Mentoring can take many forms.
From casual conversations after class with the tutor
to formal programs
facilitated by the University.
We asked a group of undergraduate students
from across the University of Melbourne
about their experiences
with having an alumni mentor.
The group discussed the impact
and benefits of having a mentor
and offer their advice to students
interested in mentoring.
There's so much competition out there
at the moment
especially facing us students
especially at our age.
This could be and this is
the edge that you need
to get that little bit ahead
with the rest of the crowd,
having a mentor or someone
who can guide you along your journey
or at least give you some advice
is really invaluable.
I think a lot of people don't realize
the value of a mentor
until they've actually got one.
I always receive emails
about different alumni programs
or mentor opportunities
and I sort of thought, "I don't need that.
I'll be alright; I've got plenty of people to talk to
friends, family."
And then when I got one
I was like, "Wow, why didn't I do this earlier."
It just makes the pathway so much more easy
makes things clearer in your head.
They can actually give you
personal advice about your own experience
and about their experiences.
You need to know who you need to talk to.
Like
if you're interested in this particular field
or you're interested in pursuing this
even if it's not directly in what they do
it's likely in their office
or in their organisation that they work for
they'll know someone who might know the answer.
There's a person-
There's a tangible person that
has been through what you've been through
and who is willing to give their experience to you
and who's willing to share their experiences
not for you to replicate it
but for you to learn from it
and having that is already a one-up
in your career.
In a place like Melbourne Uni
it's so big
you go to lectures with 200 other students
whereas this provides
a rare opportunity to have one-on-one
conversations with people who can provide you
with advice and academic experience.
I think it's so easy as well
to look around at everybody else
and think they're more organized than you
or they're doing better than you
I don't consider myself to be
someone with self-confidence issues
but I still look around and
I'm comparing myself to everyone
and still having these
oh-am-I-good-enough little paranoias
so it is really great to have that person there
saying, "No, you're gonna be fine,
just keep doing your thing."
I'll go ahead and say that
a common theme between all of us
in terms of what our mentors
have given us is confidence.
They've all given us
the ability to trust ourselves
that we can do something
or that we should do something.
They've also encouraged us to
reach a little bit higher,
be a little bit more daring.
Change things because I never would have
considered law after my undergrad.
I was thinking about it but
I would never want to practice as a lawyer.
I think my alumni connection
she did a law degree
and she just says the skills that you learn
are so invaluable to every aspect of life
in business, in her being a CEO.
She can see a little bit of me in herself.
And so for that reason I am considering that now.
It's a bit daunting but it's not the worst thing
in the world to stay longer at uni
but yes definitely something
I'm now considering as well.
I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed by
what job within the Family Violence sector
I'd be interested in and
always assumed that I'd do my Master's
maybe try and find some Policy Analysis job
or something like that
and then eventually do my PhD
and go into research.
Her advice was, "Well why don't you
work in the sector for five years or so
and then maybe consider during your MBA instead."
And I'd never in a million years
have considered doing my MBA
if I hadn't had that conversation with her.
I've become a lot more interested
in technology now and seeing
how it forms part of business
and it really is a driving factor of
innovation, creativity, and things like that
and new products and services
and seeing my alumni actively
trying to create something new.
One, I can see the process that
he's taken to do it
and two, it's just really boosted my interest.
It made me change my academic direction
a little bit from languages to
maybe buckle down and do this diploma
and try and reach out to people who are
doing similar things
or who have ideas of their own
and want to develop them
so in that sense it's pushed me
to a more creative proactive mindset.
I mean people tell you all the time
but I think until someone close to you
who you respect says it to you
you don't really sink in and that was,
"Just apply for it, Annabelle.
Not everyone is waiting until
they're overqualified for a position or an internship
or a volunteer experience before they apply for it.
So stop telling yourself
that you're not good enough.
It's better to just send in the application,
hear nothing, than it is to
never apply for anything ever
because you don't feel you're good enough."
So I've definitely taken that on board and now
apply to way more things than I
possibly have time to do
let alone have half a chance of actually getting
but it's been great because it now means that I'm
doing things that I might not have done otherwise.
The most valuable insight I got was
in terms of research careers
I always thought that they were quite solitary
and autonomous careers
and that really put me off
that's why I never had considered it
because I like interacting with people
I'm social
I didn't like the idea of sitting behind
a computer for six hours a day
and he taught me that that's totally wrong
and his lab was very interactive.
He was always checking up with people.
Projects are really collaborative.
You're never working just by yourself on something
and so that insight from him
was really encouraging.
We met up maybe about five times this year
and we just sat down and had a coffee
had some lunch, had a chat about
the future and any questions that I had
about the pathway I was trying to go to
I could have answered
by someone who was real and
wasn't bound by the whole shroud of Medicine
but was a genuine person.
I think what was even more valuable
was that her husband
also worked in research at WEHI
So I was able to get from two people who
are at the pinnacle of their fields
the two sides of the coin that I'm interested in
research and medicine
so it was very good to have two people to
bounce ideas off and
they got me in the position that I am now
what I'm interested in doing
so pursue research for now
see if I like it and
let's see how we go from there.
I think go in with an open mind
so if I had approached Tom with
the mindset that I never wanted to do research
I would have never pursued the conversations
that eventuated an internship
but I went in thinking,
"Okay, yep, I'll give this a go"
and that's how you get chatting.
I think if at this stage you're too nervous
to take the leap and do the email or
talk to the lecturer after the lecture type situation
then go for something like Ellie or I did
focus on trying to build personal relationships first.
So maybe sign up to do
that intensive overseas subject
maybe sign up to go to that camp
where you're put in a position where
you're automatically going to start forming
personal relationships with somebody else.
By the time I'd cried all over, died after
my abseiling attempt,
networking from there on in
wasn't gonna be a big deal anymore
we already had that bond and
I've certainly talked to friends who've
been on overseas intensive subjects
and said that the kind of relationships
they were able to build
with staff members over there
they would have never have been able
to do just sitting in the classroom.
Don't be the version of yourself
you think they want to see.
Everyone changes a little bit when they
talk to certain people but
there's an obvious willingness to
come across as the best version of yourself
but don't change that too much.
Those little tweaks of individuality is what
will connect you with the person
that you're talking to.
I think the key at the end of the day is that
we have to be the ones that take the first step.
There's all those opportunities out there
but they're not going to come to you.
Well, in your case they did
but in general they're not going to come to you
unless you get your foot in the door and
make the effort.
And really do we regret it?
Like, at least not yet.