Developing mentoring skills to support refugee employability

Urzelai, Berrbizne; Karine, Mangion; Douglas, Teoh; Asaad, Bagheri

Abstract

According to the capital theory, human and social capital are key forms of capital that influence business creation (Sahasranamam & Nandakumar, 2018). Human capital theory discusses the individual value created through education and training (Becker, 1994). This theory has been used in immigration literature to discuss educational qualifications, skills, international experience, work, and entrepreneurial experience for migrant entrepreneurship. It is argued that individuals who make substantial investments in their human capital expect their career prospects to be rewarding (Marvel et al., 2016).
On the other hand, mentoring fulfils two broad functions, i.e., career (a range of behaviours such as coaching, sponsorship, advocacy and providing opportunities for hierarchical advancement) and psychosocial (providing counselling, friendship, and role modelling) (Ragins and Kram, 2007). Personal growth is argued as the main outcome of the mentoring relationship, which is then assumed to lead to career advancement (Clutterbuck, 2007). Eventually, the human capital developed as an outcome of the refugee mentoring program leads to improving opportunity structures within their ethnic networks in terms of accessing to human capital (Kloosterman et al., 1999). Accordingly, refugees, mentees in this study, would deploy learnt skills and networks to establish their businesses and/or develop their career prospects. Nonetheless, mentoring is seen as a means to not only promote the social integration of migrants and refugees, but as a bidirectional approach to enhance intercultural competence (Prieto-Flores et al., 2016). This bidirectionality provides explanations of the advantages mentee and mentors gain from their involvement. Open Door Policy (ODP) is a remote non-for-profit organization that offers a meeting point for mission-driven employers and skilled refugees. They upskill qualified and motivated displaced individuals and connect them to remote work opportunities. Most of the refugees that use ODP’ training, are in their early 20s and have only completed High School. Through a consultancy and research scheme with the University of the West of England, Bristol, a program review, training, and recommendations are produced to enhance ODP’s impact through their mentorship scheme.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: IEEC 2023, Enterprise Educators UK’s Annual Conference. Track: Sustainability and the Role of Enterprise Education
• Start Date: Sep 6, 2023
• End Date: Sep 8, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 5, 2024
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11549318