In her second year Liberal Arts student Klaudia applied to the Career Mentor Scheme and was matched with a Director of Photography.

Working in the Creative Arts, Design and Crafts sector, this mentor graduated with a Film Studies degree at Exeter in 2010 and has since developed an impressive career in Photography. After working at Greenfield Television and Group FMG as a Camera Assistant and Shooting Assistant, respectively, he moved on to working as a Lighting Cameraman at Sneak Global. Since 2013 he has been self-employed and is now the founder and owner of Hold Your Fire, where he is Director of Photography. As such he is responsible for the overall visual identity of a production.

Klaudia told us more about her experience of the mentoring partnership.

What did you find most useful?

Insight into the profession and personal advice on creating a CV, increasing the confidence in the skills I have acquired over the years.

What were the highlights of the scheme for you?

Receiving advice on and succeeding in building a concise CV and applying for internships.

What message would you give students thinking of applying for the career mentor scheme?

If you ever felt unsure about your own personal skills and their application to the workplace, the scheme definitely has the potential to boost your confidence and help you use these skills to an advantage when looking for a placement or work experience.

The mentor shared the highlights of the scheme for himself:

I enjoyed having e-mail contact with Klaudia as I felt it was a great platform to discuss things in an informal environment. [We discussed] uncertainties about life after graduation via e-mail and it gave me the time to respond appropriately, so I could assist her with her confidence and work out what she wanted to pursue.

I feel like I had a positive impact and she seemed to figure out her next steps by the end of the scheme. I also went through her CV and looked at her work as well as sharing some of my own work and examples of past CV’s to give her some insight into the job hunting process

Getting to meet her […] was useful as it put a face to a name and solidified the professional relationship we had built up already which I hope will continue in the future.