7th Annual TD VISMIN-WORLD SKILLS Mentorship Program
On April 21, 2017, World Skills Employment Centre and TD VISMIN Group launched the 7th Annual Mentorship Program. Twenty-three newcomer mentees were matched with twenty-three mentors from TD Canada.
The program started in 2011 and to date, 117 newcomer mentees have benefited from it and 85 mentors from TD have supported the mentees. Each year, over twenty volunteers from TD and World Skills Employment Centre get involved in running the program effectively. Over 600 lives have been touched through the many activities and mentoring interventions.
TD VISMIN-WORLD SKILLS Mentorship Program Champions
World Skills would like to thank to the Executive Sponsors from TD Canada – Michelle Wilson, Lina Abdelhussein, and Connie Chan and for sponsoring the program this year. For programs to be successful there must be champions; Mayank Sharma, co-chair of the TD VISMIN network at TD and Magdalene Cooman at World Skills Employment Centre have been the champions for this program from the inception.
You too can become a champion! Learn how by clicking here.
Photo gallery of 7th Annual Mentorship Program.
The Power of Learning and Networking
The main goal of this program is to support newcomers to secure employment in Ottawa by leveraging on the power of networking and building the skills to be successful in the workplace. Networking is one of the biggest barriers faced by newcomers and this initiative has, in many cases, resulted in employment from the new connections they acquire. Testimonials from newcomers have revealed that the mentees receive many benefits such as increased confidence, resume and interview support, expansion of their personal and professional networks, a welcoming community and access to opportunities which they wouldn’t have thought of prior to the mentorship program.
TD VISMIN-WORLD SKILLS Mentorship Program Details
The mentorship program runs for three months and includes four major touch-point activities which bring mentors, mentees and other professional staff from TD together to learn more about the Canadian workplace.
Touch Point 1: Facilitating the match between the mentor and mentee and cross cultural communication training.
Touch Point 2: HR and Resume Writing
Touch Point 3: Interview Roulette
Touch Point 4: Wrap Up Celebration
Cultural Differences and Challenges in Cross-cultural Communication
Magdalene Cooman, Director of Employer Engagement from World Skills Employment Centre, delivered the cross-cultural training session at the launch event. Her presentation focused on an introduction to culture and cultural differences, challenges in cross cultural communication, and understanding cultures through one of the culture modes by G. Hofestede. For more insights about this session, please click here.
World Skills Employment Centre can help you to recruit talent for your hiring needs and to support your workplace in cross-cultural training to keep the best talent and create a culture where everyone can feel belonged. Find out more here.
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