Friday, May 11, 2012

The Student-Mentor Program

Student-Mentor Program :- A Low-down

There is a need to create a Student-Mentor Program. This concept is not new, and I am not reinventing the wheel, but just fixing it back for a smoother ride ahead.

A one year program is never going to give us sufficient time to think about the career ahead. In less than four weeks, we had our first mid-terms, and the dawn of the final exams for Term 1 is not too far away. Besides this, there are events, parties and ELPs to think about. How are we supposed to figure out the road ahead, post ISB?

The motivation :- It is surprising to know that a significant number of alums worked on their first job for less than a year, before leaving the company to join another one. While people leave jobs to take better ones, the fundamental question which bothers me is that why is it that they are leaving the first job in such a short time?

Is it because of a better pay package?
Is it because the first job is not in the sector they choose to pursue? 
Is the company not the right fit? 
Did they take the job under stress or pressure?

Moving jobs is a hassle. Just when you have settled down, its time to go again. You maybe compensated adequately in the next job, but you still need to re-establish work relationships. 

We should kick start the Mohali legacy, by ensuring most of us are well advised about the career we choose to pursue. Hence, the Student-Mentor Program.

The context :- Recruitment season usually begins by the year end. By end of Term 2, we should be ready to narrow down on the industry or functionality we aim to pursue. There are two problems to this issue
1. What happens to those of us who still haven't figured out what career is right for us?
2. Even if we have figured out our desired sector/functionality, are we fully aware about the skill-set and the economic conditions surrounding it?

The idea :- The idea is to link each one of us (initially Mohali Founders) to a mentor. The mentor will be an ISB alum, who belongs to the industry/functionality we have targeted while filling up the CAS Declaration form ( remember the 5 companies and roles?) during our admission. This mentor will be linked with us in the following manner
1. Advice us on the electives we should aim for, while we are at ISB, based on the career we plan to pursue.
2. Advice us on the companies/industry/functionality we aim for. The best people to advice us are those who have been part of the ISB journey and are very active in the industry. 
By advice I mean they would tell us about the current trends, soft-skills, technical background etc. required to get a buy in.
3. Interact with us, either by phone ( believe me, a phone conversation still makes a difference) or Skype or if we are fortunate, meet us. This human interaction would help them advise us on our personality. ( how should we talk, better communication skills etc.)
4. Finally, be a guide for life. I have yet to meet an alum who hasn't had time to help me out or to guide me to someone who solve my problem.

How it works :- This ambitious plan would require a joint operation from 
1. CAS :- For information sharing about student career profiles
2. AAC :- To approach alums and explain the entire concept. 
3. GSA :- To act as a facilitator in the entire process.
4. We the students :- ISB can only do so much. The rest depends on how proactive we are in seeking guidance from our mentor.

Possible issues :- 
1. This will be like the mentor-student 15 minute session during LDP 
Answer :- No it won't. LDP mentoring sessions were only based on the alums analysing our personality tests. In the Student-Mentor Program the alum will be aware about our career plans, as well as have information about our performance at school. They have been through the grind, and are aware about how our current performance would make us in the future.

2. I won't have time for another non-academic activity
On the contrary, we will. The initial information about our career will be filling up a concise form, indicating if we still plan to pursue our initial goals, or if we have changed our minds, or if we haven't figured things out. Following this, we can work with AAC in quickly linking us with the alum. Both alum and student will be briefed about the entire exercise. We shall implement time -bound operations, and ensure a bare minimum interaction time of half-hour every month. Of course, we can interact more with our mentors if desired. 

3. The alum will not be interested 
Every professional, working in a growing organization, is always on the lookout for the right people. I am quite confident that if an alum can't help, he or she will guide us to someone else, but make sure we are not left alone. 


Thus, the idea excites me. It will be immensely useful, if properly implemented. Of course, I maybe overlooking several things. Would definitely love to hear from you

-Abhay

1 comment:

  1. Great idea Abhay! It's particularly useful considering that most of us come from an engineering background and don't know which field clicks. Let us know how we can help with this.
    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete