“Enjoying Life” NGO offers internships to older displaced Ukrainians

The Enjoying Life fund starts its annual "Adult Intern's Week" and is looking for companies that want to hire older Ukrainians for internships. 

Rubryka reports that the fund calls for companies to hire active older people who strive to prove themselves in modern professions.

What is the problem?

During the war, thousands of Ukrainians were forced to leave their homes and move to other, more peaceful regions of Ukraine. Among them are many citizens who have already turned 50 and older. 

Many older displaced Ukrainians need to settle in a new city and still want to find work. They are forced to start life from scratch and often feel insecure in a new city, needing a push to believe in themselves and their ability to find work.

What is the solution?

The Enjoying Life fund will hold "Adult Intern's Week" for the fifth time, but the project has a new mission this year. The foundation is looking for internships for people 50+ forced to move to Kyiv from Mariupol, Bakhmut, Sloviansk, and other front-line and temporarily occupied cities and villages.

"Adult Intern's Week" is an opportunity for both older Ukrainians and employers to broaden their outlook and look at their work with a fresh perspective.

For some, it is also the chance to find a dream job or an employee you can rely on.

"During the four years of holding the Adult Intern's Week, we showed dozens of employers that age does not matter when choosing job candidates," says Tina Nikolova Mykhailovska, fund founder. "On the contrary, it can be an advantage because an adult worker is a professional with experience who knows how to do things and wants to communicate with people. This applies even more to older Ukrainians, active and energetic people who keep up with trends and strive to be useful to society."

How does it work?

The "Adult Trainee Week" is a one- or two-week internship (preferably paid), during which older people work in a company — or a new and dream field — or deepen their skills already in the familiar job.

In previous years, during internships, the fund's older wards tried themselves in various professions — they worked as bartenders, baristas, social media workers, managers in creative agencies, and decorators.

Some project participants had a great match with their employers and still work together today. The former accountant became a florist, an engineer turned manager in a tech company, and one engineer found herself in a company, preparing equipment, and became a professional e-athlete.

This year, the Enjoying Life fund has already surveyed future interns about new professions that are interesting to them.

Among the answers:

• QA testing in IT,
• e-commerce,
• confectionery,
• floristry,
• interior design,
• target advertising,
• software development,
• cosmetology,
• SMM,
• photo,
• video editing,
• carpentry,
• metal welding.

Who is the fund looking for?

The fund is looking for companies from various fields that have the ability and desire to take older Ukrainians on a one- or two-week internship and thus prove that ageism is only about misconceptions but not about reality.

The fund is sure that every employer will find a hard worker. Even if you need astronaut trainees or tiger trainers, the fund will have wards who have already tried or dream of trying themselves in this field.

So, if you are ready to invite older Ukrainian to your internship, fill out the Google form and wait for feedback.