IAOP Partners with Global Mentorship Initiative to Help College Graduates Succeed

By: Jon Browning, CEO, Global Mentorship Initiative

I still remember the moment in 2018 when the idea for the Global Mentorship Initiative was born. A job recruiter in South Africa reminded me that entry-level jobs were available for graduating students. But often a soft skills gap prevented students from progressing successfully through the interview process. As a result, recruiters often screen up to 100 resumes or CVs just to have three or four good candidates. At that moment, the light bulb went on and we knew how GMI could contribute to closing this gap and creating job opportunities for disadvantaged students.

GMI is a non-profit organization created from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Digital Jobs Africa initiative. Their mission is to provide guidance and business skills to college students in high unemployment / high poverty areas. This is accomplished through online mentorship where business professionals help students prepare to find their first career job and guide them in how to be successful when transitioning into the business world.

GMI partners with universities in South Africa and the United States for students and will be expanding soon to other locations due to increasing demand for the program.

More than Degrees are Needed
A college degree doesn’t ensure a student is ready for their first job. In Africa, 45 percent of university graduates are jobless one year after graduation and in the United States, two-thirds of graduating students struggle to launch their careers. Many schools do not teach the soft skills needed to be successful in the first year of a career. GMI helps to bridge this gap by providing students with mentors who coach them on these vital business skills. The results are graduates who are more competitive job candidates because of this opportunity.

IAOP partners with GMI on Impact Sourcing
Impact Sourcing happens when companies prioritize suppliers that intentionally hire people who otherwise have limited opportunities. IAOP supports the Impact Sourcing strategy in the BPO industry and recently announced the Impact Sourcing Champions Index to encourage this hiring practice. GMI helps cultivate the supply of Impact Sourcing workers by partnering with BPO companies to create job opportunities for these mentored students. And now, IAOP is partnering with GMI to make this mentoring opportunity available to all its members.

You Can Be a Great Mentor
All it takes is 14 one-hour online sessions to make a difference for a young person trying to get started in a disadvantaged community.

Mentors often approach the program with apprehension because they doubt their ability to guide a student through the curriculum. But GMI makes it easy to be a great mentor and provides everything needed to guide a student. You don’t need to be an expert, just follow the GMI Mentor Guide and add your own experience. In fact, mentors often apply the GMI methods to boost their careers.

Mentors follow a program track to ensure students receive the full benefit of mentorship, which include:

• Establishing a professional business network and personal brand using LinkedIn
• Developing specific soft skills to excel in business
• Learning communication strategy for global business environments
• Creating a career plan and setting measurable goals
• Creating a resume/CV that gets noticed using keywords
• Building templates and guides for conducting a job search
• Mastering the job interview process and knowing how to answer tough questions
• Understanding how companies evaluate their employees and how to distinguish yourself on the job

If you have considered giving back by through mentorship or helping a student get started, we want you to be a mentor! Learn more and apply at globalmentorship.org. If your company is interested in providing a group of mentors, please contact jon.browning@globalmentorship.org.



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