The Lancaster Career Mentoring Programme gives you the opportunity to spend time with a working professional, getting an insight into what they do and how they got there. Originally designed for undergraduate students, the programme has been running since 2008 and has become progressively more popular each year. Even if you have no idea what career you would like in the future, they have mentors who can assist. Mentoring will help you assess your career goals and get you thinking in different ways about how to reach them.
The programme is mainly aimed at penultimate and finalist undergraduate students and is now also available for Masters and PhD students.
The programme is run by the University’s Careers Service, matching industry professionals with Lancaster University students. The programme aims to:
- support students in developing the necessary skills to manage their career
- provide students with an industry perspective to enhance their academic learning
- establish mutually beneficial relationships between industry, the university and its students
If you haven’t heard about the mentoring programme, don’t bury your head in the sand anymore! This is what one of last year’s mentees had to say about it –
I would like to thank you once again for putting me in touch with my mentor. There are no words to describe how thankful I am. Without his help and support, I wouldn’t have been able to get on a graduate scheme in the public sector. He is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met. I could always count on him – even when I was a bit down and was losing faith in myself, he was always here to cheer me up and motivate me. I do not know if the other mentors are as amazing as he is – but if you ever want me to write something about the Scheme for the university, I am more than happy to do so, because I am eternally grateful for everything he has done for me and for the time he has sacrificed to help me follow my dreams and become a better person! (One of many happy testimonies)
The good news is that there isn’t just one ‘amazing’ mentor. There are over 100 amazing mentors in a wide range of industries, who are willing to help you as you think about your future career prospects! More mentors are joining all the time and the range of talent & experience they have to offer is second to none.
If you have a specialist career in mind or you haven’t got a clue, it doesn’t matter. Someone can be found to help you navigate the choppy careers waters and help you sail past your peers as you benefit from a bespoke career mentoring experience. Your mentor will help you explore different options & guide you to what feels right for you. It really doesn’t matter what stage you’re at, which degree you’re doing or how academic you are, a mentor can be found to suit you.
Once you’ve been matched with a mentor, you will be able to:
- Develop practical skills and confidence to enter your chosen profession
- Build personal and professional networks
- Increase your understanding of your chosen industry and gain exposure to current professional practises and trends
- Link academic study to industry realities
- Broaden your knowledge of the career options open to you
- Learn what employers are looking for when they hire graduates & so much more
For further information, and to apply to be a mentee for the 2018/19 academic year, please follow this link to the Careers Service Website. Applications for the 2018/19 programme open on the 5th June 2018 (at 4pm) and will close on 26th June 2018 (at 11.45 pm).
If you would like to know more about having a mentor, please come along to our presentation on 5th June at 4pm in LUMS LT6. You can sign up for this event on TargetConnect –
https://lancaster.targetconnect.net/leap/event.html?id=10161&service=Careers+Service