Yilmaz Dinc
Research & Partnerships Specialist, TRIEC
Among the many challenges facing newcomers looking to establish their careers in Canada, underemployment can have the most lasting impact. Unable to find a position in their area of expertise, newcomers are often forced to take on survival jobs. The issue is so prevalent that in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), nearly one in two newcomer men and two in three newcomer women with a university degree end up in jobs that require lower qualifications.
What would it take to reverse this? One of the solutions is mentoring — linking newcomers with professionals who are already established in Canada.
TRIEC Mentoring Partnership, for instance, works with companies across the GTA to connect experienced professionals with newcomers in the same field. These pairings, which exist across a variety of sectors from banking to hospitality, are ultimately aimed at landing the newcomer a good job in their own field. One of the former mentees, Muhammad Sarwer, a software developer in the automotive industry, says that, “the program was a turning point in my career. My mentor helped me greatly to get familiar with the corporate
culture here.”
To date, more than 17,000 Canadian newcomers have benefited from the program, with 77% having found work in their field or a related field within six months.
