Wednesday, May 22, 2013
 
The Mentoring Programme

OMEGA’s Mentoring Programme facilitates occupation-specific mentoring, matching skilled immigrants with business professionals who share the same skills and industry knowledge. Mentors provide advice, support, information and contacts, with the aim of assisting mentees to obtain employment relevant to their qualifications and experience. It is also an opportunity for mentors to develop their one-on-one leadership capabilities and fine-tune their coaching skills.  Read some examples of how the mentoring has really worked well.

The aim of this programme is to provide skilled immigrants with the much needed social capital to access the New Zealand labour market – many have the ‘can do’, they just need the ‘know how’. It also seeks to change the way businesses value the skills newly arrived professionals bring to our labour market.  The mentees who enter the programme possess the education, experience and language skills needed to excel in the workforce. All they are missing are the connections and local knowledge that can only be gained from real-life experience.

The mentoring assists internationally trained professionals in non-regulated1 business professions, and the programme’s main areas are IT, banking and finance, HR, engineering, sales and marketing, and logistics, but other industries are also supported.  Applicants need a minimum Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent post-secondary education, have at least three year’s work experience in their field, be able to communicate in business English, and possess a CV. Each applicant undergoes a thorough screening and interviewing process before being accepted for the programme. The threshold for screening is high, and it is the intention that only work ready, skilled immigrants who are committed and eligible to work in New Zealand participate in the Mentoring Programme.

Mentees are matched with professionals in Auckland who share the same skills and industry knowledge. Mentors make a commitment of 16 hours over 16 weeks and include some of Auckland’s leading business figures.  

1 OMEGA addresses barriers to employment and not the criteria required by regulatory bodies or boards.

 

 

A New Zealand Māori Proverb

Ko taku rourou
Ko tau rou rou
Ka ora te tangata
 
With my resources
And your resources
Everyone will benefit 

 

You may also be interested in...

For Skilled Immigrants:   Apply to OMEGA’s programmes

For Business Professionals:   Volunteer as a Mentor

Read some mentoring Success Stories
 

What people are saying...

 

"When I arrived in New Zealand in December 2009, I had an extremely limited network of companies and contacts and was keen to explore other job opportunities beyond recruitment. [My mentor] Wynnis [Armour] acted as a sounding board for me by providing much needed local knowledge and advice that I valued and that I didn't have, and also introduced me to contacts and networks which aided me in my final decision to join the Madison Group."

An OMEGA Mentee - 2010

 

 

"Being an OMEGA mentor has been a rewarding experience.   I signed up to be a mentor as I believed New Zealand needs all the talent we can get and having lived abroad for ten years, I know how much it helps to have locals show you a sincere welcome as you seek to establish yourself in their country…  I have been sincerely inspired by the courage, energy, tenacity and humility of my latest OMEGA mentee. It hasn’t felt like work to help her… Across the world, the welcome mat for immigrants often feels rather slippery and thread bare. In this respect I think the experience for our immigrants is no different. I am glad therefore to have the chance to be a part of making our kiwi welcome feel more real. I know we will be paid back with interest as a nation for the assistance and support we extend to our eager newcomers."

David Pearce – Mentor and CEO, Canteen

 

 

Figures on the Mentoring Programme (as of July 2010)
  • Approximately 80% of mentees who complete the programme find appropriate work.  
  • Mentees have procured jobs in an array of industries and levels of seniority including: project manager, IT manager, HR manager, lecturer, engineer, key account manager, environmental health specialist, associate director of operations, business analyst, programme manager, health and safety officer, social worker, product manager, consultant, director strategy and planning, sales and marketing manager, trainer, accountant and key account manager.
  • The benefit to job successful mentees is estimated at a combined accumulated annual salary of over $9m.
  • Of the mentors, 41.6% occupy a senior role within their organisation. 
  • More than 70% of mentors report that they are very satisfied overall with the Mentoring Programme, and that they are now more aware of the issues faced by skilled immigrants.
  • Over 6000 mentoring hours have been volunteered by business professionals representing an estimated contribution of $600,000 from Auckland’s business community.

Copyright 2012 by OMEGA