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Thursday, September 09, 2010
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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.
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.
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Figures on the Mentoring Programme (as of July 2010)
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- 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.
- 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.
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