Upwardly Global

Upwardly Global

Type	501(c)(3) nonprofit
Industry	Social Entrepreneurship, Immigrant Inclusion, Corporate Diversity
Founded	1999, United States
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, United States
Key people	Jane Leu, Founder ; Nikki Cicerani, CEO 2009-2018 ; Jina Krause-Vilmar, CEO 2018-present
Products	Career counseling, career resources, mentoring, training, resume services
Revenue	5,115,280 United States dollar (2016)
Website	www.upwardlyglobal.org

Upwardly Global is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, based in San Francisco with additional offices in New York, Chicago, and the DC area that helps immigrant, refugee and asylee professionals rebuild their careers in the United States.

Mission[]

Upwardly Global's mission is to eliminate employment barriers for skilled immigrants and refugees, and integrate this population into the professional U.S. workforce.^[1]

A growing share of new arrivals to the U.S are highly skilled. Almost half of immigrants entering the U.S. between 2011 and 2015 had at least a bachelor's degree.^[2] However, nearly 2.3 million immigrants with college degrees—or one out of every four—are unemployed or working well below their skill level. The Migration Policy Institute call this loss of talent "brain waste" and it results in skilled immigrants missing out on more than $39 billion in wages annually, and governments losing out on $10 billion in tax payments.^[3]

Upwardly Global helps immigrant, refugee, and asylee professionals find jobs in their career fields. To date, over 7,000 immigrants from more than 100 countries have secured professional jobs with starting salaries of $60,000 on average.^[1]

To qualify for Upwardly Global's program, candidates must have:

• A university-level education
• Permanent, legal U.S. work authorization (not employer sponsored)
• Proficient English skills
• Some professional work experience outside the U.S.

They cannot be or have been:

• Already working in their career field here in the US
• In the US for over seven years

History[]

Beginnings[]

Upwardly Global was started by Jane Leu in 1999 in San Francisco. After having worked extensively with immigrants, asylees, and refugees, Jane perceived a need for programs targeting educated, experienced immigrants in particular. Newspapers have described cases of underemployed immigrant professionals—lawyers working as gas station attendants, doctors as doormen—as the "American classic." Multiple organizations exist to assist immigrant job-seekers, but few have the resources required to assist those with professional-level backgrounds. Upwardly Global is unique in the United States as an organization that specializes in matching qualified immigrants with high-skill positions. Jane began working with such immigrants part-time, unpaid, from her own kitchen.^{[citation needed]}

In 2000, the organization received its first official grant from the Three Guineas Fund. In the next few years, the list of donors expanded to include the Levi Strauss Foundation, the Draper Richards Foundation, and various private donors. Nikki Cicerani served as the organization's President and CEO from 2009-2018, leading the organization's expansion from two metropolitan areas to four, and launching online, virtual services. She currently serves on the organization's Board of Directors.^[4] In 2018, Jina Krause-Vilmar took over as the President and CEO of Upwardly Global. Jina arrived at Upwardly Global with 15 years of experience in for-profit and non-profit sectors.^[5]

Present day[]

The organization currently has physical offices located in San Francisco's Financial District, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The organization has received numerous awards, including the 2004 Manhattan Institute Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the 2006 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award, the 2010 E Pluribus Unum Award.^{[6][third-party source needed]}

The organization continues to receive funding from private donors, as well as from the Achelis Foundation, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, the Alan Slifka Foundation, Cisco Systems, Community Technology, Foundation for California, the Draper Richards Foundation, the Gimbel Foundation, the Johnson Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, the Leitner Family Foundation, New Profit, Inc., the New York Times Foundation, the Robin Hood Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, the Third Millennium Foundation, Three Guineas Fund, Wells Fargo.

Most recently, Upwardly Global has been working to address restrictive state licensing laws. 165,000 internationally trained healthcare professionals live in the U.S. with a range of education, skills, and experiences—including past pandemics and crises like the Ebola and SARS outbreaks.^[7] However, complex state licensing laws, misunderstandings of credentials, limited professional networks, and other systemic barriers leave these healthcare professionals on the sidelines—even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when frontline support was scarce. Upwardly Global is working with state governments to change these laws to protect patients and build needed capacity.

Strategy and outreach[]

Jobseekers[]

This section about Jobseekers relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve this section about Jobseekers by adding secondary or tertiary sources. (October 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Upwardly Global clients

Jobseekers that fit requirements have free access to Upwardly Global programs and in-person and digital services. Activities, programs and resources include:

• Resume and cover letter assistance
• Workshops
  • Networking skills
  • Interviewing skills
• Mock interviews
• Mentoring and advising by volunteers
• Access to free classes to earn credentials
• Submission of resumes to relevant employer partners

An Upwardly Global workshop

Upwardly Global COO, Camille Ramani, speaks to jobseekers at a workshop on interviewing

These programs and activities address what Upwardly Global considers a four-fold challenge for immigrant professionals:^{[citation needed]}

1. Lack of networks. In the US, 85% of jobs are secured via personal connections and referrals. The situation is the same in other countries. In many cases Upwardly Global job seekers are well connected in their country of origin, but do not have professional contacts and networks in the United States.

2. Resume presentation. In the United States, a job seekers’s resume is his or her personal sales brochure. Recruiters look for specific elements and are accustomed to a familiar, often brief, format. In other countries, the resume may have a different role in the recruitment process; format and length may differ as well. For these reasons, unless referred by a reputable source, such as Upwardly Global, immigrant job seekers are often dismissed upon first review.

3. Self promotion. We know the interview as a time when candidates sell themselves. In many cultures, however, unabashed self-promotion is seen as brash and frowned upon. Foreign-born job seekers may have different communication styles that can be misinterpreted by interviewers as a lack of self-confidence.

4. Misconceptions. The most common reason foreign-born job seekers do not advance quickly in the recruitment process is that they are – in a word – foreign. People are unfamiliar with their accents, their resumes, their university degrees, their foreign employers, and their choice of words. Many of us subconsciously dismiss quality candidates because they are an unfamiliar entity.

Employer network[]

Upwardly Global has partnerships with such companies as Accenture, Google, Wells Fargo, S&P Global, Standard Chartered, TD Bank.

Upwardly Global's strategy for interaction with employer partners follows a basic three-level process:

1. Education Through training, Upwardly Global works with HR professionals to expand cross-cultural hiring practices.

2. Engagement Employees of partner companies are invited to volunteer for Upwardly Global, individually or in groups. This important step increases awareness about immigrant professional potential and creates "internal advocates for global diversity."

3. Employment The final component is the intersection of needs and goals between the job seekers and companies. Upwardly Global functions similarly to a recruiter by steering qualified and interested candidates towards open positions in employer partner companies.

Important Links and Resources[]

• Upwardly Global Application Page
• Licensing Guides
• Upwardly Global Free Online Courses

Notes[]

^ Upwardly Global places skilled immigrants in jobs worthy of their talents.. Standford Social Innovation. Spring 2010.

^ Bar Serves as Classroom for Immigrants Learning Job-Hunting Skills.. The New York Times. February 28, 2010.

^ Non-Profit Helps Immigrants Launch New Careers.^{[permanent dead link]}. CBS 5. May 27, 2009

^ Fact Sheet on the Foreign Born: Language and Education Characteristics. 2007. The Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved August 14, 2007.

^ Immigration Policy Brief - New Census Bureau Data Underscore Importance of Immigrants in US Labor Force 2007. Paral, Rob. The American Immigration Law Foundation. Retrieved August 15, 2007.

^ More immigrants, more jobs. July 11, 2005. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 14, 2007.

^ The 2006 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Awards. The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. Retrieved August 14, 2007.

^ Upwardly Global: About Us: FAQs. Upwardly Global. Retrieved August 13, 2007.

^ IV. Review of the list of least developed countries. March 2003. The United Nations. Retrieved August 14, 2007.

^ Upwardly Global: Impact Statistics. Upwardly Global. Retrieved July 14, 2021.

^ GuideStar Report: Upwardly Global GuideStar. Retrieved August 14, 2007.

^ Legal Immigrants Have Trouble Finding Jobs May 30, 2006. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 14, 2007.

References[]

External links[]

• Upwardly Global
• Upwardly Global on Youtube