The undergraduate unit, Professional Development for the Workplace, is underpinned by an experiential learning approach to assist students to develop professional skills for securing employment and gaining insights into common workplace issues. Students learn about mentoring as a common strategy where ‘an expert (mentor) offers career, psychological or instrumental support to an individual with less experience (protégé), to enhance the protégé’s career behaviour and development’ (Ogbuanya & Chukwuedo, 2017, p. 88). In Session 1, the mentoring-related PowerPoint slides and readings were replaced by active engagement with an individual mentor for all of the 90 enrolled students. Leveraging the successful career programs available through SCU’s Careers and Employability, the Bright Futures Alumni Mentoring program was embedded in the unit and each student was matched with an SCU graduate working in an industry sector relevant to their degree.
Program evaluations from mentees and mentors at the end of the 13-week session highlighted many benefits and challenges. Overwhelmingly, the program was reported by both mentees and mentors as being successful and meeting their expectations. Common benefits of participating as identified by students were: Enhanced employability skills, increased confidence, and gaining career and industry insights. Recommendations for improvement focused on the duration and timing of the program, the resources and support from the university, and contingencies if or when the mentoring relationship is challenging. Adjustments for future delivery in the new Southern Cross Model of 6-week terms will need to be considered.
Ogbuanya, T.C., & Chukwuedo, S.O. (2017). Career-training mentorship intervention via the Dreyfus model: Implication for career behaviours and practical skills acquisition in vocational electronic technology.?Journal of Vocational Behavior, 103, 88-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.09.002