The life of a refugee is full of unknowns. 

Where will I sleep or get my next meal from? When will I be able to see my family again or receive my next paycheck to support them? 

Joblio Founder & CEO Jon Purizhansky (pictured above) lived with those same thoughts throughout his youth, hopping from country to country until Jewish Family Services of WNY (JFS) helped bring him to the U.S. when he was 17. 

“Being a refugee, what’s most bothersome is the unpredictability because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring,” Jon says. “Refugee resettlement agencies, they contribute to predictability because they help you adjust to your new environment at the beginning. They catalyze assimilation with your new environment and make life more predictable.” 

Jon’s personal experience is what inspired Joblio’s exclusive Applicant Concierge Experience (ACE) program, which provides wrap-around support and services that meet the unique needs of each employee placed by Joblio. 

Through valuable and growing partnerships with The Shapiro Foundation and JFS, Joblio has been able to help coordinate legal entry into the U.S. and find employment for more than 15 refugees through the Uniting for Ukraine pathway. 

“Jon had been doing work internationally, but he wanted to work with bringing Ukrainians to the U.S. – particularly to Western New York,” says Meghann Rumpf Perry, JFS senior director, community services. “With his personal life experience with JFS, that got the conversation started with us because it builds trust, connection and understanding.” 

About a year ago, Meghann introduced Jon to The Shapiro Foundation Director Larry Tobin, whose Boston-based private foundation has partnered with hundreds of organizations to serve the world’s most vulnerable and overlooked population. Larry was happy to help Joblio due to its unique ability to tap into a global network to find talent and then pair them with business partners to find roles that fit their skill set. 

The potential for the labor mobility of refugees is massive, Larry adds, because people around the world possess the education and/or skills that many companies are currently struggling to find. And having relationships with agencies such as JFS to welcome New Americans and provide wrap-around services – to help with housing, education, therapists/counselors, a driver’s license, a social security number and more – is critical for retention. 

“Immigrants fill gaps in what we need,” Meghann says. “Companies want to expand, want to take on more people, want to contribute to the economy in a meaningful way, but they don’t have the skilled employees.” 

Instead of competing through identical channels and existing pools, employers who tap into Joblio’s overseas network find several competitive advantages. Namely, it’s a new source of talent, but Larry also says that Joblio’s leadership provides a thoughtful and sophisticated approach to work through problems with. 

“We believe that the most successful societies will find pragmatic solutions and solve economic problems by welcoming pathways for refugees to the U.S.” Larry says. “Joblio is pursuing that in the right way.” 

That approach includes tapping into the expertise of partners such as The Shapiro Foundation and JFS to form connections that bridge the business world with the humanitarian need. 

“We rely on them for what they do well, and they rely on us for what we do well,” Meghann says. “If Joblio is presented a challenge, they open doors because they have a lot of connections and see things in a different way. And we hope that our approach helps them see things in a different way.”