“At the Age of 20, I was unsure whether to continue with my Building Surveying degree or start another. My Grades were adequate, but I had never really been interested in the Modules I was studying. Many of the people I talked to including lecturers were of the mind that, if you are not interested by the second year there is no point in continuing. Others told me from their experience that they chose to study their subject as their grades in A level were ideal for the degree. I therefore decided to sign up to the mentoring scheme, which I discovered after being given a leaflet on fresher's week. Surprisingly not many of my friends were interested in participating in the scheme and none signed up; probably due to laziness.

Upon signing up I met Jan Haldane who advised me on aspects of the scheme and took down my details. I was allocated a mentor at Whybrows, a Commercial Lettings Agency and Surveyors based in Colchester. My mentor was Ewan Dodds - the Managing Director.

It was arranged I would meet him at the mentoring presentation evening in November when Mentors and Mentees meet for the first time and get to know each other.

The mentoring scheme is basically a way to gain practical experience within an industry, and is an alternative to a sandwich placement. The minimum commitment of time you have to give is 12 hours over the 6 month period from November to May. Within this time your mentor helps you learn skills from a list of choices. The area's I chose to improve were; confidence, presentation skills, CV writing, and Networking.

Within my mentoring experience I found the most useful part was the work shadowing and site visits, where I got a really good idea of what a Building Surveyor actually does, including the range of people who you have to work with and the types of documentation used.

It is one thing learning the theory behind the practise but you miss the small details. For instance upon one unofficial site visit I carried a ladder and torch from the office to a property half a mile away to inspect a leak. We couldn't get access to the roof and to this day I wonder what the cause was; so I helped inspect a lock recently fitted to a door. Upon inspection it was found that the lock would not close correctly. So Chris a Property Manager gave me this useful piece advice. He said "if you want a job doing properly do it yourself" upon which he dismantled the lock and found that to avoid making a mess the carpenter had left some wood shavings within the door cavity (so that there would be no mess) which ruined up the re-alignment of the lock. Due to bureaucracy Chris should have phoned the carpenter but this would have increased the costs of the job unnecessarily. From this I learned that Building Surveying isn't about memorising text books it's about using your common sense and a bit of discreetness to get the job done.

Other jobs I was exposed to included phoning site contractors to relay instructions; filling out contract documentations, reading through specifications and tenancy agreements, measuring partitions and drawing floor plans, visiting completed sites, playing a demo of Laura Croft in PC world, watching a project manager install a roof box and most importantly making the tea.

I think the most useful things I learned within the Mentoring scheme were:

• Just because a job sounds hard or stressful doesn't mean it is.
• More responsibility leads to more money.
• Always remember to update your SATNAV

“We have been delighted to have been involved with the mentoring programme which must be continued as this is a vital part of students understanding of the market place and business, and one that sets them up with a much better chance of gaining employment and being of grater value to that employer at day one.

Students that choose not to undergo this route miss out greatly in my view, and are likely to be less employable in my view. In an age where employers may be less trusting of exam results and the qualifications available, differentiation is a factor which employers will consider much more carefully.

How do students stand out from the crowd? Having the mentoring scheme on their CV has to be invaluable.

Andrew has been a perfect mentee and through difficult times has demonstrated a real resilience and willingness to learn, again fabulous attributes and ones that ought to place him above other, probably no less deserving, candidates. We wish him all the best in his chosen career and he knows that throughout this, he will always be able to call me whenever he may need advice in the future.

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“Why did you decide to look into Employer Mentoring, i.e. what were you hoping to gain?

I heard about the Employer Mentoring scheme via my anglia email. I knew which industry I wanted to work in- publishing. Katie Morris then found a mentor for me, who runs Cambridge International Reference on Current Affairs (CIRCA). However I had little idea of what skills and knowledge a potential employer would be looking for, also I did not know much about the individual jobs within the industry itself apart from editorial work. So when I set out on the mentoring scheme my goals were to acquire the skills and knowledge that would place me in a better position for a job and to find out the specific area I would like to work in. When I discovered presentational skills are desirable within publishing this then became one of my main goals, since this is something I did struggle with.

Has it been useful in furthering your chosen career? OR in helping you decide what you do or DO NOT want to do?
Yes! As I now know about each of the different areas within publishing and understand how the industry works. So thanks to the Employer Mentoring Scheme the publishing industry is now something I have a good grasp of; so when I apply for related jobs I can take this with me which will be invaluable. This all happened through talking with my mentor who has a lot of experience of the publishing industry. We would meet in his office and discuss topics related to my SMART objectives. As the Mentoring Scheme is powered by the mentee I told my mentor what I wanted to achieve and from this we devised a plan based on what we would discuss, the work I would do in preparation and who he could put me in contact with. Also I shadowed one of his employees, which was very interesting from an editorial perspective, as I got to see how non-fictional texts are revised and edited and the computer programmes used. Furthermore, my mentor instigated networking for me. Such as meeting a Copyeditor from Cambridge University Press, who brought along samples of her work and explained the process to me; this to me actually seems one of the most appealing areas of publishing. I also had the opportunity to attend the London Book Fair- the largest book fair in England! From attending this I managed to get two weeks work experience with one of my favourite publishers, which I am eagerly awaiting.

Your thoughts on the Scheme in your own words
I really enjoyed being a part of the scheme, it has provided me with experience which I would not have been able to get anywhere else. It has been interesting, thought provoking and exciting.

Would you recommend the scheme to a friend others
Definitely. I would recommend the scheme to anyone who has any idea of what type of job they would like to go into, despite at what level they are studying. Even if you find you do not like that career path, then it is still a valuable experience because you will have found this out before you end up stuck in a job you do not enjoy. Also it gives you the chance to get feedback and guidance on your chosen career path, and whose better to ask than someone who is already a part of that? Furthermore, the scheme is well planned and organized, since Katie Morris pairs students and mentors accordingly and the guide book is a really good way to get started with the mentor.

Lastly I can certainly say I will be sorry to leave the mentoring scheme.

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