General
If you have any questions regarding your appointment, please contact the coordinators by phone.
To find the contacts, click here.
Duos have premises equipped with computers connected to the Internet and printers at their disposal.
But it is also possible that you meet in a coffee shop, for example, if this can facilitate your meetings.
DUO for a JOB is an association that connects young people with an immigrant background actively seeking employment with people over 50, so that the latter can support them in their process.
Through this intergenerational mentoring, DUO for a JOB wants to contribute to ensure the same access to employment opportunities.
DUO for a JOB is a non-profit organisation created in 2012 in Brussels.
As our programme is completely free of charge for our participants, the support of public and private financial partners is a sine qua non condition for our existence.
I am looking for a job
To be eligible for the programme, you must :
- Be between 18 and 33 years old
- Have a non-EU nationality OR be French with an immigration background (at least a parent or grandparent was born outside of the EU)
- Be able to express yourself in English or French
- Have a valid French residence permit
- Be actively seeking a job
Do you meet these criteria? Sign up for an information session and boost your search for employment!
The mentor is there to help you and to provide you with the necessary tools for your job search. His/her role is not to get you a job. He/She therefore expects you to be motivated and to give yourself the opportunity of finding a job.
After the information session, one of the association’s coordinators will sit down with you to discuss your background, your expectations and your personality. Following this interview, you will be “matched” by the association with the mentor who best suits you! Subject to your availability, you will meet for the first time and should you wish to continue the adventure together, you will start your duo!
These steps generally take between 15 days and 1 month.
If a conflict arises during the mentoring or you feel uneasy in your duo, feel free to contact your coordinator and tell him/her. We will then try to find a solution so that everything goes as smoothly as possible.
However, if you still do ot get along, we will put an end to your duo and we will find a mentor with whom an agreement is possible.
No fee is required, whether it is for the registration or participation in the programme.
I want to become a mentor
To become a mentor, you:
- Are 50+
- Are available 2 to 3 hours per week
- Have a professional experience to capitalise on
Do you meet these criteria? Sign up for an information session and help a young person find a job!
- To share and transmit your professional experience.
- Develop new social skills through a programme of continuous training.
- Live a unique and rewarding human experience.
- Sign up for a voluntary action of active citizenship.
- Integrate an active network of mentors in Paris.
Following your participation in a group online or face-to-face [information session], you will have an individual meeting with a coordinator from the association so that we can get to know you better and define your profile and expectations. This exchange will also allow us to answer any questions you may have about mentoring.
You will then be invited to an online training course where you will be introduced to the methodology of DUO for a JOB and where we will present the mentees’ socio-economic reality and you will also be trained be aware of the key qualities that our mentors must demonstrate.
As soon as a mentee matches your profile, you will be contacted to start your first duo!
A DUO for a JOB coordinator will be present during your first meeting and will support your duo throughout the 6 months.
No coaching experience is required.
Training is organised so that you are equipped with all the necessary tools to accompany the mentee in his/her job search properly.
Workshops will also be proposed throughout your mentoring period and you will have the opportunity to meet other mentors every two months. These intervisions will allow you to share your experience and seek advice from your fellow mentors!
We do not target a specific study level. The key is that the mentor has professional experience to highlight and share.
One of the conditions to become a mentor is to be 50 years old or over.
Being retired is not an obligation as long as you have some time to dedicate to your mentee.
Where possible, the mentor has worked in the same sector of activity as the mentee However, the sector is not the only criterion taken into account. Indeed, when matching we also take into account both personality and interests.
Each mentee is different, His/her needs and expectations are therefore not always the same.
In general, he/she does not always have the necessary tools for their job search. Therefore, the mentee expects you to help define his/her professional desires and identify their skills, to write a CV and motivation letter or to search for job opportunities together.
It is a team effort.
You accompany a young person for 6 months. This rule is intended so that you can focus on one mentee at a time and for you to be able to give a few hours a week without it overwhelming you with work.
That is possible! When concluding a duo, we always ask you to fill in an evaluation form. On this form you can already tick that you are interested in taking on a new mentee. 9 out of 10 mentors repeat the experience.
If a conflict arises during the mentoring period or you feel uneasy in your duo, feel free to contact your coordinator and tell him/her. We will then try to find a solution so that everything goes as smoothly as possible.
If however you still don’t get along, we will put an end to your duo and we will put you in contact with a young person with whom agreement is possible.
As a volunteer, you don’t get paid. However, DUO for a JOB funds entirely the obligatory training each mentor has to follow.
I am already a mentee
If you believe you no longer need to be followed by your mentor once you have found a job, you can always end to the programme. However, we recommend that you continue to keep in touch in case you have questions about your new job.
Not finding a job at the end of the six months is not necessarily negative! One mentee in three is still looking for work after counselling, but only one in four is still looking after 12 months.
A large number of the duos stay in contact after the six-month duration of the duo. Thanks to the strong bond between the mentee and the mentor, many continue to meet outside the association and continue to search actively.
The goal is for you to become autonomous in your job search and for you to have a better idea of your professional desires and your skills.
In order to give a chance to everyone to participate in this free individual coaching, you can only subscribe once.
I am already a mentor
An FAQ has been specially designed for DUO training.
Contact your coordinator for more info!
Support us
Sponsor a duo? Organising an event? Become a volunteer? There are already several ways to support us. Find out more on our ‘Support us page’
“I immediately found the DUO project convincing and promising. When giving these simulated job interviews, I immediately sense that it makes a difference for the young person. You feel really useful and it is rewarding in all sorts of ways. I have never been as valued in my professional life as I am at DUO! “
Véronique, volunteer in charge of interview simulations and CV workshop
Visit our ‘Donate page‘ to find all the information on donations.
DUO for a JOB’s impact is present on three levels: that of the young people we support, that of the mentors we train and that of the social connections we foster.
Openness, trust, respect, generosity, tolerance, discovery of another culture… These are all values that bring our mentors and mentees together; and which they in turn can share so as to help the seeds of “living together” take root throughout Belgium!
Jobs & volunteering
All open positions are listed on our Jobs & Volunteering page.
There is also a specific page for volunteer assignments.
All open positions are listed on our Jobs & Volunteering page.
DUO can boost your job search but unfortunately not for student jobs .
And internally we are not recruiting students at the moment.