I have really enjoyed mentoring with Arts Emergency over the past year, which culminated last night with an online celebratory event. My mentee has been amazing to work with, and has succeeded in getting a new job on a graduate traineeship scheme with Waltham Forest Council during the past year. A massive highlight was when she spoke at the Museum Futures summit earlier this week, as part of the panel discussion I chaired on What's next? Supporting careers after traineeships (more information here). When I met her at the start of the year she said that she was nervous about public speaking and I said that by the end of the year I would invite her to speak with me at an event and it did happen. In her new job she has to present in real life and online, so has become more confident. I was thrilled she accepted when I asked her!
On the day, she came across as confident and clear, speaking about her experiences of the different traineeships and apprenticeships she has done, and how she believes that there should be better retention of trainees and opportunities for progression within the same employer. For this reason her new job is with a council rather than within the creative and cultural industries. One of the summit attendees posted in the chat box after hearing her talk:
Brilliant, thank you. We have a decent retention rate and a really good employment rate post traineeship but you make such valid points. You have pushed me to approach colleagues about their commitment to employing trainees at the end of their term. Some teams have a great record of doing this but others less so. There is so little recruitment anyway but still, there can be no guarantees but if someone has been with us for a year, our priority should be to turn them into someone who will be taken on should the opportunity arise. Sorry, long comment, thinking aloud, but mostly I wanted to say thank you for airing something important we don't hear very often. I'm really glad you are in a meaningful role.
And my mentee texted afterwards in response:
That has absolutely made my day, thanks for encouraging me to do this Rach. I was so nervous beforehand but it feels amazing to have pushed myself and even better to think it might have a made a small impact!
I am looking forward to staying in touch with my mentee and meeting in person for a coffee and exhibition trip, as our mentoring has been solely online. For anyone interested in mentoring I cannot recommend it enough; I get as much out of it as my mentees.