Tourism training for asylum seekers – salzburg.ORF.at
business
After a two-year break due to the pandemic, the Salzburg Red Cross is again making efforts to train asylum seekers as apprentices or seasonal workers in the tourism industry in the state. Together with the Salzburg vocational training institute BFI, the rescue organization offers integration courses.
Since Monday, 27 asylum seekers from the refugee accommodation in Seekirchen (Flachgau) and at the river construction yard in the city of Salzburg have been taking six weeks of theoretical training to become gastro assistants. “Then it’s on to the internship area, where companies can get in touch and say we’d like to take a gastronomy graduate,” says
Project manager Herbert Wieser from the Red Cross.
Integration is also the aim of this training. The training project started five years ago. One of the participants at the time was Samir Kabiri. The 26-year-old now works as a waiter in the M32 restaurant on Mönchsberg: When I came to Austria, asylum seekers were only allowed to do shortage jobs, so I thought it would be better to do an apprenticeship because of my language and I decided to go into gastronomy, says the former student, Kabiri. “Now I can stand on my own two feet and I’m very satisfied.”
Training course with a high placement rate
Together with the BFI, the Red Cross started the tenth gastro course on Monday. The placement rate is high – out of 200 participants, 60 ended up completing an apprenticeship in the industry, says Sabine Tischler, regional director of the Red Cross. “The nice thing is that it’s a win-win situation. We have people who come to us where it is important to integrate them into society, and many restaurateurs who are desperately looking for employees,” says Tischler.
The participants came with a lot of motivation, which had to be clarified in the eight weeks as to what one is best suited for, added BFI Managing Director Stefanie Slamanig. The course participants come from different cultures – Joachim Epah Enambong from Cameroon has been waiting for a residence permit for six years. For the law graduate, the course is an opportunity for further training and a leap from basic care.
BFI establishes contact with graduates
The training is financed by donations. Interested restaurateurs can get more information from the BFI course hotline on 0662-8830-81331.
Tourism training for asylum seekers
The Salzburg Red Cross and the BFI Transport Institute are currently organizing integration courses for asylum seekers, as there are efforts to employ them as apprentices or seasonal workers.