Pru Dryburgh's previous experience as a career counsellor makes her ideally suited to be a job mentor. She first met her job seeker, Irina, in mid-2008. Irina is originally from Russia but had lived in the United States for several years before moving to New Zealand. By the end of last year Irina had secured a permanent position as an Assistant Advisor in a large government agency.
Pru praises Irina's pragmatic approach and absolute commitment to job seeking. Importantly, this involved adjusting her expectations of where and what level she would start in the New Zealand workforce. "Irina's got a master's degree but she realised that she had been out of the workforce for a while and was in a new country and therefore was happy to take a support staff position." Having said this, Pru notes that support staff positions can be very competitive, attracting a huge number of applicants, as they are often seen as a good way of 'getting a foot in the door', leading to further opportunities to progress within an organisation.
Irina explored education and training as another avenue to gaining employment. Last year she completed a course of study in Business Studies at Whitireia Polytechnic, obtaining that invaluable local qualification. She also participated in schemes for job seeking migrants run by the Porirua City Council and the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. Pru notes that Irina "had her job seeking advice net well established. I wasn't her only job seeking resource. I admired her for that. She was determined and disciplined in seeking out whatever assistance was available."
Before getting her current job, Irina had been interviewed for several positions that she did not get. Pru helped by coaching her in interview skills tailored to the New Zealand context. "We went through the types of questions people might ask in an interview and I helped her reframe some of her answers." For example, Pru felt that Irina had a tendency to understate her accomplishments. They also practiced handling behavioural based interview questions which are commonly used in New Zealand job interviews. Pru also went with Irina to her first interview, waiting for her while she was being interviewed and providing support and the opportunity to debrief afterwards.
Pru identifies using her own professional networks as being a key way in which she has been able to help Irina as well as others she has career coached. Pru has extensive networks through her work as a career consultant and contract project manager. "Tapping into my network has been a big part of mentoring for me. I think that's one of the main advantages of having a job mentor, because when you're a migrant and new to a place you don't have these networks already established." She has found that people are generally more than willing to help and are sympathetic to the difficulties faced by migrant job seekers. She stresses, however, that it is important to be very clear about the parameters of the 'ask' and to keep your request quite small and manageable. Most people, for example, are happy to give an hour or so of their time to provide information and advice.
Pru's main advice to other job mentors is to "start where the job seeker is at." This involves listening to your job seeker and being attuned to what the specific issues might be for them and then working on those. "My job seeker had her CV and she was very clear about the type of work that she wanted, so we were a lot further down the track than some." In other situations, Pru notes, where the job seeker is not quite so focused, you may want to start by helping the person identify the right areas for them and then do a little research. "This might involve finding people for them to talk to about how people get into those sorts of jobs and what's required, so they can sort out for themselves whether they're at that point or if there are other things that they need to do."
Pru describes her experience as a job mentor as very positive and satisfying, the main highlight so far being her job seeker Irina finding a permanent job. Pru says that the process of getting there had its share of frustrations and disappointments but there was also "a lot of fun and a lot of laughing along the way."