Second year undergrads, hear from a Thrive ambassador about their mentoring experience.
Author: Grace Probert – Thrive Student Ambassador
CVs
My mentor helped me to rewrite my entire CV, using his expertise of my desired work sector, and his experience in talent recruitment he was able to show me what high level employers want to see from their candidates. He took the time to show me examples of CVs from the industries I was interested in, as well as general CVs he believed were brilliant examples to base mine around. We spent time together on Teams rewriting each section to be as impactful as possible, and to format it in a professional way. He helped me make my CV so impressive that I had three graduate scheme recruitment teams comment on the high standard of my CV.
Interviewing
My mentor helped me prepare for interviews by conducting mock interviews with me and going over a range of interview types he had administered and experienced over his working career. He taught me methods such as the STAR technique, and explained what behavioural strength interviews are, as well as talking me through the different tasks that I would likely encounter in a graduate scheme assessment centre. I also got help by debriefing me following each assessment centre, using my experiences at each one (positive and negative) to help me improve for the next one.
My future direction
My mentor helped me realise what I want to do after I finish university. I think students tend to build up an idea of what they think their chosen industry will be like, and often this is not accurate. Having a mentor who had experience in the sectors I was interested in was brilliant, as it meant that he could inform me of what those jobs are really like and the jobs someone on a particular career path is likely to do. On top of that, he also gave me insights into culture, salary, and alternative ways into certain professions. I realised that I did not want to continue to study after university, and that I would be better off applying to graduate schemes for the type of career path I wanted.
Job offers
My mentor helped me decide which graduate scheme offer I should accept, by helping me be objective about what each scheme offered and what that meant for my career. My mentor helped me compare each positive and negative aspect of my offers to provide a holistic view of which would be best overall. He explained what some of the technical language in my offers meant, surrounding things like pensions and company perks. My mentor supported me to make my own informed choice, refusing to tell me which he would take, instead encouraging me to make the decision on my own – with a little help from him.
Self-belief and confidence
Finally, my mentor helped me become confident in myself, and my ability to make strong connections with professional adults. My mentor helped me realise what my strengths were, how to use these to my advantage when applying to graduate schemes, attending interviews, and communicating within a professional environment. He helped me improve my weaker areas, by either directing me to resources or directly teaching me methods of improving. One example being the red brain/blue brain work we did to combat my anxiety associated with giving presentations, which helped me deliver successful presentations, leading to job offers.
Overall …
I believe I have the Thrive mentoring scheme to thank for my success in the graduate recruitment process, and I would recommend it to everyone as a way to get advice and guidance from someone with years of experience and expertise.
Interested in having your own mentor?
Thrive is for our second-year undergraduates, if you’d like to secure your own mentor, the first step is to sign up here.
Contact us
You can contact us by emailing mentoring@reading.ac.uk with any questions.