CIC NW Initiative - The Learner Voice
Posted: 17th January 2013
A consortium of universities from the ‘north-west’ have designed a workplace mentoring scheme to give their 2nd year Built Environment undergraduates the opportunity to share the experience of successful professionals in a similar career path in the construction industry to the one to which they are aspiring.
We are seeking professionals in employment in the construction industry to act as mentors. Having people who are prepared to act as mentors provides a great opportunity for a student and has the potential to make the difficult transition from study to work both easier and more successful. We hope that this scheme will support us in developing graduates who have enhanced employability skills for the construction industry. Similar schemes in other regions have found that acting as a mentor has enhanced the continuing professional development of those who have taken part.
We are seeking professionals in employment in the construction industry who are able to spend a short amount of time meeting with one or more students and sharing their experience of working in the industry with them. We are looking for potential mentors who are
Employed in the construction industry in a graduate role or similar
Have at least two years experience in this type of role and would be willing to talk about this to students
Are keen to support the development of students coming into the industry
Are able to meet with one or more students at their own workplace at least once a semester, together with other forms of contact, and attend one session at the end of the process at a university campus.
If you have employees who you think might be interested in being mentors we would be delighted to hear from you and can give you more detail about the experience mentors will need to offer and the time they will need to commit to the scheme (a briefing document and/or mentor training event will be provided). In the first instance please contact CIC NW Chair Aled Williams for an informal discussion and if you are an interested employer please you could indicate:
A link person
Number of mentors that you are able to deploy
Contact details of link person / mentor
It is hoped that acting as a mentor willt provide your employees with the opportunity to reflect on and enhance their own continuing professional development.
Aled can be contacted on aled.williams@heacademy.ac.uk or 01904 717500