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Whether you are a student, graduate or a professional we fully recommend you get involved in mentoring! This month Gradsouthwest joined the University of Exeter’s Career Mentor Scheme so we can help pass on our expertise to students.
The purpose of a mentor scheme is to bring bright, enthusiastic students together with successful professionals in mutually beneficial mentoring partnerships.
Mentor: a person who give a less experienced person help and advice over a period of time
Mentee: someone who is given support and advice about their job by amentor (= amore experienced person who helpsthem)
The aim is to help improve the employability of the student mentees, with both parties gaining from the experience through personal and professional development. Here are a few of the many benefits.
You get to:
- Learn from others with experience
- Reflect on and develop your skills
- Increase your confidence and knowledge
- Identify goals and direction
- Build your network and understanding within your chosen career
- Develop your leadership and management skills
- Gain insight into student/early graduate issues and their fresh perspectives
- Enhance your CV
- Benefit from personal growth
- Give something back to help others
So, if you are a student, your University may run a mentoring scheme of some form – contact your Careers and Employability team to find out how your University can help you.
If you are a professional, then either contact your local University, or the University you attended as their Alumni teams often work to provide mentors for Careers and Employability and see if they can link you with a student.
Here are a few web links to get you started:
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/careers/employment-services/develop/mentor/
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/your-studies/academic-services/careers-and-employability/mentoring
https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/business/support-our-students/mentoring-programme/
http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/students/careersandemployability/vacanciesandworkexperience/careermentoringscheme.aspx
http://www.glos.ac.uk/partnerships/Pages/business-and-partnerships.aspx
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/business/partnerships/mentor-advise-coach/
Next month we will look at setting mentoring objectives and action planning.
Dr DeborahWatson
Director,Gradsouthwest Ltd.