October 4, 2019, by Leah Sharpe

Career Mentoring – Connect To A World Of Expertise

Career Mentoring offers you the opportunity to be supported with your career goals by a member of our alumni community, through one-to-one support and advice. You can gain insight into the sector you wish to enter, develop interpersonal and networking skills, reflect on your experience and knowledge, and feel inspired to take your next steps.

We asked three students to tell us more about their own Career Mentoring experiences:

1. ‘I feel more confident applying for jobs’

After being put in contact with my mentor, we started calling every month through WhatsApp. It was informal and we chatted through questions that I had about the industry before going on to discuss my mentor’s job as a translation manager. This is a role which I didn’t know much about beforehand and so not only was this interesting, but it helped me to consider other job opportunities and what they entail. It was helpful to speak to someone who has experience of writing translation-based CVs. Also, someone who uses LinkedIn in their professional life was great because it meant that I could see how best to use it. Career Mentoring has enabled me to feel more confident applying for jobs as I have a better understanding of the industry and how best to present myself as a candidate.

Joanna Tyler, MA Translation Studies with Interpreting 

2. ‘I would recommend it to anyone’

My mentor helped me to identify what my goals are and how to work towards them. It was useful to hear about her career and how she achieved it, in order to broaden my knowledge of the sports sector and what jobs are out there. My mentor works at London Marathon Events and assisted me in getting a role volunteering at the London Marathon 2019. We got on really well which made the mentoring process a lot more successful. Our relationship wasn’t too formal but still career-orientated. I enjoyed Career Mentoring so much and I would recommend it to anyone.

Izzy Wellings, MSci Natural Science 

3. ‘My mentor motivated me to work strategically’

My relationship with my mentor was fairly informal, allowing me to ask even the silliest of questions. We mainly communicated through video calls on Google Hangout and this worked out well, for example when he was reviewing my CV. My mentor shared his screen during the video call, allowing me to see what bit of my CV he was talking about. The advice given to me was genuine, sector specific and practical – from how I should prepare for an assessment centre, to how I could present myself on the day. My mentor motivated me to work strategically and consistently resulting in a job offer with one of the largest accountancy firms.

Aditya Saxena, BSc Economics 

Find out more about the benefits of career mentoring and how to apply 

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