I benefited greatly as a mentee. That is my motivation to be a mentor
When Charbel Al Maalouf came to Canada in 2012, it was The Mentoring Partnership that helped him through the job search process. “My mentor guided me through the entire process of finding a job and prepared me to become a successful member within the Canadian workplace.” After his success as a mentee, Charbel wanted to share his learnings and experiences as a newcomer, with new skilled immigrants. He wanted to help them find a job and to become, in turn, successful, “That’s why I became a mentor almost three years after I benefited from the program.”
Charbel is originally from Lebanon, with 14 years of international banking experience. Today he works as Senior Manager, Credit Solutions – Americas with Scotia Bank.
“Being a mentor is a great experience,” he says. It allows you to share your knowledge and what you have learned in your professional life in Canada. “It gives you motivation to be an active member in society; not for recognition, but for the great satisfaction it offers when you discover how valuable your experience and insights could be in helping other members to get into the Canadian job market, and start their new journey in Canada.” For him, becoming a mentor was a way to spread these values and is the true success story of the program. “To pay back the valuable help I have received.”
Charbel’s shining mentoring moment was when he received an email from his mentee informing him that he landed his first job in Canada. “I felt exactly the same feeling I had when I found my first job; a feeling of a great personal achievement and an immense satisfaction after almost 3 months of hard work and dedication.”
Leveraging the resources that The Mentoring Partnership offers, Charbel was able to help his mentee through the entire cycle of job hunting. “I used all the skills I acquired from my work experience as well as from my previous mentoring experience as mentee, especially in terms of resume critique and interview skills.” He helped his mentee to develop a customized resume, and to improve his interview skills. “I did a series of mock interviews, in which I gave him constructive feedback on his answers, body language, appearance and Canadian workplace culture.”
Mentoring, he says, is a great opportunity that provides valuable insights and feedback to new skilled immigrants. “It’s a whole new learning process during which both parties – the mentor and the mentee – will have an opportunity to learn, share experiences and to give/receive feedback,” he says. Like any other learning process, it requires high dedication and hard work, especially, on the mentee’s part. “Dedication enables the mentee to receive the benefit of this short experience to both find a job and be successful in the Canadian workplace.”