Barrovian Careers' Network
INSPIRE
Career development is a lifelong process which is why King William’s College and The Buchan School is dedicated to supporting and assisting its students and alumni throughout their working life.
Whether you are a pupil of King William’s College, a first year student at university or have graduated, our Barrovian Careers’ Network is a powerful online career platform which connects alumni and students and creates a network for sharing practical advice, skills development, networking tools, career related events, career exploration and general guidance.
We hope our platform will not just benefit younger OKWs who are entering the world of work, but also alumni who are looking for advancement advice or a change in career.
Guidance for Mentees
Depending on what you want out of the relationship, it doesn’t even necessarily need to be someone working in the same sector as you – it could be someone you want to learn from as a role model for reasons other than the specific skills you use in your day-to-day job.
A good mentor will take you out of your comfort zone, encouraging you to build upon your strengths, address any weaknesses, and stretch yourself in order to improve your skills and experience, and get ahead in your career.
You may wish a mentor at various different parts of your own career development to help you develop in a variety of areas. It need not be the same mentor each time – indeed you may find better support in having different mentors at different stages who can support you in different ways.
What to look for in a mentor
- Be clear what you want: Is it help to hone a particular skillset that you are after? Are you looking to develop your experience in a different field? Are you changing careers? Are you wanting advice on a specific project? How much support (i.e. contact time) do you need? Are you desperate to meet regularly in person or will Skype do? Get the practicalities of the arrangement straight in your own head from the outset, so you know exactly who and what you are looking for.
- Finding someone you want to be like: Approach the kind of person you aspire to be like in the future, if all goes according to plan. Who has the perceived strengths that can help you in those areas where you feel you have weaknesses?
- Equally (if not more) importantly, finding someone you like! A good mentoring relationship is a very personal thing, which works best if there is good chemistry between you. Do you respond well to a hard task-master, or do you need a more sensitive soul to guide you? Do you click with serious types, or are you happier listening to people who are a bit more relaxed? The clues to the kind of person you are dealing with will be there when you have your first proper conversation, so just make sure you listen to your instincts. While you can’t necessarily choose your boss, you can choose your mentor!
How to find and approach a mentor
When you’ve decided who you want to approach based on the questions and guidance above, a strategy for making contact might look something like this:
Email them to ask for an informal chat. The main thing is to get a sense of their career path and the experiences that brought them to where they are now, and more basically, whether it feels like you are going to get along.
Once you know you are keen to enlist their help, ask how they would feel about formalising it as a mentor-mentee relationship. You could suggest a monthly check-in meeting, for example, but remember there are no hard and fast rules, so don’t force it and expect them to commit to your ideal schedule.
You need to be proactive in making the best use of your mentor – they will NOT do the legwork for you.
Finally…
Remember that while a mentor can offer you invaluable advice and perspectives, they are not there to make your choices for you. A good mentor will leave you feeling empowered, encouraging you to take full responsibility for your own career decisions and the consequences that come with them. The rest of your working life is up to you.
Become a Mentor
We welcome support from alumni in all stages of their professional lives. By joining our Barrovian Career Network you have the opportunity to support your fellow OKWs and those still studying at College.
As a mentor, you can assist in several ways, including:
- Sharing your knowledge, experience and expertise
- Examine career goals and decisions
- CV reviewing
- Career advice
- Advise about any professional challenges the mentee may face
- Mock interviews
- Offer constructive criticism and feedback
- Attending and representing your field at networking and career events
- Offering work experience and/or internship
- Help the mentee to reach their potential
- Provide introductions to useful contacts
Sign up
To sign up to the Barrovian Careers’ Network, you will need to login to your alumni profile. If you have forgotten your password, please click the ‘reset password’ link.
Please then fill in the Sign up to be a Mentor form.
Once we have received enough mentors, the Barrovian Careers Network will go live.
