Tell us about Career Ready and what being a mentor involves.
Career Ready is a fantastic initiative which gives secondary school pupils the opportunity to gain exposure to the world of work, build their confidence and foster relationships with an adult mentor. Career Ready acknowledges that every student has potential, yet may not have access to the networks and opportunities to unlock it.
Throughout the two-year programme, the school pupil is linked up with a mentor, participates in a four-week paid internship, attends and learns from a series of 'skills masterclasses' and benefits from various workplace visits. I met with my mentee every 4-6 weeks (online or in person) for around 1 – 1.5 hours. In these meetings, I shared my education experience and career journey, and over time we worked together to reflect on their progress against the Career Ready 'Skills for Career Success' learning outcomes. I found it refreshing to meet with my student and hear what they'd been learning about or working on. Our relationship grew with every meeting.
Why did you get involved in Career Ready?
Growing up, I was lucky that I had plenty of people to learn from, speak to, ask questions of, as well as access to various opportunities to experience the working world. I wanted to give back to those who, for whatever reason, don't have such opportunities. I'm passionate about helping others up the career ladder and being a part of Career Ready allowed me to do just that!
What have you learnt from being a mentor?
That a few hours of your time and some words of wisdom can work wonders. I didn't just teach my mentee things – we both learned from each other. It also helped me with skills for mentoring trainees and NQ solicitors within our team, so I learned transferable skills which I can use within Brodies.
Give us a quote to sum up your experience.
"Proud as punch!"; I have a strong bond with my student and over the last few weeks I've been receiving regular updates from her about her UCAS applications. As things currently stand, she has three unconditional offers to study law and I honestly couldn't be more proud!
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