Mentoring opportunities, feedback and thanks!

[Maggie Cranford]

Hi guys,

 

The first thing I need to do is to say how much we appreciate the time given by the mentors for the Meet a Mentor event at Kings last week. I have of course emailed the mentors involved directly with our thanks, but I do need to say here that it is only through the generous involvement of mentors that we can begin to rise students awareness of the realities of working in our industry and the wide range of options available to them.

 

After every event we ask for feedback so we can improve things for the future. I can tell you that some students have already been in touch to say how valuable the event was for them. Numbers were fairly low, so there was plenty of opportunity for in depth, almost one-to-one, discussion. Of course, the downside is that there were fewer questions asked, so maybe the conversation didn't cover as wide a range of topics as it would with more students present. I've emailed the students, asking them to come back to us to follow up with extra questions, and I've stressed that the MaM event is really just a starting point in thinking about the options open to them. Hopefully there will be questions and comments that I can email to the whole mentor group in the coming days.

 

I've also got plans in hand to further adjust the issue of timings, as this time none of the students arrived on time. Although the evening was eventually a success, we obviously don't want to keep mentors waiting, so we'll adjust the arrangements for the next event ideally to avoid delays altogether. We also have improved event signage organised...

 

Speaking of the next event, I need to finish with a request for some further offers of mentoring at Queen Mary on 17th March. We just have three mentors signed up at the moment, and these events are always more valuable when there is a broad range of experience on offer. The Doodle poll is here http://doodle.com/poll/84in35bweuvzvfq8 and we'd love to hear from you if you have some time.

 

It's always helpful to promote the event as widely as possible to the student community too. The sign up page for members of the GDC is here http://www.meetup.com/grad-dc/events/229040039/ and you are welcome to share the link with your own network!

 

Next term we'll be looking at a Career Hacking Interview skills event, similar to one we held at UCL last year. More news will be posted here soon.

 

Thanks again guys. Please do contact me through the list or directly with any questions, comments or suggestions on how to improve mentoring opportunities.

 

Best wishes

 

Maggie