Celebrating 2020 National Mentoring Day
Written by Dave Sammut
Published 27 October 2020
The RACI is celebrating Mentoring Day by highlighting our own member-grown initiative; the RACI Mentoring Program.
Approaching and tackling the job market can be daunting for most let alone those with little job experience. Many students have no idea what they want to do or how to go about achieving their career goals. Having some valuable guidance, not just from your mentor but a network of professionals, can be life changing.
Take the successful 2020 mentoring pair: Dr Katherine Ganio, PhD in Neuroscience, Bioanalytical Chemist and Research Fellow at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity; and Shiying Zhu, a PhD student at the University of Melbourne.
Coming up to the end of his PhD, Shiying joined the Mentoring Program to gain some guidance on his future career path.
“As a mentee, you have lots of opportunities to participate in different career workshops and networking events. You never know where a job opportunity may come and it may come from talking to someone at these events, either directly or indirectly through your network. The Program offers an abundance of opportunities to talk to other mentors in different industries or in academia, and that’s exactly what I wanted.”
But mentoring is more than just helping young scientists realise their career paths and find a job. It can be a rewarding and informative experience at any stage of a person’s career. Entering its eighth year, the RACI Mentoring Program has already seen its first former mentees return as mentors. And next year they will have their first reciprocal mentor-come-mentee.
“EVERYONE who engages with the program benefits. The stats are completely clear on this.” Says founder, coordinator and lead mentor, Dave Sammut.
Closing on 31 October 2020, there are only a handful of places left for the 2021 Mentoring Program. Get in quickly, or risk missing out. Find out more here.
You can watch the full 2020 Mentoring Day Celebration video here