Building Career Connections for Multicultural Job Seekers

How career mentoring is building confidence and connections for multicultural job seekers in Logan

Building a career in a new country can come with challenges. Alongside finding the right opportunities, job seekers may also be learning how the Australian job market works, building new professional networks and gaining confidence navigating recruitment and workplace culture.

For people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, having the right guidance and connections can make a meaningful difference. That’s where Multicultural Australia’s CareerConnectors program comes in.

Through the ETC Community Support Fund, we provided $10,000 to support Multicultural Australia in delivering CareerConnectors in Logan, helping newly arrived Queenslanders build confidence, strengthen their employability skills and navigate the Australian job market.

A key part of the program was industry mentoring, with participants matched with mentors who could provide practical guidance, encouragement and real-world insights into their chosen industries.

The program culminated in a graduation celebrating 12 participants who completed CareerConnectors, with ETC team members joining Multicultural Australia to recognise their achievements.

Creating connections that can open doors

Multicultural Australia has supported people from diverse backgrounds in Queensland for more than 25 years, helping migrants, refugees, international students and asylum seekers establish their lives and connect with housing, employment, health, education and other services.

Its CareerConnectors program was designed to address some of the specific challenges people from migrant and refugee backgrounds can experience when looking for work, including limited professional networks, understanding Australian workplace culture and navigating recruitment processes.

Through the Logan program, 12 participants completed the CareerConnectors journey, which included connecting participants with industry professionals to provide mentoring aligned with their career goals and chosen fields.

For mentees, that connection provides an opportunity to learn directly from someone with experience in their chosen field. For mentors, it offers the chance to support a new Australian while building their own understanding of different cultures and perspectives.

More than finding a job

While employment is an important part of CareerConnectors, the program is designed to build skills and confidence that can support participants throughout their careers.

Across six structured mentoring sessions, participants work on practical areas including:

• setting career goals and exploring their preferred industry
• developing resumes and cover letters
• job search and networking strategies
• creating a LinkedIn profile
• interview preparation and practice
• navigating the next steps after an interview.

Mentees also gain opportunities to practise conversational and industry-specific language and develop a stronger understanding of the Australian employment landscape and the support available to them.

Mentors undertake cultural capability training, helping build greater understanding and awareness of culturally diverse job seekers and strengthening their ability to engage with people from different backgrounds.

Supporting a diverse Logan community

Logan is home to a highly diverse community, making locally based and culturally responsive employment support particularly valuable. Multicultural Australia identified limited professional networks and unfamiliarity with Australian workplace systems as significant barriers that can affect newly arrived job seekers.

CareerConnectors creates a space for people to form professional relationships locally while sharing knowledge and experiences across cultures. According to Multicultural Australia, previous CareerConnectors programs have seen around 60 per cent of mentees secure roles within four weeks, which the organisation attributed to new networks, increased confidence and greater knowledge of Australian workplace systems and culture.

Through initiatives like CareerConnectors, the ETC Community Support Fund helps community organisations respond to local barriers to employment, build skills and create opportunities for people to participate more fully in their communities.

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