Trying to find a job in a foreign country is difficult, but the North Dakota Job Service is aiming to make it easier.
Litza Melrose is from Panama and is one of many immigrants who have been looking to find employment in North Dakota. She has taken Career Readiness and English classes and decided to put her skills to the test at the New American Job Fair, specifically geared towards immigrants seeking a job.
“The ESL classroom helped a lot for looking for job,” said Melrose.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses around the nation have struggled to find employees. Many of those businesses have decided to put an emphasis on seeking new Americans like Melrose at job fairs like this one to fill the gap.
“We are looking for great new team members that want to be part of our community, and we have great job opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds,” said Raquel Nachatilo, Human Resources director at the Bismarck YMCA.
The North Dakota Job Service has been trying to connect businesses with future immigrant employees through their new Refugee Career Navigator, Leoncya Ngoma. Her position was created in collaboration with the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services. She focuses on helping new Americans achieve their professional goals.
“We have people who may have been here for awhile or have just come recently, and are trying to figure out how they’re going to, you know, thrive and really settle down and put roots in North Dakota, and we have a lot of employment opportunities here. So this is just a way for them to get connected,” said Ngoma.
To make sure people are making those connections, she makes sure there are translators at events like this job fair to facilitate conversation between future employees and businesses.
To find out what kind of interpreters this event needed, Job Service conducted a study and found that North Dakota has a large Swahili-speaking population, followed by Ukrainian, French and Spanish.
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