31 August 2021
Heather Ross a Business School Alumna, reflects on her experience mentoring through the Edinburgh Award for Effective and Responsible Leadership.
I am Heather Ross and I completed my PhD at the University of Edinburgh Business School, in 2018.
When I look back at my own experience, as I was coming to the end of my undergraduate studies, I can still remember feeling somewhat lost, combined with the fear of the unknown, and a lack of confidence that I would find my place in the big wide world. Hence, it is this memory that motivated me to become involved in the Edinburgh Award, as a member of the Business School alumni.
While academic courses are designed to equip students by their final year with the knowledge and skills needed for a graduate position, they do not automatically instil the innate sense of confidence that will help someone to get a job, for example having the confidence:
- Needed to grow a professional network
- To go into an interview with the belief of having something positive to offer a company
- To keep applying for vacancies after receiving a rejection from another application
In my case, many people have been mentors to me, and I thank every one of them for advising me through my career, which has spanned both educational and applied/practical worlds.
These mentors helped me to develop the confidence that enabled me to gain my first graduate-level post, enabling me to be in a position to progress through working in academia, while undertaking commissions (at senior and strategic levels) for the United Nations and World Trade Organisation, through the International Trade Centre in Geneva.
Similarly, their advice led me to be involved with national and international programmes for the European Union, the British Council, and both Westminster and Scottish Governments, while their support in my present role, as a partner in a business involved in strategic sustainability, has resulted in me currently advising on a project with a premiership football club.
Add to that, their encouragement as I undertook an MSc, and then on to a PhD, I can happily say it has been quite a journey.
As a result, mentoring, to me, involves supporting those at the start of their journey, by allowing them to see that a career is rarely linear, with success coming in many guises while acknowledging that we all suffer missteps, slip-ups, and clangers along the way. Showing those who are approaching graduation that we are all human hopefully helps to demystify the professional world and creates a bridge between education and their next moves.
This year, time with my mentee Keira has been fun and serious in equal measure. I have enjoyed hearing about her background, her studies, and her plans for the future. At the same time, I have been in a position to offer her tips, techniques, and encouragement, as she has negotiated the choppy waters of the graduate jobs market.
Ultimately, I am delighted for Keira that she has succeeded in obtaining her degree AND a graduate position. Very well done Keira and, if I have played even a tiny role in that, then I am delighted, because it shows the benefits that mentoring can contribute to a student’s academic experience.
That is why I strongly believe that allowing students to engage with members of the professional community is a vital part of their development of knowledge, skills, and confidence, especially in their final undergraduate year of studying in the Business School.
So, if there are other Business School alumni out there, offering your support and sharing your experience, with details of the professional journey you have taken (warts and all), may just be what a final-year student needs to hear about.
Dr Heather Ross, Business School Alumna and Keira's Mentor.