Portland to hold networking event for immigrant professionals

Tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., the city of Portland and a group of partner organizations are holding a networking event for recent arrivals to this country looking for work in their professional fields.

In reporting on the challenges facing immigrants in the Portland area, I’ve learned that many were doctors, lawyers and teachers (among other things) in their native countries before extenuating circumstances forced them to pack up their belongings and seek new lives in America.

Resuming those professions here, however, is often complicated by their lack of professional networks and the question of how their credentials are transferred to the new environment.

This event, which is being held at the Council on International Educational Exchange at 303 Fore St., aims to help immigrants with those problems. Here’s more about the event as provided by the city of Portland in an announcement:

Tomorrow, the city of Portland along with Portland Adult Education, Catholic Charities, Coastal Enterprises Inc., and New Mainers-Refugee Workforce Development Project will hold its second annual ‘International Night of Networking: Unpacking Transferable Skills.’ The region’s top employers including health care providers and financial institutions will be assembled to network with foreign educated and credentialed immigrants who come to their adopted country ready to work and transfer their professional skills and expertise. The event presents an excellent opportunity for local businesses to meet a vast untapped pool of global professionals, ready and eager to work in the community. Last year, more than fifty community members met with fifteen different local businesses to discuss employment opportunities. Admission is free.

Seth Koenig

About Seth Koenig

Seth has nearly a decade of professional journalism experience and writes about the greater Portland region.