TY  - JOUR
A1  - Verwiebe, Roland
A1  - Kittel, Bernhard
A1  - Dellinger, Fanny
A1  - Liebhart, Christina
A1  - Schiestl, David
A1  - Haindorfer, Raimund
A1  - Liedl, Bernd
T1  - Finding your way into employment against all odds?
BT  - successful job search of refugees in Austria
JF  - Journal of ethnic and migration studies
N2  - Labour market entry poses enormous challenges for recently arrived refugees, ranging from language barriers, devaluation of human capital, unfamiliarity with customs of the job search process to outright discrimination. How can refugees overcome these challenges and quickly enter gainful employment? In this paper, we draw on interviews with 26 male and female refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, conducted in 2017 and 2018, who came to Austria in 2015 and 2014 and who have successfully entered employment. We depict refugees’ own perspectives on and strategies for fast job entry and integration. Personal agency and a proactive approach of seeking and seizing opportunities are key for overcoming initial barriers and entering upon positive integration pathways. At the same time, refugees’ personal agency is essential for establishing social ties to the host society, which also play a crucial role in early labour market integration. Finally, institutions of the Austrian labour market (the ‘apprenticeship’-system) interact with refugees’ agency in most intricate ways, both setting up nearly insurmountable barriers but also providing specific opportunities for refugees.
KW  - Refugees
KW  - job search
KW  - agency
KW  - social capital
KW  - human capital
KW  - Austria
Y1  - 2018
UR  - https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:937263
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2018.1552826
SN  - 1369-183X
SN  - 1469-9451
VL  - 45
IS  - 9
SP  - 1401
EP  - 1418
PB  - Routledge
CY  - Abingdon
ER  -