September 4, 2020, by Leah Sharpe

My Career Mentoring experience

By Kathryn Moore, mentee

Career Mentoring offers you the opportunity to be supported with your career goals by a member of our alumni community. Kathryn tells us all about her Career Mentoring experience.

“My goal seems more achievable.”

My mentor

During my second year at university I felt that it was important to begin looking towards life afterwards. After visiting the Careers and Employability Service to discuss how I could go about achieving my aspiration of applying for the Civil Service Fast Stream, I was advised to apply for a career mentor.  

Initially, I researched different mentors who had a career within the Civil Service, specifically in diplomacy. However, I was delighted when I got paired with my first choice mentor, Jo. I felt that Jo was a good match with me because she had previously done a similar course to me at the University  (BA French and Russian) and she had come from a similar background, as she was also a first generation university student. Jo had also grown up in an area very close to my family home. This common ground gave us lots of things to discuss and really allowed the relationship to develop.

Mentorship

Jo was truly an amazing mentor. She was friendly and supportive and was happy to answer any questions I had. Having a mentor that had over twenty years experience of working in several different sectors within the Civil Service meant I was really able to gain a unique insight into the life of a diplomat. 

We generally communicated by phone, as Jo was working abroad a lot. However, we did get to meet on campus. This meeting was very beneficial because it enabled me to put a face to the name and allowed me to get a deeper understanding both of Jo’s own career path and what the role of a diplomat entailed in more detail.  

Jo helped to make my goal seem more achievable, as she was the first person that I was able to speak to who could explain the role in more detail and give me a real insight into the different roles within the Civil Service.

The future

Taking part in Career Mentoring has helped to solidify that I really do want to apply for the Civil Service Fast Stream and hopefully achieve my dream of becoming a diplomat. I hope to stay in touch with Jo over the coming years. We have now connected on LinkedIn so I know that if I ever need to speak to her, she could provide me with some advice.  

I would recommend to any student considering whether to take part in Career Mentoring, to take the leap. Even if you feel nervous like I did initially, this scheme is one where you can get unique advice that could truly be the difference between you getting your dream job and not! 

Applications are now open for the autumn Career Mentoring scheme. Express your interest in the scheme for the opportunity to get unique advice and support from an experienced professional.

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