For many forcibly displaced people who are building a new career from scratch, a lack of UK work experience can be a huge barrier to securing a job. This is despite them often being highly skilled and experienced.
That’s why we are pleased to be working with Procure Plus, whose support is helping to provide more refugees and sanctuary seekers with access to tailored employment guidance, skills development and routes into work.
Gaining the right support, as Said’s story below reveals, is transformative and can help lay the foundations for achieving long-term goals.
Once you get your refugee status, support from the government stops and you have to depend on yourself. As a grown man you have to find a way to make things better for yourself.
Said
Said’s story
I am from Tanzania and I came to the UK in February 2024. It was challenging, because you are not allowed to work and I am not the type of person to just stay inside. I started volunteering in Glasgow at a food bank and also with a group in Hartlepool that goes out to the streets and collects rubbish.
I studied Marine Engineering back home. I have knowledge, but I lost everything and everything is gone. After coming to the UK, it felt like a long and painful journey to get back to that career. It would take maybe 10 or 15 years to get to where I wanted to be.
Starting over in a new country
Once you get your refugee status, support from the government stops and you have to depend on yourself. As a grown man you have to find a way to make things better for yourself. I have varied knowledge that includes shipping and logistics. So, I decided the best thing to do is to look for work that is related to my Marine Engineering career.
I started applying for jobs across the Northeast of England, from Newcastle to Sunderland and everywhere else. I applied for many, many jobs but I was never called for an interview.
I thought I should do a course and maybe that will help me. After I finished a Warehousing and Storage Diploma, I continued looking for jobs but didn’t get one. But it was my mindset; I kept thinking that I don’t have experience and can never get a job. I wasn’t applying for just any jobs, I was applying for jobs that could take me where I want to go, where there was career progression.
A friend from Birmingham told me: “You can come here. Maybe there are more opportunities.” That’s why I moved from Hartlepool to Birmingham in January [2025].
I wrote a CV and I tried to look for jobs at first myself. I got two job interviews, but I didn’t get the jobs. One thing I realised was that because I didn’t have any experience in the UK, it was really hard to be trusted. I also didn’t have much confidence to say, “I can do this”.
I wrote a CV and I tried to look for jobs at first myself. I got two job interviews, but I didn’t get the jobs. One thing I realised was that because I didn't have any experience in the UK, it was really hard to be trusted. I also didn’t have much confidence to say, 'I can do this'.
Said
Getting the right support
I joined Breaking Barriers in March 2025. In my first appointment I explained my background and achievements, then I had sessions with Rebecca, my Employment Adviser. She is wonderful. She signed me up to a Jobs Club, where I learned how interviews work and how to prepare using interview techniques like asking myself questions in advance.
I applied for a production job to gain UK experience and show I could be trusted. It was a difficult job, but Rebecca continued helping me apply for logistics roles and look at training options. I was invited to an interview for a warehouse role. They told me they were interviewing 400 people for 50 jobs, and I thought: “I don’t think I can do this”. Rebecca reminded me that being invited meant they wanted to check I was the right candidate, and you have to make then believe you are the right candidate. We practised using the STAR method. After the interview the manager called me the same day to offer me the job.
Looking to the future
My dream is to become a Distribution Manager. Now I can see that after three years I will be 70% to where I want to be. It feels good. It doesn’t feel like I lost my whole Marine Engineering career, because now I can see where I am going.
I’m really grateful to Rebecca. She believed I could do it, and she held me from there. I had lost hope because it was so hard.
I am very happy for what Breaking Barriers do because the very first interview I went for after joining them, is the job I got. Without this help, I would have been looking for a job for a year or more. But help from Breaking Barriers made it easy.
I’m really grateful to Rebecca. She believed I could do it, and she held me from there. I had lost hope because it was so hard. I am very happy for what Breaking Barriers do because the very first interview I went for after joining them, is the job I got.
