Earlier this month, the HASS Student Futures team launched an industry mentoring program where students could gain advice from industry professionals from a range of diverse careers.
Working in collaboration with student partners, alumni and staff, this initiative will connect later year undergraduate students in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences with HASS alumni and industry partners in a supportive environment in which students can feel comfortable exploring their career options and goals.
Project Officer Jackie Fuller said students will have access to organised networking events, skills workshops and reflection activities increasing their confidence and ability to identify and articulate their employability to others.
“This semester there were 22 matches in the program and the mentors are quite varied including industries such as education, communication and marketing, consulting, HR, research, and various government departments e.g. QLD rail, QLD treasury, Department of Justice etc.,” she said.
“Students that are taking part are studying programs from the Bachelor of Communication, Bachelor of Social Science and Bachelor of Arts, with various majors in History, Political Science, Peace and Conflict Studies, Writing, Languages, Criminology and Psychology.
“As there is such a variety of disciplines, the focus of the program has been to highlight transferrable skill sets,” she said.
Mentors play a fundamental role in helping students navigate the transition from study to the workplace.
“This is also a great opportunity for them to further develop their communication and leadership skills as well as broaden their community engagement and networks.
“As a mentee, you will gain guidance through a one-to-one mentoring relationship to help you gain a deeper appreciation of how your academic studies can be applied in the workplace.”
Jackie and the rest of the project team will continuously be evaluating and re-developing this pilot program in order to create a streamlined and sustainable process that can be continued and up-scaled to accommodate more students in future years.