What's up and coming?
As we begin to look to a new academic year in September it is a great opportunity to examine our focus for the project. As the scheme has developed we have noticed great benefits for the students who have made the most of the mentoring experience. We are keen to ensure that all students who would value a mentor are given the opportunity to get involved. We also see great scope to help those that might need a mentor though might not come forward to request one. As such we will be undertaking more research to reach out and identify students who would benefit from the scheme. In the coming months we will be planning a strand of work to identify, promote to and engage with harder to reach students to provide easier access to this opportunity to help ensure they understand and make the most of the great benefits that others do. With this new line of work we will provide intensive preparation and new levels of support that will result in a new range of mentoring experiences for our mentors to try out. Watch thisspace!
Employability Mentoring Project Newsletter #8
Welcome to our July 2016 edition - Latest project news from Employability Mentoring
Group mentoring success
During April and May we piloted group mentoring sessions to our students on the project. The group sessions were held in the evenings with a number of mentors present for each session. This provided the students an opportunity to hear a range of perspective to their questions. The topics discussed included interview skills, networking, presentation skills, confidence and leadership. Brilliantly, our mentees also got involved in passing on guidance from their own work based experiences. As a result of the sessions we have identified further scope to use group mentoring in the future for more mentees and will be promoting this out in the autumn term. Ultimately explaining the value of the session is best left to those that benefitted so here are a few comments from our mentees following each session. Thanks to all of our group mentors for making thishappen!
I found the session really useful and informative. Will definitely be referring back to the notes made for any future interviews. Thanks once again! Anicha
The session yesterday was very good. Very inspiring for those that need confidence in the workplace. It was good to hear different experiences form the mentors. Andrew
I found the whole process very constructive and useful. I believe that most of the tips that the two mentors gave us suit me and I intend to apply them to the interviews that I will have in the future. Erasmia
I thought the sessions last night were really helpful and I took away lots of notes and aspects to work on. Jordan
Super session last night. I liked how it was a small group which allowed more in depth discussion. Simon
Pilot mentee training being developed
As part of our preparation of students for their mentoring experience we are keen to ensure that they understand what to do to make the most of the opportunity. It is important that they are ready to ask the right questions, which are based on clear goals so as to help them get the information they need from their mentors. We are now looking to develop mentee training to provide furtherpractical help.
We will be piloting this work in the autumn to mentees and assessing its effectiveness for the future.
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Meet the mentor
Name: Alasdair McCarrick Role: Youth Worker Employer: WAYC
Industry: Voluntary Youth Services
What key skills do you possess an a mentor?
I possess a great deal of industry insight as well as valuable managerial experience and knowledge of various sectors which can be used to help inform and develop a mentee's understanding. I am also professional, flexible, patient and a highly skilled communicator which helps to build meaningful relationship between myself and my mentee.
What do you actually do as a mentor?
As I mentor I feel that it is my role to provide as much 'industry' insight to my mentee as possible in order to give them a genuine and informed view of the world of work and accompanying social issues that they will one day be exposed to (if not already). I respond to the needs of my mentee on an as-and-when basis in order to fit in with their lifestyle and schedule. During dialogue I provide anecdotal evidence from my own personal and professional experience in order to enrich my mentee's understanding and to help prepare them for the future.
How can you help a student as a mentor?
As a mentor I am able to provide a thorough, current and relevant insight into a particular area of work and also provide anecdotal evidence and examples from previous employment experiences. These will help to build firm ideas of the demands of employment and the characteristics of particular industries
What we say about Alasdair:
Alasdair provides great support to students at DMU, particularly those wanting to work with young people. Alongside his work as a guest lecturer at DMU Alasdair has great one-to-one skills, developed as a result offering professional mentoring elsewhere in the Midlands. He combines clear insight, critical questioning and positive encouragement helping our students on their career path. Massive thanks Al!
A word from the Employability Mentoring Officer
Its been a busy few months developing new mentoring activity as part of joint partnerships and trying out our new group mentoring sessions. We have noted better, closer engagement of our students following group mentoring and will be looking to provide more group mentoring in the autumn term as university starts once again. Thanks to all our mentors for their support. For more information about the project contact or on 07909 000127. Thanks!
New mentor training film released shortly
Following the success of our mentor training session in March we will be launching our new short film which captures the essence of skills development as a mentor for those not able to attend the training. We filmed the first mentor training session and combined this with additional footage taken of the trainer and project officer explaining the scenes from the training. The content of the film will provide the viewer with ‘challenges’ to develop good practice on a day-to-day basis, by exploring and trying out the skills of a mentor in the normal everyday situations we find ourselves in. The film will be released shortly to all mentors. Thanks to our fantastic filmmaker, JoshPenlington!