All posts by Bozhana Miteva

Elizabeth, Management and Consultancy

Elizabeth, a first year economics student, interested in Management took part in the Career Mentor Scheme in 2013. Through the scheme, Elizabeth was assigned an Industry Strategy & Transformation Consultant for Accenture who graduated from the University of Exeter in 2009.

elizabeth

Elizabeth said she felt she had achieved all of the objectives she had set for the Career Mentor Scheme, including:

  • Gaining understanding of how to get in to the management sector and an insight into the good and bad aspects of the industry
  • Improving personal skills needed for graduate employment e.g. confidence building
  • Obtaining help to improve her CV and getting help with application forms, cover letters and interview techniques

We asked Elizabeth a few questions about her experience. Here’s what she said…

What was your highlight of the scheme?

The adaptability of my mentor to suit my needs, as well as obtaining exceptionally useful knowledge from an individual who is high up in the sector I wish to enter.

What message would you give to a student thinking of applying for the Career Mentor Scheme?

Think carefully about which type of mentor will give you advice around an area that you are really interested in. This will mean you can obtain advice about entering a sector that really gives you motivation and enjoyment from any future opportunities that may arise.

Anna, Science

Anna, a second year Geography student, took part in the Career Mentor Scheme in 2013 and was assigned a Scientific Consultant for the Met Office. The mentor had a BSc in Geography from the University of Birmingham (2011) and an MSc in Applied Meteorology from the University of Reading (2012). Her role for the Met Office involved working on meteorological consultancy projects across a range of sectors, and she was also a member of Weather Analytics where she was responsible for supplying historical weather data to clients.

anna

Anna said she felt she had achieved all of the objectives she had set for the Career Mentor Scheme, including:

  • Developing professional contacts and networking opportunities
  • Gaining knowledge of how to get in to the environmental sector
  • Improving her CV and getting help with application forms, cover letters and interview techniques
  • Gaining professional work experience

We asked Anna a few questions about her experience. Here’s what she said…

What was your highlight of the scheme?

Gaining two days of work experience at the Met Office and having the chance to network with people who work there and build contacts.

What message would you give to a student thinking of applying for the Career Mentor Scheme?

Apply, as it can lead to valuable work experience and the chance to have 1:1 career advice and guidance from a professional.

 

 

Aimee, Human Resources

Aimee participated in the Career Mentor Scheme during her second year. Interested in Human Resources, Aimee was matched with a University of Exeter alumnus and Human Resources Manager for the General council of the bar.

Aimee was able to visit her mentor’s place of work in Sitingbourne to gain invaluable insight into the field and felt that her objectives for the mentor scheme had mostly been met. She was able to improve her confidence and personal skills necessary for graduate employment as well as learn about good and bad aspects of the sector. Aimee also felt that she had made a friend and future professional contact in her mentor.

Aimee shared some insights into the ways in which the scheme was beneficial to her:

What were the highlights of the scheme for you?

I met my mentor at their place of work and I was able to talk with other members of the department as well as my mentor.  

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

I gained valuable insight into my chosen profession and advice on the methods that are available to me in order to achieve a successful career in the field.

What message would you give to a student thinking of applying for the Career Mentor Scheme?

It is a very useful scheme that enables you to gain an invaluable insight into your chosen profession and in particular from an individual, in my experience, who is more than happy to provide plenty of advice and guidance! 

Megan, Healthcare and Wellbeing

Megan, a Psychology student, was looking to get help and guidance into the Healthcare and Wellbeing sector. Through the Career Mentor Scheme she was matched with a Clinical Psychology at Research Department of Clinical, Health and Educational Psychology University College London.

ducks-in-a-row-1316756

The partnership helped Megan in various ways, including improving her confidence to seek graduate level employment and improved her professional contacts. Megan revealed more details about how the scheme was beneficial to her.

How do you feel the mentoring process has enhanced your employability?

I have a much more thorough understanding of how to approach gaining entry to the DClinPsy and necessary experience prior to this. I also have a much better understanding of what the job itself entails, which is one of the crucial things they look for in applicants. I feel more confident in talking about Clinical Psychology (the terms used etc.) and have been able to ask questions in a supportive environment. I’ve also had really valuable feedback on tailoring my CV to my field, and putting the year’s mentoring scheme on there is great in itself!

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

Insight into the career, and what an “average day” looks like has probably been the most valuable experience. Because getting work experience or shadowing is very difficult in clinical psychology, the opportunity to gain inside knowledge and just to hear the way things are discussed (getting used to the terms and abbreviations used etc.) is really useful. Also the opportunity to ask questions which may seem silly and you wouldn’t want to ask in a more formal setting. As such a competitive course to get on, any advice on the interview process and which jobs are the best kind of experience prior to the doctorate, is like gold dust!

Why should students apply to have a mentor?

Any experience you can gain during your time at University will help you once you graduate. The chance to be paired with a professional in your field, who has signed up solely to help you and enhance your career chances and understanding, is amazing! It’s small things like being able to ask those questions that seem a bit too obvious, or silly to ask someone in a more formal setting that really make the scheme worthwhile. I can’t explain how much I’ve learned and gained from this, definitely recommend.

Jessica, Advertising, Marketing and PR

Jessica, doing a degree in English, needed advice and guidance into the Advertising, Marketing and PR sector. She participated in the Career Mentor Scheme and her mentor was Head of Sales and Marketing at the University of Exeter.

At the time the mentor’s main responsibilities were to maximise income and profitability through effective utilisation of space and service when not in use by staff and students and to develop and deliver business strategy across the team, identifying new opportunities and co-ordinating with other services.

Jessica McKenzie

Here is how her mentor’s support was helpful to Jessica:

How do you feel the career mentor scheme has helped you overall?

The scheme has helped me on a personal level; it has given me the confidence to apply and also interview for graduate positions, it has improved my knowledge of the marketing sector and has given me an idea of the career path I wish to take upon graduating. However, having a mentor has helped me on a very practical level; I was offered two weeks paid experience after my summer exams. Whilst this was not a reason for participating in the scheme, it enabled me to have a closer working relationship with my mentor. At the very least, I have made a valuable professional contact and it is these connections that will prove invaluable in my career.  

How do you feel the mentoring process has enhanced your employability?

I have signed a contract to begin a two year graduate scheme with Tesco this September, after completing a two month internship last summer. The confidence my mentor instilled in me to apply to such internships was really beneficial. I was initially worried that being an English student would mean I did not have the numerical aptitude to compete with the Economics and Maths students. But my mentor assured me I had other, equally useful skills and it was these that I tried to implement in my assessment centre. Her knowledge of what employers look for in candidates was really useful and this definitely helped in my preparation for assessment centres/ interviews.

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

The two weeks paid work experience was obviously a highlight, but not only for monetary perspective (it paid over half of my accommodation for my summer internship). It was a great insight into her career and it was particularly fascinating to see how the commercial side of the University is run in tangent with the academic. Apart from this, my mentor’s advice and support was really useful. Last year, I went a bit crazy applying for internships and work experience and my April I had been offered four placements, all of which I planned to take. My mentor kept reminding me to make sure I had time to relax and that to ensure I did not split my time too thinly; with hindsight this was the most useful advice anyone could have given me!

Why should students apply to have a mentor?

In this competitive job market students really need to know what they want to do before graduation, so having a mentor is a fantastic way to gain insight into a sector you are interested in. Just having somebody to talk to and listen to is incredibly useful in gaining this insight and planning a career beyond graduation. Even a few meetings can go a long was in determining what you want to do with your future. This can give you a higher level of confidence and insight when applying to graduate schemes, which can ultimately be the difference in you being offered a position – it worked for me!

Florence, Media, Publishing and Journalism

Florence was doing an English degree, but wanted to pursue a different career path – one in the Media, Publishing and Journalism sector. In order to get support she applied for the Career Mentor Scheme and her mentor was a freelance Sports Journalist.

Florence Christie

Florence shared more with us about the scheme.

How do you feel the career mentor scheme has helped you overall?

One way in which the Career Mentor Scheme has helped me is that it has raised my confidence about the skills that I have gathered during my time at university and how to apply them to the world of employment. I now feel as though I have the tools to gain employment in a job that I would like to pursue making it not feel like a distant pipedream but closer to reality. Similarly, the mentorship also helped me to hone in on the type of journalism that I would like to pursue in the future helping me to focus my interests and opening up different possibilities that I had not considered before.

How do you feel the mentoring process has enhanced your employability?

It has enhanced my employability tremendously. The help that I received for my CV was invaluable. It sounds silly now but before I did the scheme, I didn’t realise that there were completely different ways of structuring your CV so that it would fit the criteria of a journalist. I had always been told to follow a specific brief, but after speaking with Tim, I realised that there were things that I could include on my CV that would showcase that I had some journalistic skills in my tool kit- such as adding my Twitter handle to my contact information and writing ‘Media Experience’ rather than ‘Relevant Experience’- small things like that go a long way.

Similarly, through asking me questions that I would encounter in interviews which as I have learnt involve informal chats, such as “what would I change about my favourite magazine?”, or “Who is your favourite journalist? I was able to think through these questions and hence be able to understand the process of getting a journalist job more clearly.

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

It was great to speak to somebody who had gone through the experience before. At our first meeting we had a long conversation about the best ways into the magazine industry and he told me all about the different entries into the industry which I had never thought about before. Straight away he helped me improve my CV and also told me the realities of working in journalism would be. When I was searching for internships, my mentor was always on hand to read my applications letters and offer support. In fact, I managed to secure an internship at a content marketing firm through a connection of his which resulted in being commissioned to write an article that went onto publication for the company. At this internship I was able to meet other professionals who also offered great advice and support and recommended other companies to approach in terms of work experience. Tim also encouraged me to develop some skills that I was missing such as InDesign skills and over time I have had the opportunity to do so.

Why should students apply to have a mentor?

As I said earlier it is really helpful to be able to speak to someone who has gone through what you have gone through before. It is great to speak to friends and family but it was nice to have a conversation with somebody who shared the same interests as you and could help you to understand the industry more clearly. My mentor gave me the confidence to believe that I was good enough to become a journalist and I really appreciate all the help that he gave me.

 

Christina, Advertising, Marketing and PR

Christina, an English student, wanted to go into Advertising, Marketing and PR. By participating in the Career Mentor Scheme she was matched with a PR and Communications Manager at the Cass Business School, City University London. This mentor was leading a team looking after the PR and communications activities for Cass Business School in the UK and internationally.

magazine-1466454

The partnership improved Christina’s confidence and enabled her to take an internship. It also helped her prepare for the next steps after graduation.

How do you feel the mentoring process has enhanced your employability?

Through this mentoring process, I was able to undertake an internship in PR over the summer holidays, through my mentor’s contact. It was a fantastic experience that has definitely enhanced my employability. My mentor helped me work on my CV and go through Cover Letters I sent off to various employers. I really enjoyed this scheme, and I feel that my confidence has improved.

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

I cannot say what the most useful element of the experience was because everything was so helpful. I gained work experience, networked making new contacts, and understood the PR industry much better.

Why should students apply to have a mentor?

Everyone should apply. It is a fantastic way to learn about your respective industry , make the contacts and gain the confidence needed for the future.

 

Alice, Science

Biochemistry student Alice was matched with a Biochemist at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This mentor has completed a Biochemistry degree at Exeter and then pursued a PhD in Biological Sciences. Her main responsibilities include conducting seed Biology research at Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, publishing work in scientific journals and training and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students.

botanic-garden-1171468

We talked to Alice in more detail about her experience of the Career Mentor Scheme.

How do you feel the career mentor scheme has helped you overall?

  • Improved my confidence to seek graduate level employment
  • Improved my personal skills needed for graduate level employment
  • Helped me prepare for my next steps – graduate level employment / further study
  • Professional experience to put on my CV
  • Gained work experience / internship
  • Made a friend / future professional contact in my mentor

How do you feel the mentoring process has enhanced your employability?

By participating in the Career Mentor Scheme, I have picked up valuable skills which will improve my chances of finding employment within the Science sector. Specifically, the opportunity to participate in a 6-week summer internship not only taught me important lessons in how a lab is run, but it also prepared me for my third year research project within my degree.

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

For me the most useful aspect of the mentoring scheme was the opportunity to carry out the internship. This gave me time to get to know my mentor better and learn more about her experiences within the Biochemistry sector. It also allowed me to undertake my own research, giving me a level of independence I had not been able to gain through undergraduate lab sessions. The time working with her allowed us to build up more of a rapport and build a long lasting relationship.

Why should students apply to have a mentor?

Students should apply for this scheme as it gives an opportunity to experience the sector they are interested in hands on. It allows you to meet an alumnus from the University who can share their experiences with you, plus give you advice on steps to take to get further in your chosen career.

 

Alexandra, Media, Publishing and Journalism

Alexandra, doing a degree in Sociology, was passionate about the Media, Publishing and Journalism sector. She applied to the Career Mentor Scheme and was matched with a Producer/Account Manager at BeViacom (MTV International). This mentor’s main responsibilities at the times included producing and managing the creation of sponsorship and Co-Branded Commercial Idents for Sony Pictures and distributing to over 28 markets worldwide.

Alexandra Childs

Alexandra benefited from the scheme in a number of ways.

How do you feel the career mentor scheme has helped you overall?

  • Helped me prepare for my next steps – graduate level employment / further study
  • Professional experience to put on my CV
  • Gained work experience / internship
  • Made a friend / future professional contact in my mentor

How do you feel the mentoring process has enhanced your employability?

It gave me a chance to gain some relevant work experience, and understand what is required of me.

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

The opportunity to speak to someone in the industry and who was in a position to advise me on future steps to take.

Why should students apply to have a mentor?

It is an incredible opportunity to network and understand the industry you want to go into.

The highlight for Alex’s mentor was:

“I was pleased to give Alex the opportunity to do work experience as I think this is vital for everyone.”

Adrienne, Accounting and Auditing

Economics student Adrienne participated in the Career Mentor Scheme and was mentored by an Executive Advisor at KPMG LLP. As such his main responsibilities were to identify sales opportunities in Technology Risk and Assurance services and to develop those opportunities into sales. This mentor also managed the delivery of Technology Risk and Assurance services to our organisation’s Construction, Infrastructure, Transport and Public Sector portfolio of clients including agreeing contracts, planning, work on site (fieldwork), financial management and agreeing deliverables with clients.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Adrienne had an extraordinary experience in the year in which she was part of the scheme.

How do you feel the career mentor scheme has helped you overall?

  • Improved my confidence to seek graduate level employment
  • Improved my personal skills needed for graduate level employment
  • Helped me prepare for my next steps – graduate level employment / further study
  • Professional contacts from networking
  • Made a friend / future professional contact in my mentor
  • Greater idea of what the career path involves (audit)

How do you feel the mentoring process has enhanced your employability?

Gained greater knowledge of the field (audit)(good for interviews), greater knowledge of the professional qualifications open to me after university, improved personal skills (more confidence in interviews) and CV enhancement.

What did you find most useful from the mentoring experience?

Insights into my chosen profession/sector, greater knowledge of the professional qualifications open to me after university.

Why should students apply to have a mentor?

Now I have a greater idea of the career I would like to go into, the possible qualifications that I could partake in after my studies, an insight into where said career could take me. Really great insight!