The Kaleidoscope Mentoring Program (KMP)
KMP has been helping skilled newcomer professionals improve their employment potential by matching them with mentors from their industry or occupation. This short video highlights some of the key statistics about mentors and mentees who have joined this award winning program.
What is the Kaleidoscope Mentoring Program (KMP)?
Newcomers (migrants and refugees) bring talent, innovation and international expertise to Western Australia, but they need information and networks to succeed. 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 and 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.
KMP mentoring cycle
Each KMP cycle 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 Induction Session online (1 hour)
- Mentor/Mentee Orientation Session ( 1-2 hours) to mark the start of the mentoring program cycle
- Cultural Competency Session (2 hours) to enhance your cultural competency skills
- Graduation Ceremony (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.
Mentees are also required, prior to commencing their mentoring partnership, to complete the job readiness program. This program will run in the weeks preceding the mentorship.
Our Mentoring Program flyer and Infographic provides an overview of the process.
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, the mentee a job.)
- 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.
To become a mentee in our next cycle please complete the Mentee application. Applications for 2022 Cycle 1 will close on 26 November 2021.
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, our mentoring coach will send you an email (at the end of the month you apply) and ask you to book an appointment with our Mentoring Coach to help us understand your mentoring goals. This will help us make the best mentee match for you.
This appointment will be an online appointment via zoom. Our Mentoring Coach will send you an email confirmation with an appointment link to the zoom meeting.
If you have a police clearance that has been issued within the last 6 months then please have this ready to email to your coach during the meeting.
If you do not then please download and complete this form with your relevant identification, and we will submit on your behalf.
The Kaleidoscope Mentoring Program is being implemented under a partnership between the City of Stirling, the City of Canning the City of Swan and Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services and the Western Australian Government through the Office of Multicultural Interests. 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.
