Introduction - Careers Network Mentoring Scheme
Hi, my name is Akber. I'm a University of Birmingham graduate. I studied international relations and I currently work in digital marketing. Before this I took part in the scheme for 2020, Spring.
I was paired with a Senior BBC Correspondent for the West Midlands. I initially joined the mentoring scheme because I was a bit lost in terms of what I wanted my future career to look like and I wanted to talk to someone with industry experience to give me guidance. So I would have chats about once every 2 weeks and I was even able to attend some policy conferences and news events. So after that, even though I'm no longer on that path I still have a good relationship with me mentor where we discuss how our professional careers are going and she keeps up to date and she's even offered me a reference for my resume which has really helped secure my first job.
Advice from mentor - Careers Network Mentoring Scheme
One piece of advice that I learned from my mentor that I could share with other students would be the value of consistency and persistence. So listening to the story of my mentor and how she made her steps slowly but strategically to be able to get into the position that she's in now. It really kind of taught me how to think long term about my professional development. But having said that in mind it would also be to kind of relax a bit and understand that it's a marathon and not a sprint and to realise that make small steps in the right direction is better than thinking a thousand things and never do it never taking action.
Top Tip for Mentorship - Careers Network Mentoring Scheme
So my top tip for making the most out of the mentoring opportunity would be to be as proactive as possible. So before every meeting I would have a list of the things I specifically wanted to talk about before each event and I would have goals that I would bring forward to every next meeting. So another way that I was proactive was by looking into what the what mentor does and seeing how you can fit into their daily schedule and bring value to them. So a big reason that I was able to attend my first press event was because I had written an article on that specific policy issue the week before and I presented it to her so be proactive and make sure you know what you want out of the mentoring scheme and how you can both together work to achieve those goals.