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Hi there, based on the story of OldGeekJobs.com by John Wheeler I've created this site with vacancies for refugees with a residence/work permit. Posting to the

Hi there, based on the story of OldGeekJobs.com by John Wheeler I've created this site with vacancies for refugees with a residence/work permit. Posting to the site would indicate that the company acknowledges the refugee's education level. Work is the best way to integrate and we don't want their skills go to waste.

johnwheeler 10y ago
I know a refugee is someone looking for "refuge" because something bad happening in their country, but it's not apparent why I'd want to hire one other than being charitable. Would I get a tax break? Would I get someone who is willing to work harder and accept lower wages? While the latter might sound like exploitation, it might not be if you're building a two-sided marketplace that gives people chances they otherwise wouldn't have. People and businesses are very self-serving. What is the benefit for employers other than charity? Unfortunately (in the U.S. at least), businesses aren't charitable. And, even when they are, the charity is often accompanied by self-serving motives. But it's actually a very effective system: companies get tax breaks, public goodwill, and advertising in exchange for helping people who need it. I think you'd need to focus on incorporating those benefits into your message somehow. Companies posting on Old Geeks aren't being charitable. Some have internal diversity mandates, some are run by older people who aren't allowed to discriminate but are allowed to post on venues promoting diversity. Etc.
- arjnulrich 10y ago
  You're right that people and businesses are self-serving. In The Netherlands we see that refugees don't want to work for lower wages because they will have to contribute to the shelter as soon as they start making money. This morning an article was published stating that someone who would work on a farm for a month would have only €169 to spend after paying the shelter for housing them. So there's definitely work to be done. Regarding businesses, they do get subsidized when they hire a refugee or someone who has been unemployed over a longer period of time. In addition to that, businesses hiring more than 30% from these groups can mention that they're an MVO business (Social Responsible Business). These companies have extra training and/or extra support. Having that said: it's like you said "tax breaks, public goodwill, advertising. I will see how I can get the message more clear on the website. Thanks for your response!
  - johnwheeler 10y ago
    > In addition to that, businesses hiring more than 30% from these groups can mention that they're an MVO business (Social Responsible Business). These companies have extra training and/or extra support. Ok that's fantastic -- there you go. I don't think there's something equivalent in the U.S. which is why I was ignorant. Quick question - can you share your stack and what host you use (as much as reasonable for you)? Reason I'm asking is because I'm putting together a project that's aim is to let you deploy to live on day one (sort of like a PaaS like Heroku or App Engine allows you to do, but the difference is you can use your own VM like Digital Ocean). It's aimed at people doing MVPs, and I'm trying to get a sense of what people like you/me are doing. https://github.com/johnwheeler/startup-starter https://github.com/johnwheeler/startup-starter
    - arjnulrich 10y ago
      Yeah sure, all I have done so far is: 1. Google Form for posting a job 2. refugeejobs.wordpress.com at WordPress 3. Fujobee.com and .eu at GoDaddy 4. fujobee@gmail.com at Gmail Regarding Gmail: I'm using fujobee+.....@gmail.com to test (and possibly also automate) a few things.

johnwheeler 10y ago

I know a refugee is someone looking for "refuge" because something bad happening in their country, but it's not apparent why I'd want to hire one other than being charitable. Would I get a tax break? Would I get someone who is willing to work harder and accept lower wages? While the latter might sound like exploitation, it might not be if you're building a two-sided marketplace that gives people chances they otherwise wouldn't have. People and businesses are very self-serving. What is the benefit for employers other than charity? Unfortunately (in the U.S. at least), businesses aren't charitable. And, even when they are, the charity is often accompanied by self-serving motives. But it's actually a very effective system: companies get tax breaks, public goodwill, and advertising in exchange for helping people who need it. I think you'd need to focus on incorporating those benefits into your message somehow. Companies posting on Old Geeks aren't being charitable. Some have internal diversity mandates, some are run by older people who aren't allowed to discriminate but are allowed to post on venues promoting diversity. Etc.

arjnulrich 10y ago
You're right that people and businesses are self-serving. In The Netherlands we see that refugees don't want to work for lower wages because they will have to contribute to the shelter as soon as they start making money. This morning an article was published stating that someone who would work on a farm for a month would have only €169 to spend after paying the shelter for housing them. So there's definitely work to be done. Regarding businesses, they do get subsidized when they hire a refugee or someone who has been unemployed over a longer period of time. In addition to that, businesses hiring more than 30% from these groups can mention that they're an MVO business (Social Responsible Business). These companies have extra training and/or extra support. Having that said: it's like you said "tax breaks, public goodwill, advertising. I will see how I can get the message more clear on the website. Thanks for your response!
- johnwheeler 10y ago
  > In addition to that, businesses hiring more than 30% from these groups can mention that they're an MVO business (Social Responsible Business). These companies have extra training and/or extra support. Ok that's fantastic -- there you go. I don't think there's something equivalent in the U.S. which is why I was ignorant. Quick question - can you share your stack and what host you use (as much as reasonable for you)? Reason I'm asking is because I'm putting together a project that's aim is to let you deploy to live on day one (sort of like a PaaS like Heroku or App Engine allows you to do, but the difference is you can use your own VM like Digital Ocean). It's aimed at people doing MVPs, and I'm trying to get a sense of what people like you/me are doing. https://github.com/johnwheeler/startup-starter https://github.com/johnwheeler/startup-starter
  - arjnulrich 10y ago
    Yeah sure, all I have done so far is: 1. Google Form for posting a job 2. refugeejobs.wordpress.com at WordPress 3. Fujobee.com and .eu at GoDaddy 4. fujobee@gmail.com at Gmail Regarding Gmail: I'm using fujobee+.....@gmail.com to test (and possibly also automate) a few things.