Major British businesses including retailers Marks & Spencer and Asos are offering jobs to Ukrainian refugees as they arrive in the UK.
A coalition of more than 45 large businesses have pressed the government to make the route into the UK easier for refugees fleeing the war.
The group, which also includes high street cosmetics brand Lush and recruitment firm Robert Walters, has told the government it has up to 10,000 jobs available.
Entrepreneur Emma Sinclair, the chief executive of Enterprise Alumni, is leading the drive to help Ukrainian refugees find work.
“The companies involved, especially the recruitment firms, have got thousands of jobs to fill every week,” Ms Sinclair said.
While the move will help those entering the UK support themselves during their time away from their home country, it could also boost Britain’s labour market with the number of unfilled vacancies hitting a record high of 1.298 million in the three months through January.
“We [businesses] want people, we need people and we want to help. We want to see movement on rising numbers of refugees,” Ms Sinclair said.
Marks & Spencer said it was “absolutely committed” to the humanitarian cause in Ukraine. Online fashion retailer Asos said it was looking to offer jobs in the “double digits”, particularly in tech engineering roles — a skill of strength in Ukraine.
Lush said it was also “happy to consider refugees for any role, even those we would usually advertise for internal candidates only”.
Ms Sinclair was meeting Richard Harrington, the UK’s new Minister for Refugees, on Monday to flesh out the scheme further, after the government was criticised for its slow response to the crisis.
Meanwhile, Tesco has made more than 1,400 jobs available for Ukrainian refugees in its Central European business and entrepreneurs are putting out Twitter alerts offering positions for those entering the UK.
More than 2.5 million people — mainly women, children and the elderly — have now fled Ukraine, with men required to stay behind to fight the war.
British hotels and restaurants are also stepping up to support those in need, with Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UK Hospitality, saying she has been “inundated with offers of help and support” as hotels offer spare rooms and restaurants offer food parcels.
More than 3,000 visas have so far been issued to Ukrainians seeking help in the UK, according to Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove. He says “tens of thousands” more will be provided.
Ukraine refugees arrive in Poland - in pictures
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Helena, right, and her brother Bodia, from Lviv, wait at the Medyka border crossing in eastern Poland. AFP -
A brother and sister share a bowl of soup after they and their mother fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine and crossed the border at Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Nadia, a Ukrainian woman, walks around with her baby in a car park in Przemysl, Poland as she waits for help with transport and accommodation. Reuters -
A woman searches through donated clothes for useful items after she and her children fled the Russian invasion in Ukraine and crossed the border in Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Oksana, 30, holds a seven-day-old child after arriving by bus at a rendezvous point organised to help Ukrainian refugees with accommodation and transport to different cities in Poland. Reuters -
Refugees wait for help in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
People wait in a Polish car park to help refugees arriving from Ukraine. Reuters -
A father kisses his daughter after she, her mother and grandmother fled from the Russian invasion in Ukraine and crossed the border in Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Refugees wait for help in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Ukrainian refugees in the town of Maroz near Olsztyn, Poland. EPA -
A Ukrainian refugee in the town of Maroz, Poland. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees in the town of Maroz, northern Poland. EPA -
Hospital employees and volunteers make hundreds of beds to prepare for an influx of Ukrainian refugees in Rzeszow, Poland. AP -
Ukrainian refugees who arrived by evening train from Kiev to Warsaw are helped at the Warszawa Wschodnia railway station in the Polish capital. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive by train from Kiev at the Warszawa Wschodnia station in Warsaw. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive by train from Kiev to Warsaw, Poland. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive from the Medyka border crossing in eastern Poland. AFP -
A man hugs a child at the Polish-Ukrainian border crossing in Medyka, Poland. Getty
As well as businesses helping out, people keen to offer refugees shelter in the UK can now register their interest in sponsoring Ukrainians through the Government's new humanitarian scheme.
Mr Gove has said the process of matching Britons with people fleeing the conflict will take place from Friday, while he expects the first refugees to use the new route will make their way to the UK by the end of the week.
He said he would personally take in a Ukrainian refugee and Academy Award-nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch said from the Baftas red carpet on Sunday that he hoped to take part in the scheme.
But there has been criticism too, with the Refugee Council noting that unlike the UK, all EU countries had waived visa requirements for Ukrainians in the short term.
