About us
Watch this space for details of our roundtables in 2024!
Contact us for more information.
Since 2019 we have met every quarter to share experiences and develop best practice.
Industries: We come from many different industries, including retail (IKEA, Woolworths), transport (Transport for NSW, Metro Trains), banking (ANZ), construction (Aurecon, LXRP, John Holland), property services (WeWork, BGIS, Sodexo), insurance (Allianz), postal (Australia Post), technology (Ericsson, Telstra), education (University of Sydney), management consulting (Accenture), career coaching (GlowUp Careers), State government departments and social enterprises.
Vision: An Australian workforce that enables refugees to participate and thrive in Australia.
Purpose: To collectively increase the number of refugees in the workforce by sharing and learning from each other’s experiences, and through collaboration.
Previous focus topics:
Inclusive interviews
How businesses can support refugees in their working life
Making the business case for recruiting refugees – what works, what doesn’t.
What is Humans Like Us doing?
Humans Like Us wants to improve the integration of refugees into Australia’s workforce by helping employers transform their good intentions into sustainable action.
Many people support refugees in their working life, from the business, community and government sectors. But most are working in isolation, creating programs without the benefit of other people’s experience.
Humans Like Us connects people, to share experiences about what works and what doesn’t. Together we are building our collective wisdom to achieve better jobs outcomes for refugees.
How are we doing this?
We create opportunities for people to learn and collaborate, through the Employer Network for Refugee Inclusion and other activities.
Our advice and this website – which operates as a best practice manual – is based on the most up-to-date research and insights from collaborators.
We help employers navigate the ecosystem of community organisations and government policy; solve internal painpoints; connect to the right partners.
We help community organisations with advice on strategies for successful employer engagement; prepare tailored content for presentations; by facilitating events and professional development for staff.
Contact us to join our mailing list to receive updates on the latest research and resources.
Refugee workforce: How companies like ANZ have tapped into a little-known source of diversity
Aventedge Workforce Inclusion & Diversity Conference, 18 Nov 20 (30 mins).
Building social cohesion through inclusive recruitment Ethnolink webinar, 22 Oct 20 (1 hr).
Practical inclusion: Refugee employment Bree Gorman consulting, livestream event, 9 Feb 21 (30 mins)
Selena Choo, founder
Selena has over 20 years’ experience as a public sector investigator and researcher, and expertise in improving the way government functions in practice. Selena has edited 14 public reports, and authored 4.
Selena started connecting people through her role as the National Manager of the Migration Council of Australia’s Friendly Nation Initiative, authoring the Australian Employers’ Guide to Hiring Refugees, a collaboration with Tent, an international charity mobilising the private sector to improve the lives of refugees worldwide.
Hidden Talent webinar launch, panel discussion featuring ANZ Bank, The Bread and Butter Project, Kaleidoscope Mentoring Program, Glow Up Careers.
23 Nov 21 (90 mins).
Diversity in the workforce: Lessons from ANZ's refugee employment program: In conversation with ANZ’s Inclusion and Talent Manager
WeWork Lunch n Learn webinar, 4 Aug 20 (1 hr 11 m) Passcode: fAe32R!D.
Media
Overcoming the canvas ceiling - Refugee employment (podcast, 10 minutes)
The project filling in the coronavirus language gap (Maggie Coggan, Pro Bono Australia, 29 Apr 20)
Presentation
Call to action to employers: Re-imagining refugees as employees and colleagues
Advancing Social Cohesion Conference, Sydney, 12 February 2020. Powerpoint slides here.