About the Kaleidoscope Mentoring Program
Newcomers (migrants and refugees) bring talent, innovation and international expertise to Western Australia, but they need information and networks to succeed. The Kaleidoscope Mentoring Program (KMP) aims to help skilled newcomer professionals improve their employment potential by matching them with mentors from their industry or occupation.
Mentors guide newcomers on a pathway to find employment within their industry. This benefits both the newcomers and employers in Western Australia by sharing new ideas and boosting business development and cultural diversity in both the workplace and the community.
A growing number of Employer Partners are supporting the program supporting/nominating their employees to become mentors in the program. At the same time, interested professionals are also individually joining the program as mentors.
KMP Objectives
Mentors work with their mentees to help them build an understanding of:
- Australian workplace culture
- Give an insight to mentee’s profession/industry
- occupationally specific professional networks to assist them to achieve their career goals.
In return, the mentors benefit by enhancing their leadership, mentoring and cultural competency skills while working with a newcomer mentee.
However, the mentor’s role is NOT to find a job for the mentee.
Mentoring Cycle
KMP program runs for three (3) months during which the mentors and the mentee work together for a minimum of 18 hours or approximately 1.5 hours each week. Connections can be through:
- face-to-face meetings
- online e.g. email, chat applications, Skype, etc
- phone conversations
- job shadowing
- networking at events
In addition, the mentors and the mentees are expected to attend the following sessions to reap the maximum benefit out of this program.
- Mentor/Mentee Orientation Session (about 2 hours) to mark the start of the mentoring program cycle.
- Cultural Competency Session (about 2 hours) to enhance your cultural competency skills.
- Graduation Ceremony (about 2 hours) to mark the conclusion of the mentoring program cycle.
The mentees will need to put in another 10 hours (approx.) preparing and arranging their meetings and to complete the logs of their meetings.
Our Mentoring Program flyer and Infographic provides an overview of the process.
Know more about our various mentoring cycles.
KMP 2019 Cycle 2 (Aug – Nov 2019) (Current mentoring cycle)
KMP 2020 Cycle 1 (Feb – May 2020) (Upcoming mentoring cycle)
Become a KMP Mentee
You will need to submit your application online and meet the eligibility criteria for the program to join as a mentee. (Please note: The mentor’s role is NOT to find you a job the mentee.)
- Why you should become a mentee and your Eligibility Criteria?
- Frequently asked questions on becoming a mentee
- You can review the questions asked in the Mentee application before applying.
Mentee applications for 2020 Cycle 1 closed on 3 Nov 2019. You can submit your Expression of Interest in becoming a KMP Mentee, to be run from July – September 2020, below.
Become a KMP Mentor
We are continuously recruiting mentors whom we will match with mentees in our upcoming mentee intake.
- Why you should become a mentor and your Eligibility Criteria?
- Frequently asked questions on becoming a mentor
- You can review the questions from the Mentor Application here before applying.
After submitting your application, please book an appointment with our Mentoring Coach (using the link) below to help us understand your mentoring goals. This will help us make the best mentee match for you.
The Kaleidoscope Mentoring Program is being implemented under a partnership between the City of Stirling, the City of Canning and Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services and the Western Australian Government. The Program has been created in consultation with the Toronto Regional Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC). Their successful TRIEC Mentoring Partnership program is the model for mentoring programs across Canada and internationally.
