Talent is Ready: Promising Practices for Helping Immigrant Professionals Establish their American Careers

Drawing on the collective experience of the five non-profit organizations that make up the IMPRINT coalition, this report addresses the challenge of serving the 2.7 million college-educated immigrants in the U.S. who are unemployed or under-employed.  

Describing the impact of this underutilization of talent as "staggering - lost wages, lost productivity and a squandering of human capital," the authors sketch the outlines of a comprehensive approach to meeting the needs of this population.

The authors provide guidance on the initial assessment of an immigrant professional, including the credential evaluation process and the usefulness of an empowerment model in relating to program participants. Three skill-building processes that are vital to career re-integration are then discussed: learning English, acquiring technical skills and refining professional job search skills.

The final section discusses opportunities for organizational capacity-building, including integrating volunteers and engaging employers. As the challenge of serving immigrant professionals is an emerging one, the five IMPRINT organizations seek to scale up "the patchwork of innovative programs and ideas" that exist now. (Summary by Nick Montalto)

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