My first experience of mentoring an LSE MSc Economic History student almost did not happen. With a background as a managing consultant and executive coach I felt ready for anything related to mentoring except for the student not turning up. Having stared at an empty Zoom screen for some ten minutes I e-mailed asking if this was the time we were supposed to have this session? Nothing came back, so after another ten minutes I sent a second e-mail hoping that everything was alright and offering to reschedule.
Next morning, I found a response from the student, sent in the middle of the night, explaining that they had spent the night in accident and emergency at the hospital with their flatmate, who had suffered a serious domestic accident but was now okay. The student immediately skyrocketed in my estimation, and we agreed another time for the mentoring.
The mentoring started with me asking what issues or areas would be most helpful. The student responded that they were in the process of deciding whether to pursue further academic studies or find a job. If choosing the second option, they would like to know how best to access the UK job market.
The session consequently became about how to take these decisions rather than which options to choose, having agreed with the student that the focus should be the ‘How’ rather than the ‘What’. After a detailed discussion the first advice was not to decide on academia versus a job now, but to pursue both simultaneously for as long as possible. This would involve applying for both a higher level of academic study and for jobs. This approach would clearly be hard work, but it was agreed that this parallel process would contribute to making the best decision and to make it at the time when it would be as well informed as possible. The second issue of how to access the UK job market then became a matter of applying to those organisations the student was interested in. One final suggestion was rather obvious namely to seek support from the LSE career guidance for the job application process.
The student expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the mentoring session and followed it up with a very kind thank you e-mail.
For this mentor the process was a valuable experience of interacting with a highly impressive, intelligent and motivated individual. The subject of the student’s dissertation, their motives for studying at the LSE and for their next steps provided valuable and encouraging insight.