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Company Story: Engent, Inc.

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Over the past three years, Amplio has built profitable partnerships with incredible companies who are opening their doors to the refugee workforce. Engent, a microelectronics developer and manufacturer located in Norcross, Georgia, is among them.

Engent has been leading the way in world-class production, development, and engineering services since their establishment in 2003. The company has worked hard to build an expansive portfolio, since, with clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies, and projects including medical devices to POS terminals and everything in between. Behind these vital innovations are expert engineers and an efficient and ambitious warehouse team—including refugees.

Engent was first connected to Amplio, in May 2016. In need of qualified and dependable labor, and attracted by the mission to help the growing refugee company find work, Engent soon discovered other benefits to hiring from within this untapped labor pool.

Through its partnership with Amplio, the company began saving somewhere between $1-1.50 per hour, increasing revenue by reducing labor costs. Additionally, they noted an increase in efficiency, coincided with a decrease in employee turnover.

Because of the nature of their work, Engent needed the flexibility to find the right people, quickly. While other staffing agencies were more interested in plugging in a person, Amplio, rose to the challenge of filling Engent’s needs with the right person.

But the company is not alone in benefitting from this partnership. Because of Engent’s willingness to open their doors, many refugees have been given the ability to provide for their families, and begin re-building their lives here in America. Management is passionate about treating employees like family, and giving them opportunities to advance within the company, like Banny Javed, of Pakistan.

Banny began as a 3rd shift warehouse worker, and has worked his way up to serving as an apprentice to the electrical engineers. Full of hope and ambition for the future, Banny is taking evening engineering classes to, one day, be a lead engineer.

 

Currently Engent has 8 permanent refugee employees that were connected through Amplio, many of whom play a part in manufacturing of headlights for Tesla Motors.

Recently, Amplio CEO Chris Chancey, along with a representative of Tesla, drove a brand-new Tesla to the Engent warehouse so that the team was able to see how their work contributes to the overall product.

 

The feedback Amplio receives from partnering companies, like Engent, is consistent: Refugee employees are loyal, dependable and hard-working.

“I’m inspired by their humility and gratitude, given all they’ve been through. These guys are all over-qualified for the work they are doing here, but they bring their best effort everyday,” says Jack Schiener, Engent warehouse manager.

 

How can the refugee workforce add value to your company? Join with Engent and dozens of other companies opening the door of opportunity to this qualified and motivated labor pool.

Contact us today to let us know how we can best serve you, and get you connected to the talent you need to grow your business. Visit us at www.ampliorecruiting.com to get started.

 

Team Member Highlight: Sana’s Story

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Sanaullah Hajizada, called “Sana”, was born in raised in the dry, mountainous country of Afghanistan.

Growing up financially unstable motivated him to attend university in the turbulent city of Kabul, where he earned his degree in business and administration. Hard-working and intelligent, Sana earned a job writing proposals for SNBCC, an Afghan construction company, in 2009.

In 2011 he took a job with USAID, a U.S. Government agency providing relief to impoverished regions, and helping them develop effective and resilient systems.

What Sana didn’t realize was his desire to help his nation thrive would soon put a target on his back.

Self-proclaimed enemies of America, terrorist groups like ISIS and alQuaeda consider anyone working with American organizations to be traitors. Insurgents began targeting him and his family in an effort to get him to relinquish his role in aiding the U.S.

Threats increased, and Sana soon applied for an SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) that would allow him and his wife to escape this brutal and life-threatening persecution. His request was approved, and in 2015 Sana and his wife left the only life they knew to begin again on U.S. soil.

They found refuge in Atlanta, Georgia, where Sana immediately came face-to-face with the formidable challenge every refugee is confronted with: finding employment.

“I was looking for a job and didn’t know anyone—and nobody helped me.”

Sana took a modest job at HomeGoods, working long warehouse hours, and began his arduous climb back up the career ladder.

He shared his struggles, “I had an administrative background for ten years, but [businesses] did not believe in my skills and talents because I was not an American, just a refugee.”

Despite opposition, Sana soon landed a more advanced job manufacturing high-quality solar panels with Suniva, Inc.. But he soon faced yet another set-back when the Trump administration closed this government-funded company, leaving him and over 100 other employees jobless.

 

Sana was connected with Amplio, where they quickly acknowledged his accomplished background in administration. They helped fine-tune his resume, and began sending it to local companies in hopes of connecting him with a well-suited career that would enable him to provide for his family, once more.

While working with Sana, Chris Chancey, founder of Amplio, recognized that he possessed just the right skills they needed right there in their office. He offered him a job, and Sana accepted joining the team in April of this year.

“We always say he’s the glue that holds the office together,” Chris comments, “He sees this company as his company… He’s not just punching the clock, he’s doing whatever needs to be done because he feels like this is just as much his business as it is ours, and he wants it to be successful.”

At Amplio, Sana not only completes onboarding and processes payroll for over 100 employees, but he uses his own experience to help other refugees who are facing the same struggles he once did.

“I’ve been through all those hard times, so I don’t want to give them a hard time. I help them, and pave the ground for them, making things happen easier for them.”

Sana lights up as he shares his favorite part of working at Amplio: providing translation services at no cost. Sana speaks three languages: English, Hindi, and Farsi, making him a vital asset to the company, and those they serve.

“I feel proud when a person comes into the office, confident of working hard but unable to communicate in English. They just say, ‘Job’ in a different language. Many are from Asia, and I can often speak to them in Hindi.”

While other staffing companies charge for third-party translation services, Amplio is able to offer this invaluable help for free thanks to Sana’s help. But despite his already impressive language proficiency, he says his next goal is to learn French.

“In Africa, a good number of people speak French. I just want to be able to communicate with more [refugees].”

Currently, Sana works in Amplio’s Atlanta office, where he is now settled with his wife, 2-year-old son, and their new addition, born in June. When he is not helping other refugees find work and re-build their life here in America, he enjoys shopping and visiting local parks with his family.

Sana is just one of the many hard-working and altruistic teammates at Amplio. And his story is just one of the hundreds of success stories that have come out of Amplio’s work in the past three years.

There are millions of talented and motivated refugees, worldwide, who need our help. Like Sana, you can be a part of the solution. Partner with us to hire talent from within the refugee workforce. Start by visiting our website at www.ampliorecruting.com

 

 

Amplio: At the Intersection of Two Great Needs

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Over the past decade, there’s been a quiet shift happening in the U.S. labor force.

2017 marks the seventh year of an unmistakable lack of skilled trade workers in construction, manufacturing, hospitality and logistics industries, due to an absence of applicants. Causes for these shortages range from retiring baby boomers, to industry growth, stringent e-verify requirements, and Millennials’ overall lack of interest in manual labor-based jobs.

 

Construction has been one of the hardest hit industries, since workers were quick to move on to find other trades after the 2007 housing market crash. Now, over 46% of builders are reporting serious shortages, at a time when construction is on the rise.

Additionally, the manufacturing industry projects that it will need to add another 3.4 million workers over the next decade to make up for retirees and industry growth, however current trends will put them over 2 million short of that goal.

The labor shortage problem is growing, but we believe the answer to it has also been growing in cities across the US: the refugee workforce.

 

Since 2015, over 205,400 individuals have found refuge on U.S. soil. Displaced by war, persecution and natural disasters, these men and women have been forced to abandon friends, families, and the only life they ever knew. Striving to establish life here in America, these legal citizens are eager to find respectable employment so they can provide for their families and re-build. Many are not sure where to start their search, and at times face a wary and hesitant public due to changes in political climate.

Amplio founder, Chris Chancey, recognized these two needs and built the company in hopes of bridging that gap—and it is. Since its establishment in 2014 Amplio has connected over 300 refugees to companies in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Raleigh, and now, London.

These motivated and well-educated men and women have added value to companies such as Coca-Cola, The Atlanta Athletic club, FLSA, and many more. But these companies have gained more than just dependable employees—they have gained the satisfaction of helping meet a great need in the growing refugee community.

Beth Claterbaugh, of Mr. Mister, said, “The refugees I’ve met in our office have such a desire to work and provide for their families, and I’m so glad we get to play a small part in that… without the help of Amplio, we truly would not have our fantastic and dynamic team.”

These refugees are a gift to their companies, and these companies are a gift to them.

We believe this is just the beginning of a beautiful, ongoing exchange. With a record 65.5 million displaced individuals worldwide, Amplio is currently pursuing additional relationships with companies across the globe in hopes of closing the gap between labor shortage and refugee need.

Be a part of the solution—partner with us to hire talent from within the refugee workforce. Learn more about how we take on the risk so that you can experience the rewards of an efficient and dependable workplace.

You can start by contacting us at our website: www.ampliorecruiting.com

Together we can bridge the gap.

Our Take on the Refugee Ban

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It seems one can’t turn the channel without hearing more devastating coverage of the heightened refugee crisis. Once just a number, these faces and stories are drawing attention to the once disregarded cries of over 65 million displaced individuals, worldwide.

We’ve all seen the photos: War-torn cities. Families fleeing with only a few belongings and a handful of hope, determined to build a new life in America the Beautiful.

Perhaps your heart goes out to them. Maybe you’ve considered ways you can get involved and help these devastated families who have arrived on our shores.

Perhaps you recognize the pain and suffering, but do not think the solution is found here, on U.S. soil.

Regardless of opinion, the decision we have to make is this:

How will we treat those refugees who have completed the strenuous requirements of admission and now call America home–

Do we simply ignore them and leave them to re-build on their own?

Or do we choose to see their potential, and invest in each individual?

 

Our experience, at Amplio Recruiting, is that the refugee workforce is an incredibly motivated and talented pool of individuals who simply need to be matched with the right opportunities.

With labor shortages in construction, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality and logistics industries on the rise, we believe these hard-working, dependable individuals are the answer to this epidemic. These strong and enduring refugees bring not only cultural and ethnic diversity to the workplace, but strong personal values as well.

Don’t let the media fool you—there is no shortage of manufacturing jobs here in America. Only a shortage of capable and desiring employees to fill them. This is not due to a skill-gap, as many have suggested, but simply a lack of available applicants due to disinterest.

 

Refugees are the answer to this lack. Eager to provide for their families and establish new lives, their dependability can keep companies operating at full employment, saving both time and money.

Leading companies such as Starbucks, IBM, LinkedIn, Goldman Sachs, Airbnb and Google have taken notice and are actively assisting refugees in the re-settlement process, providing valuable training and employment.

Join ranks with these cutting-edge companies who are investing in these worthy individuals. We at Amplio Recruiting would love to help connect you with the talented refugee workforce. We make it easy, ensuring that all the proper legal and financial structures are in place to create safe, enduring and productive partnerships.

To learn more, visit our website at www.ampliorecruiting.com

Ignore or invest—what will you choose?

 

Supporting Local Clarkston Organizations

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When we first began working in Clarkston, one of the leaders in the community told us directly, “For all the ministry work happening in Clarkston, there is very little fruit.”

Unfortunately we’ve seen this happen all too often: a lot of activity, but very little impact.

Against the odds, there are several organizations that are making an incredible impact in Clarkston’s vast refugee population.

Today, we’re sharing a few of our favorites– the organizations we believe in so much so that we support them with 10% of our profits.

 

The Lantern Project

The Lantern Project center provides hands-on instruction for construction industry skills. Their training consists of an 8-month night course in useful trades such as welding, carpentry, pipe-fitting, electrical and masonry.

We have had the privilege of working first-hand with the Lantern Project and can testify to their excellent stewardship and leadership.

 

IAFR

IAFR helps asylum-seekers and refugees recover from forced displacement and rebuild their lives in Atlanta. Sharon Tonzo, the local ministry leader, has a tremendous influence in the community and serves selflessly by giving of her time and energy to develop strong relationships. She is a change agent who is passionately fostering unity and love that surpasses religious beliefs and stereotypes. Sharon has generously used her platform to help connect us with several employees.

 

Refuge Coffee

Refuge Coffee exists to serve the global community in Clarkston through coffee-related job creation, job training, social networking, and commerce. This vibrant coffee shop, located in the heart of Clarkston, is fostering new excitement and unity like nothing else before. Their vibrant red coffee truck is diversity on full display.

Along with good coffee, Refuge is serving up pivotal job training classes for the refugees they employ. In fact, we’ve been able to place two refugees with Refuge Coffee since their inception, and hold regular meetings there as it has become a community landmark.

 

World Relief

World Relief stands with the vulnerable, partnering with local churches to end the cycle of suffering, transforming lives and building sustainable communities. One of several resettlement offices in town, World Relief works hard to ensure the refugees they serve are gainfully employed. Phil, Sergio, and the others on their employment team consistently go above and beyond the call of duty and have even been known to check in on refugees on Sunday nights to make sure they are ready for work the next morning. That’s the kind of passion we love to support!

 

New American Pathways

Another prominent resettlement office, New American Pathways excels in professionalism, while expressly caring for those they serve. NAP provides invaluable resources and opportunities to refugees while being a constant cheerleader and advocate in our efforts to find work for the Clarkston community.

Their dedication to partner with us in seeing our mission succeed is evident by the countless meetings, phone calls, and emails they have taken part in.

 

Cafe Clarkston

Cafe Clarkston is not your typical coffee spot. A ministry of Friends of Refugees, the cafe provides help with resumes, job counseling and even prep classes for hundred of refugees that resettlement agencies are no longer able to serve.

We have experienced first-hand the impact the Cafe has had on so many people who simply desire to provide for their family. We have had the opportunity to place more people from the Cafe into jobs than any other organization in Clarkston.

Help us recruit refugees!

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Thank you considering helping us recruit refugees and provide them with meaningful employment. We have strong relationships with several non-profits operating in the Clarkston community and throughout Atlanta where refugees have been resettled. These non-profits help us recruit refugees for the open positions we have available. Our recruiting efforts are also supported by an active team of refugees who are deeply connected to their ethnic communities and desire to see more of their neighbors find meaningful work. There are a two specific ways you can be involved in the recruiting process.

One way to engage is by signing up for our weekly “Current Job Openings” email. If you live in the Clarkston community or volunteer with various ministries in Clarkston, having access to a list of jobs that are available would be beneficial for those you are serving as well as help us complete the mission of making Atlanta the leading city for refugee employment. Many people have signed up for this email announcement so they can print it out and take it with them to wherever they serve and post it on the wall or give it to refugees looking for work. Simply visit our Find A Job page and sign up for this weekly announcement.

The other way to engage is to volunteer your time by building relationships in Clarkston, both with refugees and non-profits on our behalf. You can visit locations around Clarkston to share our open positions and help decrease unemployment and make Atlanta the leading city for refugee employment. We can give you specific instructions and suggestions on where to go to invest in the community to represent our mission so that more refugees can find fulfilling work and provide for their families.

Thank you for considering serving the refugee community in this capacity. If you spend to long in Clarkston, you may find yourself looking at homes for sale and making the move into the community!

Join our team!

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Thanks for considering joining our team! We’re still pretty small but definitely in growth mode as we attempt to make Atlanta the leading city in refugee employment. We’ve got some big goals and need the right people to join our team to achieve them. Specifically, we’re looking for a full-time business development professional to engage with local companies to provide more opportunities for refugees to find fulfilling work and provide for their families.

Those most qualified will have a background in sales and a strong network in Atlanta. The individual must be self-motivated and have a desire to learn about the refugee process. As we are still in start-up mode, the right candidate will be open to a creative compensation package based mostly on an aggressive commission structure. This will be a remote work position with the ability to determine the weekly schedule according to the present needs. We are looking for someone with the leadership and charisma to eventually manage all operations for the Atlanta office within the next couple years.

The most qualified candidate will have the ability to be just as comfortable with the CEO of a large company as they are in the home of a recently resettled refugee. The right individual will have a passion to serve the refugee families we support and may consider relocating to Clarkston, Georgia to be more integrated in the community.

Most importantly, it is vital anyone applying for this position be aware of our desire to operate this business according to Biblical principles. As Christians, we believe everything we do is worship unto God, our creator, including staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce.

We are an equal opportunity employer and hope to find the best candidate for this role over the next couple months. Any interested applicants can send an email communicating their interest along with their resume to Chris Chancey: chris@ampliorecruiting.com.

Other positions we hope to contract out for soon:

Project Management

Virtual Assistant

Public Relations

Content Writing

Contact Chris if interested in serving the refugee workforce in this capacity: chris@ampliorecruting.com

 

Introduce us to a warehouse!

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To know you would even consider making an introduction to a factory or warehouse in Atlanta is a huge honor. Thank you for being willing to put your reputation on the line for talented refugees looking for a great opportunity to add value to an Atlanta company and provide for their families.

We do not take introductions lightly. Every company we are currently working with and many others in process came to us from an email introduction like the one drafted for you to use below.

Do you know someone who works at a company with a warehouse or a manufacturing plant in the Atlanta area?  The closer to Clarkston, the better! Your contact will know the right person to introduce us to within the company even if they are not involved with hiring. Whether or not the company is currently hiring, getting us on the radar of a warehouse or factory by sending the below drafted email would still be a valuable connection for us to follow up on later in the year.

Please feel free to edit this draft as needed and then copy, paste and send to a friend on our behalf. Please CC us on the email (chris@ampliorecruiting.com) and we will follow-up promptly and professionally.

Subject: Hiring at (company name)

(Name),

I’d like to introduce you to Chris Chancey from Amplio Recruiting, a staffing agency placing legal refugees that have resettled in Atlanta with local warehouses and factories. I thought your company might be a potential partner for Amplio and wanted to make this connection. Who would be the right person on your team to connect Chris with?

(Feel free to mention how you know this person if it would add more validity to the email: Chris, Samantha and I went to school together at UGA and I know she’ll help you get connected if possible.)

Hope you can connect with each other soon! Thanks!

-(Your Name)

It’s that easy! Copy and paste this into an email and let’s help some more refugees find fulfilling work and make Atlanta the top city for refugee employment. Thank you for believing in the #RefugeeWorkforce!

Connecting the Dots – Part 2

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This post on how we became the premier Atlanta recruiting agency is continued from last week…

The owner at Mr. Mister said he had paid up to $1500 to a local staffing agency to find staff members half as competent and eager to work as the refugees he had brought on his team.

I knew that if we could place more resettled refugees with local companies, it would be important to ask them to pay competitive fees for the service as to demonstrate value for the worker.

We officially launched a for-profit business a few days later and called it Amplio Recruiting, believing there are ample jobs available and ample good people to fill them. Learn more in part two next week on how we became Atlanta recruiting experts as we are staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce.

As we introduced more refugees to businesses, we began to see the possibility of serving refugees and local companies in other cities around the country. Farmers in California, transport companies in Minnesota, and landscaping crews in New York began to contact us for help, even though we had very little knowledge on the service we were providing.

Though we had to turn down most of the calls for help coming from outside the Atlanta area (and continue to do so), we began to think about uniting the efforts of all the refugee resettlement agencies in the country in a way that would make it easier for companies to access the refugee workforce. We created a software application that allows refugees resettled anywhere in the US to answer a few questions and in turn provides the refugee with a formatted resume, ready to send to prospective employers. Additionally, the information provided by the refugee is securely saved in a publicly searchable database for companies around the country to access as they consider hiring refugees.

As of 6 months into this project, our business model has proven unsuccessful. Though we’ve placed several refugees in the Atlanta metro area into gainful employment, payment for these services has been met with much resistance. We remain confident, however, that as we continue to learn and attempt to solve this problem with innovative solutions, we will find a path forward that will allow agencies and businesses alike to celebrate the talented refugee workforce.

We are not certain where we go from here, but we do know the demand for great employees has never been stronger and we firmly believe refugees are the best solution.

We hope to change the often sleazy connotation that comes with being a staffing firm and seek to help unite the heroic employment efforts being made by resettlement agencies across the country.

We welcome any insight, ideas, criticism, or feedback as we desire to see every refugee find fulfilling employment in their new home.

Connecting the Dots – Part 1

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When my wife and I finally settled on which house to buy, we had many reasons to support our decision, none of which was its proximity to the refugee community of Clarkston, Georgia. However, every errand to Home Depot, Publix, and the Post Office found us interacting with both employees and fellow customers classifying themselves as refugees. As I began to develop relationships with these beautiful and interesting people, I began to learn more about the refugee resettlement process.

One factor that stood out to me was the obvious need for employment, and not just for the financial benefit.

I came across a compelling study on poverty several years ago conducted by the World Bank entitled Voices of the Poor. Researchers surveyed 60,000 people in 60 countries to find out how the poor defined poverty. The results were surprising, as the large majority of people living in poverty described it and its effects as psychologically challenging, not simply a lack of material resources. They cite feelings of “shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression,” and the list goes on. The premise is when people have jobs to help them meet their own needs and provide for their family, they are more fulfilled mentally and physically.

This study was one of the factors that led me to begin working for HOPE International. We help people in some of the most underserved places in the world start or grow a business by using small loans and savings services. My job is to raise the funds needed to continue our operations and provide more loans to our nearly one million clients concentrated in 18 countries around the globe.

This role gives me the opportunity to travel around the Southeast raising funds for HOPE and sharing the message of how work can bring fulfillment in someone’s life and how a job is truly an investment in an individual’s dreams.

As I sit with generous business people in Atlanta and other cities who have supported HOPE’s work, I often find myself asking them how we can help or support them and their business. These conversations often lead to the business owner describing how difficult it is to find and retain good employees. Whether they cited stricter immigration law or unskilled American workers, based on my sample size, businesses of all sizes in every industry seemed to be in desperate need of talented, intelligent, and loyal people.

Ever an optimist, I believed I could help these business owners connect with the refugees in my neighborhood who were so desperately looking for work.

The first refugee introduction I made was to a HOPE donor running Mr. Mister Mosquito Control Company. He needed a couple more responsible and efficient guys to service their client base in Atlanta. I discovered a local organization helping refugees with job search and preparation skills in Clarkston called Friends of Refugees and looked through some resumes for people who might be a good fit for Mr. Mister. I immediately connected with Amara, resettled in Atlanta from Sierra Leone in West Africa, and Gedlu originally from Ethiopia. After explaining to them about the details of the job and answering many obscure questions, they both agreed they were interested in going to an interview to learn more.

The following day, I picked them up and we rode together to the Mr. Mister office and practiced mock interview questions. They performed well in the interview and were both excited when offered the job. Amara even told a family member about the company and we helped him through the hiring process as well!

The owner at Mr. Mister said he had paid up to $1500 to a local staffing agency to find staff members half as competent and eager to work as the refugees he had brought on his team.

I knew that if we could place more resettled refugees with local companies, it would be important to ask them to pay competitive fees for the service as to demonstrate value for the worker.

We officially launched a for-profit business a few days later and called it Amplio Recruiting, believing there are ample jobs available and ample good people to fill them. Learn more in part two next week on how we became Atlanta recruiting experts as we are staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce.