What We Do /

Mentoring Services

Connecting international education professionals with established occupation and industry-specific mentors

Are you interested in becoming a mentor or mentee?

The Mentoring for Change program has 30 years positive track record of assisting skilled internationally educated professionals in their settlement process, language skills development, entrepreneurship guidance and search for employment by matching them with industry-specific mentors.

  • Mentee Criteria

    • Have a minimum of 2 years of professional experience outside Canada

    • Have been in Canada for less than 5 years

    • Is highly motivated, and committed to meet with a mentor, 1 hour per week for up to 4 months

  • Find a Mentor

    A mentor can help job seekers improve their chance to access their profession by providing guidance, support and contacts to expand their professional network.

    To participate in Skills for Change’s mentoring program, you can register by emailing us at mentoring@skillsforchange.org

  • Become a Mentor

    Skills for Change welcomes established professions with over 2 years’ experience working in Canada who want to volunteer their time as a mentor. We host orientation sessions for mentors to get them started.  Mentoring takes one hour per week, over four months. Meetings can occur at a mutually convenient time and location, whether in-person or virtually.

    We also provide platforms for mentors to deliver presentations, conduct brief mentoring/coaching and share their knowledge with others. We encourage mentors to get involved and be part of a positive professional influencing community.

  • Our mentoring options include:

    • Settlement - Support for new Canadians in providing information and helping identify various community resources and support

    • Language - Individual language mentoring for building effective conversation and communication skills

    • Employment - Job search support and guidance in expanding professional network

    • Entrepreneurs - Coaching and guidance to starting your own business as well as support of resources

Meet the Mentors

  • Wayne Haymer

    Linkedin

    I have been in public accounting for the past 35 and presently hold the position of manager in a mid-sized Toronto firm. The change to public accounting allowed me an opportunity to apply my skills to directly benefit smaller businesses and self-employed individuals. After only a few years in public accounting, I began volunteering my accounting skills and business experience to benefit the community; mentoring new commers to Canada.

    I have successfully developed my career over the years and take pride in helping students and immigrants get their first job and also be successful in their careers.

  • Sunee Samuel

    Linkedin

    Sunee Samuel is a dynamic outside of the box thinker with a people centered approach to business - She works in the training and development industry and has taken on leadership positions within the education sector. Sunee currently runs a professional development business and teaches at Niagara College Toronto within the Business program. Sunee started her career as a Behavioural Neuroscience student at Simon Fraser University where she aimed to understand the driving factors behind human decision making. A deep understanding of human behaviour has been the catalyst to her success where she is able to apply this skill in business, training and development.

  • Sohail Khokhawala

    Linkedin

    A highly skilled and experienced IT professional with a proven track record in Solution Design and delivering technology solutions to improve operations, reduce cost and increase effectiveness of IT architectures and infrastructures. Expertise in strategic and tactical architecture road map and solutions, E2E business process modelling, system integration.

    Expert in Cloud migration & J2EE applications architecture and development. Well versed in Automation , Google Cloud & DevOPS. SOA standards ,design principles. Solid knowledge in architecture domains: business, solution, integration, data, security, and technology. Proficient in Waterfall, Agile, and SDLC. Strong communication and presentation skills, ability to present comfortably to large/executive audiences

  • Sanjay Sharma

    Linkedin

    Sanjay is an accomplished Enterprise Portfolio/Program/Project Delivery Leader, Trainer, Motivator, speaker, transformation leader and practitioner, he currently leads a multi million dollar technology portfolio for one of Canada’s leading Wealth and Insurance Organization. Sanjay has proven skills and experience in developing and coaching high-performance teams.

    Sanjay has trained 250+ professionals in PMI and agile methodologies, besides being an instructor at college for project management continuing education classes in the Toronto area. Sanjay has been keynote speaker, presenter and speaker at conferences and events. Sanjay has worked in the world's leading organizations such as Canada Life, CGI and Accenture.

  • Nazia Iqbal

    Linkedin

    Curious soul with 9+ years' experience in banking & tech industry with strengths in relationship management, product strategy and program management. Nazia, currently works as a Senior Manager, Strategic Programs and Segments at Scotiabank. She brings deep retail and branch expertise from her past roles in branch banking and product experience gained through working in Retail Deposits & Investments. Nazia received her Bachelor’s degree from McGill University in Economics and Management. She has also completed Level I and II of the CFA Program. In her personal time, she is an avid reader and a yoga teacher.

  • Mohamed Soliman (Engineer)

    Linkedin

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