“The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of guidance and mentorship.”

 – Simon Sinek

Mentorship has been defined in numerous ways, usually within an employment context. A mentor can be someone who is more experienced guiding someone less experienced to gain knowledge about their chosen career. A mentor is seen as taking a mentee “under their wing” so that a more junior colleague has opportunities to grow professionally and thrive in the workplace. 

But what if you are someone for whom even opening the door to employment means surmounting many barriers? This is often the situation for people with disabilities. Here in Ontario, for example, the rate of employment for people with disabilities (58%) still lags behind that of their non-disabled peers (81%). Some job seekers with disabilities also experience additional barriers to becoming employed like being newcomers to Canada with no Canadian work experience or other forms of marginalization. 

For job seekers with lived experience of disabilities, mentoring offers a purposeful approach; it helps them touch the labour market prior to beginning job search. A mentoring experience can also solidify a career goal. Moreover, we have seen our clients gain self-confidence through mentoring. This is why Performance Plus Rehabilitative Care Inc. (PPRC) decided to embrace mentoring. 

PPRC is fully bilingual, Canadian-owned and headquartered in Ottawa. Founded in 1994, we provide assessment, adjustment to disability, and vocational rehabilitation services to people with disabilities looking to enter or re-enter the workforce. As an approved service provider for the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD), Integrated Employment Service Delivery (IESD), we help clients in Ottawa and the surrounding areas with employment planning and work placements.

PPRC launched our mentoring efforts in 2020, and in 2023 we branded as PPRC Connect, a prototype service connecting job seekers with employers in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Our clients have sought mentoring in careers such as administration, communications, policy analysis, social services, IT, health care and personal support, customer service and retail, food safety inspection, and even woodworking. Our work has also included two mentor partnership events with the City of Ottawa (2022 & 2024). 

Although the primary purpose of mentoring is to provide an informative learning experience and there is no expectation of recruitment, some of our clients have been offered employment in situations where talent meets employer needs. 

Since 2020, we have conducted 75 mentor sessions or mentor matches as we term them, with more planned for the future. Mentor matches take the form of a one-time session held in what we endeavor to make a respectful and confidential space. Matches can take place virtually or increasingly onsite in the workplace. The PPRC Connect Coordinator, Susan Forster, prepares both the mentor and the mentee, and attends matches to facilitate the process. Our goal is that the match becomes a conversation between mentor and mentee, and thereby fulfills its primary purpose of informative knowledge exchange. 

When one of our job seekers, Halim Cherchari, who has lived experience of disability and who is also a newcomer to Canada, agreed to participate in PPRC Connect, he wanted to learn about becoming a food safety inspector for the Ontario government. Coordinator Susan Forster approached the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agri-business (OMAFA) to secure a mentor, and we were  pleased that our request was greeted positively. 

After an initial call with Director Tanya Weber-Kinch of the Food Safety Inspection Delivery Branch (FSIDB), Tim Metzger, Manager of Meat Inspection, East Region and Kim Landers, Manager, Inspection Programs, Food Safety Inspection Delivery Branch of the Food Safety Environment Division, Kim agreed to become Halim’s mentor. 

Halim worked with the PPRC Connect Coordinator to create a list of questions to ask his mentor. He had questions such as what skills and education are required to become a food safety inspector and how do you build a career in the Ontario public service at OMAFA? He also learned that OMAFA accommodates people with disabilities in line with the ministry’s commitment to Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) policy and procedures. Halim was especially interested in learning how to apply for jobs with the ministry, and how to customize his resume and cover letter. 

After the match with Halim, Kim commented: “It was great to hear how there are services out there to support individuals that face disabilities with finding meaningful careers. I hope that I was able to provide a good overview of the role of a food safety inspector within our ministry.” 

Equally, Halim found his experience with a mentor positive. As he put it, “It helps a lot, especially if you talk with a person with relevant experience. The match gave me an opportunity to know what to emphasize in my resume, and now I know what they need, and when and how they hire. I appreciated the information that I got from Kim.” Certainly, Kim also had positive things to say about her experience speaking with Halim. She remarked, “Halim has many transferable skills that could benefit an employer in the food industry and seems very eager to work for the public service. His positive approach and willingness to learn about opportunities was evident, and he was a pleasure to speak with. I wish him  the best of luck with his career search in finding his perfect role.”

Thank you so much to the staff at the ministry who made this mentor match possible, especially to Stacy Pinkney, Executive Assistant, who facilitated initial outreach. We welcome further opportunities to partner with OMAFA and other Ontario government ministries in supporting job seekers with disabilities as they take their first steps toward the goal of securing employment. 

To learn more about PPRC Connect contact Susan Forster, Coordinator, at sforster@pprc.ca  and visit  www.pprc.ca/finding-your-new-career/mentorship-program/ . 

To learn more about PPRC’s bilingual vocational rehabilitation services, go to https://pprc.ca/.