Mentors will work one-on-one with a job seeker, providing essential support to African migrants, primarily women who are former refugees from South Sudan, who are now permanent residents or Australian citizens. They come from difficult circumstances and disadvantage (war, refugee camps etc.) and some have low levels of literacy and little to no computer skills. While most have good spoken English, many will require a lot of hands-on support as literacy competency varies across the cohort. They seek help finding long-term employment in Australia, then ongoing support.

While most volunteer opportunities require attendance at our Parramatta premises on Tuesday mornings, you may be required to follow up on applications and catch up with your job seeker which can be done from home/ over the phone

Duties & Responsibilities

• Identifying expertise, abilities, interests and work readiness of job seeker mentee
• Supporting mentee through the job application process
• Resume and cover letter development
• Referring mentee for training and other services as needed
• Helping those less computer literate with online job search and job applications
• Using your networks and experience to help mentee gain work or work experience
• Providing interview preparation when needed
• Helping those less literate with pre employment documentation
• Supporting mentee in the first couple of months of employment

Skills Required:

• Applicants should have had at least 5 years of employment experience, preferably in Australia
• Excellent communication skills, including cross-cultural sensitivity
• Patience, flexibility and willingness to develop a sound understanding of the challenges faced by participants both in their past and in Australia, and resulting barriers to employment to be overcome
• Basic computer and internet skills (confidence in using the internet for job research, emails, Word etc.)
• Ability to work collaboratively with other staff and volunteers
• Ability to adhere to policies in relation to code of conduct, boundaries and confidentiality
• Experience working with people from various backgrounds and cultures would be helpful but not required.

Benefits:

• The satisfaction of having a positive impact, indeed often a life changing one, on someone who has come from difficult circumstances
• meeting some inspiring people
• enjoy the challenge of helping someone overcome the barriers to employment