From Alpha to Omega: Innovating in the Workplace
OMEGA (Opportunities for Migrant Employment In Greater Auckland)
Importing a successful labour force integration model saves time and money
Too often new immigrants to New Zealand, much like new immigrants around the world, end up falling into the frustrating cycle of “no New Zealand experience, then no job, no job, then no New Zealand experience.” The result is that many skilled new immigrants are unable to gain employment that is reflective of their education and professional backgrounds.
In June 2007, the Committee for Auckland, an alliance of local city leaders, attended a learning exchange in Toronto (Canada) hosted by TRIEC,the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council. Founded in 2003, TRIEC is internationally recognized for its efforts to help skilled immigrants gain the cultural skills and networks they need to excel in the work force of their new country. TRIEC’s occupation specific immigrant mentoring program, The Mentoring Partnership, has had particularly impressive outcomes, with more than 85% of participants acquiring full time positions in their fields after their internships and making impressive gains in their earning potential (67% higher post-program).
The Toronto city exchange led the Committee for Auckland’s Future Auckland Leaders group to adapt the TRIEC experience for a pilot mentoring program known as the “Skills for Auckland.” Modelled after what they had seen in Toronto, the program was targeted at skilled immigrants and included formal workshops as well as one-to-one guidance in the form of mentoring. The experiment proved successful. Over 50% of the participants in the pilot program went on to secure jobs in their chosen fields.
The success of “Skills for Auckland” resulted in the development of a scaled up version of the pilot project now known as OMEGA (Opportunities for Migrant Employment in Greater Auckland).
OMEGA was officially launched on March 5th 2008 with endorsements from over 30 of the region’s top employers and civil leaders, all of whom are now involved with providing both business leadership and a voice to the issues of underemployment amongst new immigrants to New Zealand.
Currently over one third of Auckland’s 1.4 million residents are foreign born. Facilitating their transition into appropriate employment is viewed as essential for the economic growth and vibrancy of the city.
OMEGA’swork was modeled on best practices from TRIEC but adapted to meet the local conditions and needs of Auckland’s labour market. Like TRIEC, OMEGA helps skilled immigrants find paid internships and matches them with mentors in their professional fields. OMEGA helps interview and screen candidates. The host employers pay the intern’s stipend.
When OMEGA was localizing the TRIEC program, one challenge that they faced was getting business to embrace the concept of a paid internship as a form of recruitment, as well as some challenges stemming from local labour and employment laws.
To participate in OMEGA, applicants must be able to legally work in New Zealand, be a landed immigrant within the last 3 years, have at least 3 years work experience internationally, have achieved at least a bachelor’s level of education, be without paid New Zealand work experience in their particular field and be fluent in English.
Once immigrants have been accepted into the program, Omega matches them with similarly skilled mentors and helps secure paid internships through its network of Founding Employers. Founding Employers then conduct further interviews and select interns based on a competitive recruiting process.
Internships are between 3 and 6 months and are located in the Greater Auckland Region. Corporations involved with OMEGA include: ANZ, , New Zealand Post, Air New Zealand, Bank of New Zealand, Vodafone, Genesis Energy, Simpson Grierson and Deloitte.
By adapting the most successful TRIEC practices to jumpstart a locally viable immigrant labour market integration strategy, Justin Treagus, OMEGA Programme Director, says, “We were able to swim as soon as we started. Following the TRIEC model was invaluable in the amount of time and resources we saved, I would say that we were easily able to fast track our program by six months or even a year. We had our site visit in June 2007, officially launched in March 2008 and by April of that year had our first set of mentors.”
By following the TRIEC model, OMEGA was successful from the start, “”One story that always sticks with me,” says Justin, ” was when we had an Asian man come in to keep his wife company while she learned about the mentor program. He had been trained in India in geographic information systems but for the past five years had been working as a cab driver. As he sat there listening to the program, he decided that he should be part of it. Three days after he his first mentor meeting, he had a full time job in his field!”
For a selection of library resources related to this Good Idea, see sidebar at right.
Making it Work for You:
- Innovation is associated with success. When considering new approaches to labour force integration or other local economic development needs, look for established programs that you can adapt locally, and then systematically overcome barriers to implementation.
- Go to the source for information about successful labour force integration models. Contact organizations and municipalities directly to learn more about their implementation strategies.
- Share your success with others - and in the process gain recognition, potential partnerships and opportunities for future collaboration.
Tags: Auckland, Diversity, Employment, Internationally Trained Professionals, Job Seeking, Mentoring
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Email to a friendFor this Good Idea contact:
Justin Treagus, Programme DirectorOMEGA
PO Box 3403, Shortland Street
Auckland, New Zealand
1140
Tel: +64 9 500 5594
Justin.treagus(at)omega.org.nz
www.omega.org.nz
31 July 2009 at 2:08 PM
[...] To hear more about the TRIEC to OMEGA story, read the Cities of Migration profile, From Alpha to Omega: Innovation in the Workplace. [...]
27 August 2009 at 8:36 AM
OMEGA’S MENTORING Programme has now facilitated over 150 mentoring matches since the organisation’s inception in March 2008.
Further, 80% of mentees who have completed the programme have found relevant employment. Thank you to all the mentors who have volunteered their time towards this success.
27 August 2009 at 8:38 AM
OMEGA (NZ) welcomes State Insurance as a funding partner:
CONFIDENT IN THE WORK of OMEGA and its investment in the future of Auckland, State Insurance last week committed to financially partnering with OMEGA for three years.
Mary Jane Daly, Executive General Manager of State commented: “State is proud to sponsor OMEGA. What better way for State to live its values and build a sustainable future for this country, than by supporting and coaching the people who will become our future customers, colleagues and friends as they transition to becoming real New Zealanders. At State, help just happens.”
Read more about this at:
http://www.omega.org.nz/aboutus/fundingandsupport/tabid/134/default.aspx
3 December 2009 at 10:41 AM
[...] Read about OMEGA’s experience replicating the TRIEC model, see: From Alpha to Omega: Innovating in the Workplace. [...]
12 March 2010 at 11:22 AM
OMEGA in the news
Mentors’ skills help migrants
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=10615380
12 March 2010 at 12:24 PM
OMEGA goes from strength to strength
In early 2008 a Programme Director, Justin Treagus, was appointed full-time. The first Auckland businesses to give the OMEGA project support were its Founding Employers, – members of Committee for Auckland – who’d ‘caught the vision’ and saw the value that OMEGA could add to their enterprises, Auckland, and the future of New Zealand. It was out of this group that mentors were sourced, and an OMEGA establishment board was set up.
The success of the work saw two staff and several contractors and enthusiastic volunteers added to the OMEGA team in mid 2009, whilst Committee for Auckland continued to provide leadership and strategic guidance. Also during 2009 six well-respected New Zealand businesses committed to being OMEGA funding partners as it transitioned from the support of Committee for Auckland and its principle funder, the Tindall Foundation. At the end of that year, OMEGA graduated to becoming an independent not-for-profit, with a new Board established to the lead the organisation, and to work with the OMEGA Trust, whose members comprise the funding partners and others.
“Our vision is to see the greater Auckland region prosper by fully engaging the contributions of skilled immigrants, and by helping bring an end to workplace skill shortages,” says Justin Treagus. “Putting mentoring to work in the business sector is hitting the mark; over 80% of the skilled immigrants who participate in the programme go on to find relevant employment, and Auckland’s business sector is becoming increasingly open to employing foreign-born professionals to get the job done.”
12 March 2010 at 12:32 PM
OMEGA finds Mentoring Programme suits New Zealand’s labour market
They have found Triec’s flagship Mentoring Programme to be more suited to the dynamics of New Zealand’s labour market. This programme facilitates occupation-specific mentoring, matching skilled immigrants with business professionals who share the same skills and industry knowledge. OMEGA partners with business professionals inviting them to become mentors on the one hand, and then interviews and screens skilled immigrant candidates on the other, bringing the two together in a sixteen week win-win mentoring relationship: the mentor gets to hone their leadership skills and help the local economy, and the mentee becomes increasingly familiar with the local labour market dynamics within their sector.
For more information, go to http://www.omega.org.nz
12 April 2010 at 9:58 PM
[...] Auckland: OMEGA finds Mentoring Programme suits New Zealand’s labour market. Read more [...]