Digital opportunities or additional barriers? Exploring the experiences of higher educated refugees using social media in their search for adequate employment

One of the main barriers highly educated refugees face in the Netherlands is obtaining adequate employment. Social media is becoming an increasingly important tool during the job search process. Social network sites such as LinkedIn present opportunities for refugees to obtain host country social capital. Therefore, great emphasis is often placed on using social media for professional purposes by organizations and policy makers, as this would enhance refugee resilience. Refugee resilience is embedded in neoliberalism, favouring entrepreneurial mind-sets and focused on personal agency. However, caution must be taken when presenting social media as a solution for refugees to overcome contextual barriers they face during the job search process, as social media might not present equal opportunities for everyone. This study therefore examined the experiences of highly educated refugees in the Netherlands who used social media for professional purposes, generating insights in these experiences from the participants’ point of view. Eight semi-structured interviews have been conducted, embedded in theories of social capital, employment, social media and the digital order, and neoliberalism and personal agency. Findings indicate that refugees have embraced this neoliberal mind-set and the use of social media for employment purposes. Over the past years, there has been a rise of digital professional refugee networks. In these social media networks, employment information is shared, vacancies are posted and resources are being exchanged. However, many participants seem to focus their digital practices mainly on such refugee networks, limiting opportunities for obtaining bridging social capital containing native contacts. This focus is a result of negative experiences many participants have had on social media, such as online bullying and discrimination. These experiences, as well as cultural differences, often lead to reluctance amongst refugees to profile themselves on social media. In conclusion, higher levels of trust are necessary on social media platforms in order for everyone to express themselves freely and engage with each other openly.