Mentoring to help students gain practical skills for future careers

While the employment market is now booming, getting a foot on the career ladder after graduating from college or university is as competitive as it has ever been. With an influx of graduates entering the market, it was estimated in 2020 that there were over 100 applicants fighting for each position. It’s never easy for a graduate to stand out among candidates with similar educational backgrounds, and the reality is that those who can’t show some insight into and grasp of the industry they want to enter will have a hard time impressing their interviewer.

This common thinking, that it is up to job applicants to come prepared and sell themselves to an employer, can be especially harmful to students from less advantaged backgrounds, or from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the industry that they have decided to pursue. Applicants who come from “unusual backgrounds” for the organisation they are applying for are frequently disadvantaged. Those who do not have family or friends in their lives to whom they can ask questions and seek guidance. This is especially true when they investigate the various job alternatives available to them.

This is not simply because the interviewers may have some unconscious bias; it’s also because the organization’s recruitment procedure favours the typical candidate. Applicants who have easy access to the community or group represented at the company where they are applying can get a significant edge by learning more about the process, the company, and politics, as well as gaining relevant experience. This creates a self-perpetuating loop in which an organisation is steered toward one particular group.

As businesses strive to increase their diversity and inclusion, one approach to do so is to start from the ground up, when individuals are looking for jobs. This is so that people from all walks of life have equal opportunities and everyone has access to and insight into a company. Mentoring can help here by providing a source of support for students attempting to navigate the complexity of a future job. It can also provide guidance and counsel, especially for those who do not have a role model to look up to. People are inspired and supported when they see senior leaders they can relate to, according to research. A successful mentoring relationship can help personal and professional growth, improving confidence and bringing out key employability skills. The benefits of the guidance in encouraging diversity are evident, with research showing that mentoring programmes increase the representation of underrepresented groups by 9 percent to 24 percent.

Finding a knowledgeable and supportive mentor can be invaluable for any student beginning the process of pursuing a profession, regardless of background. Pushfar has collaborated closely with Bath Spa University to help them implement their mentoring initiative, ‘MentorMe.’ The university correctly recognised that many of its students struggle to determine which career path is appropriate for them. In addition, the transition from academia to the working world can be daunting at times. The abundance of options available can appear to be a maze with no obvious entry point.

While students are typically aware of their own strengths and skills, a mentoring relationship with an experienced professional can assist them in determining how or where they can best be applied in the workplace, as well as highlighting those skills that employers value. The ‘MentorMe’ programme at Bath Spa has received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and it is being expanded more widely throughout the University, as it helps students overcome their fear of the unknown by allowing them to gain a better understanding of the professional world and learn about opportunities available in specific fields.

For individuals who have a better sense of the path they want to take, a mentor could be someone who can help them navigate the intricacies of a particular business and advise them on the qualities and talents they should focus on to get started. A mentoring connection can be the start of developing a professional network that becomes the launchpad for a career, with 87 percent of people feeling empowered by it. There is not a straightforward answer for bridging the gap between academic learning and industry knowledge for students. There will not be a more diverse and inclusive workforce in the future, but mentoring can certainly ease the transition.