CIM GLR

Katharine Wilson looks at mentoring.

Talking about your ‘career’ always makes it sound terribly grown-up; like you’ve thought everything through and have a long term plan about what you want to do and where you want to go.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a career plan. I couldn’t say that it was my explicit intention to work in marketing when I left university with a degree in American Studies. Like many people, it was more luck than judgement that I fell into marketing as a result of a natural evolution of roles; starting with my first job working for a publishing and events company.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed the challenges and variety that marketing in the voluntary and public sector provides and would consider myself to have built a career in marketing. Yet I’d reached a point where I felt that I needed to change and progress but didn’t know how. All I knew was that I wasn’t immediately seeking a new job.

Getting to grip with the issue

So when I heard about GLR’s mentoring scheme it seemed a great opportunity to get some insight and constructive advice from a more senior and experienced colleague. Also, I may have had a ten-year career in marketing; in practice, I have only worked for a small number of organisations (well two really!) and getting a fresh perspective would be beneficial.

Getting started

My first step was to get in contact with GLR’s mentoring scheme. They sent me a list (anonymised) of potential mentors and I selected two or three suitable candidates. The scheme contacted my first choice. Luckily they were happy to oblige.

After a brief flurry of emails we arranged to meet at my mentor’s office on the university campus where he lectures. It was bright sunny day so I chose to walk from the station and arrived feeling rather hot and bothered. The university campus looked lovely glorious in the sunshine though so we started the visit with a little tour. This was interesting and meant we had something to talk about straightaway.

After the tour, we headed for the coffee shop where we talked about our current roles and in particular marketing in the NHS. It was very much a ‘getting to know one another’ meeting and I felt quite comfortable. It was interesting to hear about my mentor’s background and he was already able to provide some useful tips about MBAs as I was about to embark on my own. After about an hour and an half, I had to head back to the office so we agreed to email about arranging another potential meeting and that this time he would come to me.

Next steps

It’s early days but I feel quite positive about the mentoring scheme. I envision it being a great support to me as I seek to develop my career and complete an MBA. Plus, at the outset, I expressed an interest in potentially becoming a mentor myself one day so I am also going to be watching and learning in the hope that one day I will feel able to offer the same level of support to another marketer.

The GLR has plans to put together a new speed mentoring initiative. Watch this blog for updates.