Prospects for a new career
We’re all familiar with the images we’ve seen in recent years: floods of refugees in search of a new home. Some of them ended up in the Netherlands and were given permission to stay. But settling isn’t the same as being able to work. Unfortunately, a fair chance on the labour market isn’t yet an automatic right for asylum status holders. They may have residential status and talent, but obtaining work is more difficult. The Reboot programme was established to close that gap. From 2019 to 2022, ABN AMRO helped 80 refugees find meaningful work as part of the Reboot programme. Until 2025, we will hire 20 people with a refugee background per year, doing meaningful work at the bank. Work that literally places demands on their skills and abilities.
Open country, closed doors
When they flee their country of origin, refugees take with them only what's absolutely necessary. Educational certificates and professional testimonials have to be left behind. So when they arrive in their newly adopted country, how do they prove they are highly trained and have relevant work experience? Quite simply, they can’t. In addition, status holders have a gap in their CV, do not speak the language and have to rebuild their network. That explains why very few status holders manage to find work that is appropriate to their skills. This is both unfair and a waste of talent.
Professional ‘reboot’
A small group of bank employees therefore teamed up with the Refugee Talent Hub and Amsterdam city council to launch the ‘Reboot’ programme. This is a special programme which gives talented status holders the opportunity to meet with ABN AMRO managers. If a match is achieved, they are offered paid employment. This gives them the chance to become financially independent, which is vital for building a stable future.
Intensive supervision
Intelligence, application and ambition are the same the world over, but working methods and customs often differ from country to country. Those differences shouldn’t be allowed to get in the way of employment. To maximise the programme’s effectiveness, the status holder, the rebooters and their manager are given intensive supervision. Everything from learning Dutch to intercultural communication and personal development: we’re pulling out all the stops to ensure that intercultural differences on the workfloor become an added value, not an obstacle.
Double impact
We have also inspired others with the . Companies such as Rabobank and Philips have also started to actively hire asylum status holders. We have transferred our knowledge and experience to create double impact.
%20--%3e%3csvg%20version='1.1'%20id='blockquote'%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20xmlns:xlink='http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'%20x='0px'%20y='0px'%20viewBox='0%200%2048%2032'%20style='enable-background:new%200%200%2048%2032;'%20xml:space='preserve'%3e%3cstyle%20type='text/css'%3e%20.st0{fill:%23C0D1D0;}%20%3c/style%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M28,2.13v15.79c0,1.14,0.92,2.06,2.06,2.06h9.91c1.14,0,2.06,0.92,2.06,2.06v0.96c0,3.81-1.13,4.93-4.95,4.93%20h-7.03C28.92,27.94,28,28.87,28,30v0c0,1.14,0.92,2.06,2.06,2.06h10.99c3.82,0,6.95-3.11,6.95-6.92v-5.16v-7.83V2.13%20c0-1.14-0.92-2.06-2.06-2.06H30.06C28.92,0.07,28,0.99,28,2.13z'/%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M0,2.13v15.79c0,1.14,0.92,2.06,2.06,2.06h9.91c1.14,0,2.06,0.92,2.06,2.06v0.96c0,3.81-1.13,4.93-4.95,4.93%20H2.06C0.92,27.94,0,28.87,0,30v0c0,1.14,0.92,2.06,2.06,2.06h10.99c3.82,0,6.95-3.11,6.95-6.92v-5.16v-7.83V2.13%20c0-1.14-0.92-2.06-2.06-2.06H2.06C0.92,0.07,0,0.99,0,2.13z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Everything from learning Dutch to intercultural communication and personal development: we’re pulling out all the stops to ensure that intercultural differences on the workfloor become an added value, not an obstacle.