Anya Abdulakh and Jenny Noe-Nordberg from Families4Peace 

EMPLOYERS are being encouraged to hire Ukrainian refugees, amid warnings many have “incredible skills that aren’t being put to use”.

Refugee support charity Families4Peace is inviting local employers to work with them to “offer more structural support to the Ukrainian community in London with job opportunities”.

According to the most recent data released by the Office for National Statistics, most adults who have arrived in the UK from Ukraine as refugees have found work, with 56 per cent now employed.

But of that number, the majority did not work in the same sector as they had in their home country. Bohdanna Kryviac, 42, arrived in Kentish Town as a refugee last April.

Formerly a lecturer in Latin Medical Terminology at the Lviv National Medical University, Ms Kryviac found a job working in Gail’s Café in Swain’s Lane last year.

“It was a completely different experience to what I did at home,” she said. “It was difficult because it was physical, you did a lot of standing. In other ways it was really interesting and even meditative making sandwiches.” She has since landed a job in a medical centre with a role closer to her previous line of work.

Bohdanna Kryviac

“My everyday routine is so busy, I don’t have time to miss [academia],” she said.

For those who have recently arrived from Ukraine, fluency in English is often the limiting factor.

“Employment is difficult – the language barrier is the main problem. But everyone had experience in Ukraine of working somewhere,” Ms Kryviac said.

Jenny Noe-Nordberg of Families4Peace said: “There’s a shortage of workers. I don’t know how many times I’ve been to a restaurant recently where they said the kitchen’s a bit slow because they’re under-staffed

“We try to tell people: ‘take what comes along’. Generally people have been able to find work. I think the bigger issue has been not necessarily being able to get the job that’s equivalent to what you had at home.

“I have to say I’m very sympathetic to people being frustrated by that. I have a neonatal doctor who lives with me and of course she can’t work as a doctor.

“We have a lot of very motivated, very well-educated individuals who have come here and many of them have incredible skills that aren’t being put to use. I think it’s great for the workforce.”

Any businesses keen to work with Families4Peace are encouraged to email the charity on info@­families4peace.co.uk