The Career Skills Incubator announced today the launch of a new mobile app to help Canadian job seekers get matched with mentors to forward their careers. Called Menteer, the open source application functions almost as a career dating app, matching mentors and mentees through an algorithm that weighs communication style, industry experience, and goals.
“Menteer started simply enough – we wanted to save volunteer time and allow our program to grow by automating the mentor matching process,” said CSCI founder Victoria Alleyne. “It grew to be much bigger; by making it open source, we are creating a tool that can be used at low to no cost for other organizations across the country hoping to start or scale mentorship programs.”
Housed in Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation, CSCI is run by a volunteer team of students and recent graduates, with the goal of providing tools to help create career opportunities for underemployed Canadians. Funding for the development was provided by the .CA Community Investment Program, whose mandate is to forward solutions for Canadian social and economic issues. Menteer is one of 29 projects funded through the CIP.
“Canadians have embraced the Internet for job seeking, making mentoring an area ripe for digital disruption,” said David Fowler, Director of Marketing and Communications for .CA. “The .CA Community Investment Program allows projects like Menteer to create digital solutions for their sectors, helping non-profit leaders experiment, create cutting-edge services and innovate with digital tools.”