Introduction - Careers Network Mentoring Scheme
Hi I'm Azhar. I'm a CRM and Digital Manager for INEOS Automotive who are an automotive start-up company within the UK. Prior to joining INEOS I have been in the world of management consulting for about four or five years and prior to that I was working within industry for a home insurance company and also for a large utility company within the UK.
In between those times I've been travelling a fair bit which is a huge hobby of mine. I volunteer for the Princess Trust, a charity called Mosaic, I'm a Samaritan's volunteer as well and also with the work that I do with Birmingham University.
Whilst I was working, during my first role, I completed my Psychology degree through the Open University, so I had the joy of being able to work full-time as well as being able to study which was a joy.
Mentoring Support - Careers Network Mentoring Scheme
So I've been mentoring in various guises now for the last four or five years and I was fortunate enough to work at the University of Birmingham last year with two mentees who wanted to get into the world of management consulting. So the way in which I think I'm able to help and support you on that journey would be understanding okay what might your wants, needs and motivations be, really understanding which area of management consulting or digital technology or commercial that you might want to work in and then trying to give you practical advice and guidance as to A) what it is that you're able to do and then B) how are you able to do that.
Over the last seven or eight years I've been working, I've been able to create quite a broad sort of network of contacts that people that I'm more than happy to introduce you to which is something that I did with the two mentees I had previously so they were then able to speak to my previous consulting firm to try to get an internship into there.
I think without my previous mentor that I've had then I wouldn't be in the position that I'm in now so I think it's hugely important for people to have as much support that they can do to give real life experience and advice, so yeah.
Top Tip for Industry - Careers Network Mentoring Scheme
To get into the world of management consulting or digital delivery, I would really suggest that you have an understanding of what your skills might be and which areas you might want to grow in. Where do you have a real passion because these areas can be split into lots of different ways.
You might be someone who's really creative, so you really concentrate on sort of building really cool looking apps or you might be someone who's really technical, so you have an understanding of how the website might be built, how you can code for example. If you're someone who likes to manage an overall team or project and see it from end to end, then you could be someone who's a project manager or delivery lead like myself or if you're about the commercial space how do you grow an account how do you drive sales with different clients different people then you might be someone who's interested to get into a lot of account management or partner management.
So my suggestion would be understand where your passion might be so then we can help to tailor you as to how you can get into each of those different areas.