Roopah Gangalaramsamy spent 15 years working in the banking industry in her native Mauritius. She is educated, experienced and believes she could be a welcome addition to her new country's financial industry.
But since landing in Guelph last year it's been extremely hard to find work in her field, despite being good at what she does.
"It can be very difficult. Learning how things are done here has been one of the biggest challenges," said Gangalaramsamy. "I have years of experience, but there are many things to learn when you come to a new country."
Thanks to a program at Guelph's Lutherwood employment services, people like Gangalaramsamy are getting the help they need.
Lutherwood's Mentorship Program for Internationally Trained Professionals pairs immigrants with a professional background with someone locally in the same field.
In Gangalaramsamy's case, it's the manager of a Downtown Guelph bank.
Carlos Martins, who manages the program for Lutherwood, said there are currently 40 immigrants working with 30 mentors.
The program, funded through the federal government, is for professionals, such as engineers, financial advisors, supply chain managers and people with PhD's, who need help understanding the rules, regulations and cultural differences of finding similar work in this country.
Applicants have to be either a permanent resident, landed immigrant or refugee and have tested at at least a level 7 in English.
"The mentor will guide the mentee on how to network, how to improve their resume, checking to see if they need more certification here: basically training them to be more employable," Martins said.
Immigrants work with a mentor for three to six months for roughly an hour a week.
Martins said a job is not promised and is not the goal of the program, but it can happen.
"I truly believe this program can help people access the hidden job market," Martins said. "Only 20 per cent of jobs are advertised. How do we access the other 80 per cent?"
The program has been signing up individual mentors in the past and is now hoping to sign up companies that will sign up as mentors.
Danby Appliances is one such company that has come on board.
Kristyn Ainslie, logistics coordinator at Danby, said it can be a mutually beneficial relationship.
She mentors a man who worked in supply chain management in Serbia.
"He's learning how we do things here and I'm learning how they do things there," Ainslie said.
Ainslie said there are many subtle differences, such as terminology, how resumes are done in other countries and coming across the right way in emails when job searching.
"In Serbia I'm finding it was very dry, very factual. Here it can be the little things that are so important when looking for a job, being more relateable."
Martins said the program can change lives and mentors know that.
"They are really happy to see that by sharing their experience they can change the future of an entire family sometimes."
Anyone interested in taking part in the program, as mentor or mentee, can contact Martins at [email protected].
