MentorAbility is a national initiative that can be added to your employment services toolkit to support individuals who experience disability to explore their career interests during job search. A MentorAbility match brings together a mentee and a mentor with a facilitator in a one-time meeting so that the mentee can learn more about a career path they are interested in by way of conversation, job shadow experience, worksite tour, resume review, mock interview, and more!

As a job developer, you get the opportunity to create meaningful relationships with employers before a job ask is part of the equation, so you have an expanded network of connections to assist you in supporting the job seekers you’re working with. MentorAbility has access to funding that can help you with events that are focused around supported employment.

Yes! MentorAbility can help you with an event through sponsorship or planning. We can also help you apply to our Activities funding, which grants up to $10,000 per event and can be used for costs like venue rental, speaker fees, or catering, and our Accessibility funding, which can help with the costs of interpreters or equipment to help make your event more accessible.

MentorAbility can be incorporated at every stage of your job development process, from waitlist to after employment has been found, in whatever way you find works best for the people you serve. Consult our resources to see more information on how to do so.

Learning a new tool always takes a bit of time, but once you start using MentorAbility, we hope that we’re able to save you time and energy! From the resources and connections that you get from your Hub Coordinator to the contacts you’ll grow organically through the process, we want MentorAbility to make your workload easier. A lot of what you already do as a job developer incorporates some of the systems within the MentorAbility program, it’s just about leveraging them in the right way to expand your network.

We have forms for everything! Most of the time, like with our sign-up forms, a person only needs to fill it out once! We also have a form to fill out after a mentorship match takes place so that we can do our reporting. The great news is that it’s not your job to keep track of it all! The Hub Coordinators will work with you to make sure all the information is inputted to the right place. Most forms only take a few minutes to fill out.

This depends on a number of factors, like how quickly you’re able to determine with the mentee what sort of match would be good for them, finding a mentor (the Hub Coordinator might already have someone in the industry you’re looking at, or you might want to reach out to a personal connection you think will be perfect!) and figuring out the best time and place for the match. Checking in with the Hub Coordinator and finishing the reporting takes a bit of time, too. All told, a match could take from a couple of hours to longer, depending on the circumstances.

In its simplest form, facilitating a match can be as easy as introducing the mentee and mentor to each other, helping them get the conversation started, making sure the conversation stays on topic, and keeping an eye on the time. Sometimes, asking a probing question to make sure the mentee is getting information that is relevant to them, reminding a mentee about a particular question they had, or jumping in to clarify some information happens too. At the end of the match, the facilitator also thanks everyone for participating, closes the loop on any resources or notes to be shared, and sends out the feedback surveys. For first time facilitators who are nervous about it, the Hub Coordinator can support with preparation or even have you shadow another match to feel more comfortable!

MentorAbility matches always have three participants: the mentee, the mentor, and the facilitator. We expect the facilitator to be present to provide support where needed and to ensure everything goes smoothly.

1. Building a roster of mentors/employer relationships 2. Developing resources 3. Supporting mentees who are not working with service providers 4. Supporting service providers in finding good matches 5. Working with the National team on events, resources, reporting, and growth.

MentorAbility is funded by the Opportunities Fund for People with Disabilities (https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/opportunity-fund-disability.html)through the Government of Canada. At its core, MentorAbility is an awareness campaign, not an employment supports program, so there is very rarely a conflict. Hub Coordinators and the national MentorAbility team are more than happy to discuss potential funding conflicts to ensure that no problems arise.