By Eman El-Atawy
“Hit Re-Start,” a pilot program run for newcomer engineers by the Community Connection Mentorship Program (CCMP) and led by Eman El Atawy and Shakira Quraishi , has the end goal of getting these professionals job ready. Our mentees comprise of exceptional foreign trained engineers who were eager to join the program in order to get the training, information and support they need for an effective job search. What makes this program unique is its holistic nature. We have brought together people and organizations to address all aspects of the job search from resume preparation to identifying potential job openings. In addition, one-on-one meetings between mentors and mentees allow for a very personalized approach. It is a comfortable atmosphere for mentees to have their specific questions answered, and for mentors to be able to provide tailored information and feedback. This is something that we could not do without our extraordinary volunteers.
Helen Latimer is the Founder of 925 Resources Inc: Making You a Better Office Professional http://925journal.com/ who has been volunteering with Culturelink for many years. She makes a huge difference in motivating and supporting our newcomers, especially through the time and effort she puts into our Hit restart for engineers. Helen has volunteered to run Hit restart training in 2016 and happily agreed to facilitate the program that will run from Feb 6 to Feb 10, 2017. She always has a unique way of getting things done. As she says, “Sometimes a different way of looking at a situation can be the spark that leads to something wonderful.”
Mr.Sabri is a mechanical engineer who has been working in Canada for 17 years. When I first approached him about helping my newcomer engineers, I could feel the positive energy he had. After explaining the program to him he offered to contribute his expertise. And so, he became the first engineer mentor for my pilot project for engineers.
Valerie Light is school teacher with many years of experience in teaching people whose first language is not English. I was lucky to have a remarkable person like her as part of the Hit restart team. She puts her heart, soul and energy in everything she is doing and that reflects in the amazing relation she has with all the newcomers in the program.
“Nadeem and Mohan during a training session with our employment counselor Laura Lambton Smith before going for their information interview.”
Nadeem El shikh one of our newcomers who joined the program says,
“I really appreciate the CultureLink settlement service in their effort to help the newcomers to Canada to settle down. The staff is very cooperative and are excited to meet and support me in any way possible. The experience with networking and mentoring program is remarkable and able to network with many people in my field. I also had an information interview with a professional in my field and was able to get insight of industries which benefit me to understand and present myself to future opportunities.”