Winner of the overall Excellence Award in the 2019 National Awards for Local Government, the Kaleidoscope Initiative continues to open doors to career opportunities for professional newcomers.
Narmada Sreelatha from Cannington, Western Australia, one of the latest graduates of the program, secured a job in her field within a month of starting the mentoring program.
Narmada migrated from India in 2016 and signed up to be a Kaleidoscope mentee to help overcome the challenges she faced as a result of a lack of local experience and limited industry contacts.
The Cannington resident attributes the contacts and cross-cultural insight she gained through Kaleidoscope to her finding employment four weeks after joining the program.
“Like everyone else, I moved to Australia with a million dreams about life and career.
“I have a postgraduate in Marine Structural Engineering with a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering.
“Joining Kaleidoscope’s mentoring program and attending their workshops were the best steps I took towards my career start.
“I honestly believe it is the professional network and the skills from the program that brought me to the doorstep.”
The Kaleidoscope program is delivered in partnership with the City of Canning, City of Stirling and Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre with funding from the Australian Government Department of Social Services and the Western Australian Government.
City of Canning Mayor, Patrick Hall said Narmada’s story and the success of Kaleidoscope served as a beacon of hope and inspiration to not only newcomers to Australia but to the community as a whole.
“The stats are impressive – the program has been able to help approximately 90 percent of participants find a job in their chosen profession within 12 months of completing the program.
“The City is thrilled to be partnering with the City of Stirling and the Metropolitan Migrant Resource Centre to deliver the highly successful program across Perth and see Kaleidoscope go from strength to strength.”
City of Stirling Mayor, Mark Irwin said the high success rate was testament to the dedicated and committed mentees and mentors.
“Last week we celebrated our fifth intake of the Kaleidoscope Mentoring Program, which was our largest ever group.
“This fantastic program supports participants to build professional networks and increase their knowledge of each profession locally, which is ultimately leading to strong employment opportunities.”
