Mentorship – HerHelloWorld

3 Things you Should do Before Finding a Mentor

Holly Boothroyd — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 13:27:00 +0000

Finding a mentor is often spoken about as being one of the best things you could do for your career. Mentors can help you find your direction, overcome new challenges, provide you with a fresh perspective, and so much more.

But before you run to go find yourself a mentor, pause to reflect on these three areas to ensure the career relationship you initiate is as productive and impactful as possible.

Understand the Different types of Career Relationships

Mentor. Coach. Sponsor – Do you know the difference? People often seek out mentorship, without fully understanding the variety of career development relationships and who drives them. Confirm that a mentorship relationship, vs having a coach or sponsor, is most applicable to your needs.

"A coach talks to you, a mentor talks with you, and a sponsor talks about you"

A mentor, whether its formal, informal, or ad hoc, helps you navigate your career and gives advice about career direction, handling situations, and meeting goals. The mentee, you, drive the relationship and the mentor plays a reactive role in response to your career or interest areas.

A coach is much more proactive than a mentor and is possibly a short-term relationship. They enable you to learn new skills (typically soft skills), overcome challenges, and/or improve your performance. The relationship is driven by both parties. You’ll find that companies will hire coaches for their leadership team.

Finally, a sponsor is senior leader or someone with influence who helps you get high-visibility opportunities, promotions, or new jobs. The sponsor drives the relationship by advocating about you to others in different settings. They champion your work to important people.

Ask yourself "what do you want to learn" and remember to be prepared for each session

As we have established, a mentorship relationship is supposed to be driven by the mentee where the mentor is responding/reacting to the needs of the mentee.

To help your mentor support you in the most effective way, be clear about what it is you want to learn or takeaway from the relationship and how they can help you. Of course, life will throw new opportunities and obstacles your way over time but knowing what you want to initially learn puts you on the right track from the get-go.

As each session goes on, preparedness continues to be important. Be sure to at least have a theme or a couple questions to chat about in each meeting. Or if you have nothing specific to talk about in a session, make it clear to your mentor that you just want to chat and connect – there is still value in building positive relationships.

Being prepared for meetings demonstrates that you respect your mentors time and will help your mentor support you in the most efficient way possible.

Some possible themes that you may want to talk to a mentor about are:

What are different career paths I could explore?
What skills, both hard and soft skills, are valuable in different roles and how can I build them?
What opportunities do you know are available to network with different people in the spaces I am interested in?
How can I position myself for a promotion?
How to I have a productive difficult conversation?

To learn how to see if your values align with your mentor, head to SheCanCode for the full article!

5 Things You Should Know Before Applying to Your First Internship

Holly Boothroyd — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 21:45:00 +0000

Internships are gamechangers! Regardless of your path into tech – university, bootcamp, and/or self-taught – internships are an immensely valuable opportunity to get a soft landing into the industry and professional working. Plus, there’s a pretty general consensus that you learn more on the job than in formal studies, so expect to walk away with lots of new skills.

One of the best rewards is that internships often lead to grad roles – in many ways they can be considered an extended interview. I consider them to often be the easiest way to get into a Big Tech company as they hire for potential.

That being said, here are some tips for prepping for and landing an internship:

Pay attention to application timelines

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to get an internship is missing the application deadlines! Or even if they make the official deadline, roles are often filled on a rolling bases – meaning they interview sooner than the final deadline – so there are still no open spaces left by the time you apply.  

The easiest way to combat this is to follow a timeline that lines you up to apply as soon as applications open. The timeline below does just that:  

Summer – 1 Year Before Internship: Yes, you want to start a year in advance! This is when you should do your groundwork. Research the companies you want to apply to, create/update your CV and start building relationships with those who can help you. The key is to stay organized – track each application in a document eg. Excel.

Autumn – 9 Months Before Internship: Internship applications open at the start of the university year around September-October. You want to apply as soon as you can – of course, taking time to complete the application thoughtfully.

Winter – 6 Months Before Internship: Many internship applications close around December. Ideally by now you will have received an offer. If that is not the case, then no worries because there are still options. Keep applying, attend career events, and be sure to tailor your CV to each application.

For those attending universities with a placement year, you may be able to do up to 15 months work experience. If you start a 12-month internship in June, then you can squeeze in another internship before the next university year starts. That gives you double the chances for a grad offer, a bigger network, and, of course, more experience.

You don't need to know everything!

For full-time roles, you don’t need to know everything on the job spec to apply – that is even more true for internships! Companies expect to train you. In fact, training you is part of the career development given by your colleagues.

All you need is the confidence to believe that regardless of what the challenge is, you will be able to learn what you need and complete the task. There is always help on the team! Ultimately, just don’t let “imposter syndrome” hold you back from applying to an internship.

Seek out external advice and career services

A second pair of eyes is always helpful! At the most basic level, have someone else read and provide feedback on your CV. On a deeper level, seek out formal career services to help you prep- universities usually provide these services for free.

In particular, informational sessions on phone, video or 1:1, as well as assessment centre interviews can all teach you about the structure of that style of interview, what interviewers are looking for, and tips on how to be successful. This additional training helps you be more confident, relaxed, and ultimately more prepared for the real interview which translates well to your interviewer.

Understand what work you will actually be doing

During conversations with the recruiters and interviewers on the team you are applying to, be sure to ask for details on what the role entails. Other options are to speak to past interns and read reviews on sites like Glassdoor.

Your network can open doors

The saying “your network is your net worth” has some truth to it! Your network can help get your foot in the door and elevate your application. While it likely won’t get you the job outright (and it shouldn’t), it may mean you can skip some interview steps and raise your application’s visibility.

The key stakeholders you want to connect with are the recruiters, team members, and most importantly the hiring manager (they are the final decision maker). Think about who in your network you can pull on to connect you to one of these people or refer you for an open role – use every “in” you can!

If you don’t have a super strong network yet, events run by recruiters are a great way to get an “in” if you don’t have one in your network. Connect with company recruiters on LinkedIn to watch out for information events on internships. They review the CVs of those who attend these events and will boost your application, particularly if you are engaging, ask questions, and make yourself known. You can also reach out to key stakeholders directly on LinkedIn if you want to make your name known – express your interest and share what you can bring to the team.

For a bonus tips all about money, head to SheCanCode for the full article!

How YOU Can Help Make Tech More Diverse and Inclusive

Holly Boothroyd — Tue, 17 May 2022 20:01:00 +0000

Technology is pervasive – it’s influenced commerce, social interaction, entertainment, medicine, city planning, transportation… the list goes on. Plus, it seemingly knows more about us than we do ourselves. Every industry on the planet has been impacted by technology in one way or another.  

The importance of technology created with everyone in mind becomes increases as its influence on people and the planet continues to grow. If we are to build technology that is conscious of different people’s needs, abilities, and cultures, then we need teams with people who come from different backgrounds and experiences.  

When it comes to establishing these teams, it’s not just about creating them – it’s also about how we foster an environment where everyone can thrive.  

There is a great phrase coined by Vema Myers that perfectly illustrates the point:  

“Diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance.”

 Here are 6 ways you can be part of the change to make tech more diverse and inclusive:

Promoting Diversity

We need to be dismantling barriers and supporting the development of underrepresented communities along the entire education and career pipeline. Doing so takes concerted efforts from many different players – educational institutions, companies, governments, etc. – but for now we are going to focus on what you can do!

Mentor Someone

Mentorship is a wildly powerful relationship that has the potential to change someone’s life. You are a trusted ally there to guide them along their journey and introduce them to relevant network connections. But alongside that, you are also there to help them feel like they belong.  

Before you claim you don’t have anything to share with someone else, think back to every step that has taken you to where you are now. There is someone out there a step or two behind you who would love to hear about what helped you and the lessons you learnt.  

There are established mentorship scheme programs for different community groups that you can join where you are paired with a mentee and optionally follow a mentorship structure over the course of the program. For girls in STEM, a good one is the Student to STEMettes mentorship scheme.

Share your Time and Talent

Every Day Inclusivity

Inclusion is the real key – it unlocks the potential of diverse teams by enabling people to bring their unique ideas to the table.  

Inclusion isn’t something that we only pay attention to during special periods like International Women’s Day or Black History month, it is practiced every day.  

What that means to your everyday encounters will differ based on your circumstance, but there are a few inclusive actions worth highlighting:

Lead by Example

A company culture is born out of the sum of its parts, the people. Each of us has an opportunity to influence those around us. When we demonstrate inclusive practices, others often follow which establishes an inclusive standard practice. You have real power.  

We should all start by taking time to listen, learn, and research about the experiences of others and the inequities that people face. It is a part of allyship, but more importantly it is a stepping stone to being able to create informed, impactful change.

Spot and Fix Issues in Your Institution

Building a more diverse and inclusive industry takes each and every one of us. What are you going to commit to doing? How are you going to be part of the change? 