Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s Mentoring Program for New Immigrants

New Immigrants to Canada of Indian origin will now have an opportunity to be mentored by Indo-Canadians who are successful in their fields.

Announcing the launch, Kundan Joshi, Vice President of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC), said, “The program will connect internationally trained Indo-Canadian newcomers, with successful Indo-Canadian professionals. The mentors will be drawn from the pool of professional talent available within the Chamber’s membership.”

The program will be conducted in association with JVS Toronto and TRIEC and the pilot of the program will commence in March 2011 and May 2011. It will comprise one mentor and 6
mentees in a sector specific mentoring group. Once the group is matched, they will take part in 5 mentoring sessions over a course of 4 months. The main program starts in June 2011.

The objectives of the program are:

 Help new skilled newcomers by matching them with a mentor with similar background
 Help them increase their networks
 Make sound career decisions
 Increase understanding of Canadian workplace culture
 Strengthen the knowledge of community resources and linkages to various settlement services and job resources

The newcomer mentees will benefit from this program by obtaining enhanced self-knowledge, awareness, communication skills, professional etiquette, network, career development tools and eventually become employed in their field of expertise.

The mentors will benefit by optimizing their coaching and mentoring skills, building leadership excellence, exploring new ideas and perspectives, get recognition from ICCC, and importantly
get the opportunity to contribute to the community. 

“If you are a new immigrant or a seasoned Canadian professional, we encourage you to be a part of this program. For more information check www.iccc.org/mentoring,” Joshi said.