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 resource, “Incorporating MentorAbility into Job Development”, to see more information on how.

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.

Hub Coordinators have access to our Stakeholder Database, which tracks information from all our forms, matches, and reporting. Just check in to see if the person you’re talking to has already signed up!

1. Facilitator Sign Up
2. Mentee Sign Up
3. Mentor Sign Up

1. Facilitator Sign Up
2. Mentee Sign Up
3. Mentor Sign Up

The Hub Coordinators will do all the official reporting for the project, we just need the details of your matches from you. We have a fillable pdf form that you can use to send us that information! Please note that MentorAbility reporting happens monthly, so we require to have all match information sent in by the end of each month.

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.

We have a step-by-step resource to help you! 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!

Many accommodation needs for matches are simple to figure out – the mentee may have an interpreter that they work with already, or it’s a matter of choosing the right venue for noise or distraction level. If you’re ever unsure, that’s what the Hub Coordinator is there to support you with! We can help you figure out what’s going to be the best options for a successful match and help you get it set up.

A major part of the Hub Coordinator’s role is to be networking behind the scenes, making connections with employer partners across the province and in all kinds of industries. If you need a mentor and don’t already have someone in mind, the Hub Coordinator can let you know if we have one in our roster of mentors already or help you in reaching out to new organizations to find one.

Things happen! If it’s due to nerves or confidence, see if there’s a way to keep the appointment by offering supports to the mentee to help them feel better about it. If not, reach out to the mentor and let them know that the match has to be cancelled, thank them for their willingness, and let them know we’ll reach out again next time we need a mentor with their expertise! Your Hub Coordinator can help you with the messaging if you’re unsure exactly what to say.

MentorAbility matches always have three participants: the mentee, the mentor, and the facilitator. If the match is a simple 60-minute meeting, the facilitator is expected to be there throughout. If it’s a longer day of job shadowing, we do expect that the facilitator is present at the beginning to ensure that everything goes smoothly and is available throughout the match to support the mentee, whether that’s by sitting nearby focusing on getting some desk work done or staying next to the mentee throughout. We ask that you use your discretion based on the support needs and comfort of both the mentee and the mentor.

You don’t! The Hub Coordinators know what is expected of the program and are tasked with ensuring outcomes are met. Your responsibility is on the matches you facilitate only and keeping the Hub Coordinator updated on those.

First and foremost, the Hub Coordinator is here to support you in any way that you need when it comes to MentorAbility.

We can help you generate ideas for matches, plan events, and draft emails. We’re also always working on our Service Provider Toolkit, which consists of materials like presentations, email templates, this FAQ, our “How-to MentorAbility” document, and more! If there’s something you need, let us know, and if we don’t already have it, we’ll look at creating it.

1. Hub Coordinator Support
2. Mentor roster/database
3. Invitation to events like Industry Information Sessions, DEAM events
4. Support with your events (Activities Fund)
5. Accessibility Fund
6. The ability to create warmer relationships with employers
7. CASE training & research access

1. Building roster of mentors/employer relationships
2. Developing resources
3. Supporting mentees who are not working with service providers
4. Supporting service providers with 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 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.

Every mentor who signs up for MentorAbility is aware that they are signing up to talk to mentees who experience disability. They have the opportunity to take a course through CASE and receive information about preparing to be a mentor from facilitators prior to a match occurring.

This is also an opportunity for the mentor to learn, as well, so we don’t expect that they will know everything about every disability – this means mistakes can happen! The role of the facilitator in mentorship matches is key to ensuring that everything goes smoothly. As a third party who is experienced working with people with disabilities, they can correct mistakes, educate the mentor, and ensure that the mentee feels safe and supported at all times.

The facilitator can also talk to the mentor prior to the match about specific accommodations to be put in place to make the mentee more comfortable.