Jennifer Heynen, Vice President of Talent at DUCA Financial, Ontario
From January 2023 to June 2023, Jennifer was a volunteer mentor with Leen* from Syria. These are reflections from Jennifer on what it meant for her to be a mentor, how she tailored her approach to suit her mentees’ specific needs, and what she ultimately gained through this experience.
What motivated you to become a mentor?
Mentoring has always played an essential part in my life. I attribute the success that I’ve had in my career to the various mentors that I’ve been fortunate enough to work with throughout the years. It’s definitely a way of giving back to others to help share what I’ve learned and benefited from. For me, it’s also really important to mentor newcomers to Canada because I appreciate how difficult it can be to find a job here. I think any way we can help welcome newcomers to Canada and support them getting settled is a positive thing.
How did you tailor your mentorship experience to the specific needs of your mentee?
Being new to Canada and how to go about a job search was something I focused on with Leen. Specifically, we spoke a lot about the importance of networking and how there are many jobs out there that are not even posted. This demonstrates the need to build your network, to form relationships, and to not give up on trying to pursue those relationships. It became apparent early on that how one needs to approach a job search in Canada is possibly quite different from other countries in the world!
How did you navigate building Leen’s confidence around talking to strangers – that nervousness and pressure that is so common and understandable in those early days of networking?
I tried to provide a lot of encouragement — to encourage her to not give up. Often, it’s not just a “one and done” outreach, you must really follow up, as awkward as that can feel sometimes. Following up with people, two or even three times, is often what is required to get that connection started. I had to be very encouraging yet empathetic and had to share the social norms around networking in Canada.
What other sort of career preparation did you do with Leen?
I spent a lot of time working with Leen on her resume. It was an iterative process. We paid specific attention to language, to words that she would use to describe what she’d done. Some of her experiences were not directly transferable to roles that exist in Toronto. This meant that we had to dig deeper and ask questions like, “Okay, explain to me in another way what you did in that role?” We also looked at how to articulate and make her stand out as an attractive candidate for many different roles. In the end, Leen created many different versions of her resume, which varied depending on what role she was applying for.
What would you consider the big wins in this recent mentorship experience?
I think there were lots of wins for each of us.
For me, it was great to reconnect with people I hadn’t connected with in a long time. I did make a couple of LinkedIn posts promoting Leen. And through that, I had people reach out to me who I haven’t heard from in years, saying they were willing to extend a hand and to help as well. That was very motivating to me.
For Leen, she was able to broaden her network. I helped connect her to some great HR professionals across the Greater Toronto Area, and they in turn helped connect her to others. She also had success getting connected to different recruitment firms
In the end, Leen decided to focus on her education for the next little while. I was able to help her navigate the types of courses that might ultimately help her with her job search.
What did you learn, personally, through this experience?
I learned more about the refugee experience coming to Canada, including some of the additional challenges that refugees face that I was previously unaware of.
It prompted me to give that more thought, to do some more research on other types of refugee-serving organizations where I could get involved.
I also learned a little bit more about Leen’s journey and how and why she left Syria. Learning about another woman’s journey in the world helps me hone my empathy skills and as always, it is amazing to learn about other cultures and hear other people’s stories.
In what ways do you consider inclusivity important to a workplace?
Inclusion in the workplace is essential to attracting new talent and keeping employees happy at work. People want to work somewhere that they feel valued and supported. An inclusive culture creates an environment where everyone feels respected and empowered to contribute.
*Leen’s last name has been omitted for privacy reasons.