NNE has a whole corps of employees who have volunteered as so-called career mentors. Our mentors participate in various student events and advice students on the transition from university to their first job, providing tips for job search and answering all the questions that soon-to-graduate students may have. Below two of them share their thoughts about the mentoring role.
How did you become a mentor?
Trine: I was contacted by a consultant at my former university, who asked me if I would like to be a mentor. She knew I was a bit unexperienced since I had only have been on the job market for a year, but my profile matched the purpose. I said yes because I remember what is was like to be in their shoes. As a new graduate, making the transition from university to the job market, you have so many questions and frustrations and I wanted to help them clarify some of these.
As a new graduate, making the transition from university to the job market, you have so many questions and frustrations and I wanted to help them clarify some of these.
I have been a student-mentor and student-counsellor through most of my time at university, where I have guided new and coming students to navigate in the new world of becoming a university student, so I felt prepared to take the role as a career-mentor.
Emily: It was the same for me. I was a student not long ago and I would really have appreciated a mentor or a course during my final semesters with focus on how to enter the dark and unknown working life. I wish someone had told me then that I had nothing to fear and that everything would work out just fine and that you of course don’t have 20 years of experience when you start your first job and that is OK too.
What is the best thing about being a mentor?
Emily: For me it’s such an achievement when the mentees feel much more relaxed about entering the job market when the mentoring process has finished. On top of that you also learn something about your own journey and your own priorities that you normally don’t think too much about. And then there’s all the new, nice people you get to know.
For me it’s such an achievement when the mentees feel much more relaxed about entering the job market when the mentoring process has finished.
Trine: I agree with Emily: the best thing about being a mentor is to feel that I have prepared the students for the job market, their coming job search and the recruitment process. I always tell them that it is not that “dangerous” to get a job and that it is possible to get a job a bit outside your own education background as long as you are open-minded and willing to acquire new skills. For my part, I have a degree in design engineering (product development and innovation), but I work within IT now.
What is your best/most memorable situation from your time as a mentor?
Trine: I would say the best memory is the company visit, letting the students see NNE (a workplace) and having different presentations, preparing them even more for their coming job and job search and showing them how a company can work with sustainability.
Emily: I have shared my network with my mentees so they have the possibility of meeting someone in a position that they can see themselves in – not only on a professional level, but also on a personal, cultural and background level. It was really nice to see that even though the mentees don’t relate to my point of view there are always someone else that can, someone else that they can mirror themselves in.
In 2022, you can meet our mentors on a wealth of different student events across Denmark (and probably online too - #corona). Check into our event calendar or follow NNE on LinkedIn to see when we are coming to a place near you!
