Thursday, 1 March 2007

Mentoring made easy with Career Mentor Link

Attention Alumni!

Question - Do you remember when you were a student...do you ever wish that someone helped you out when you first started your career?
Are you interested in sharing your career tips and secrets?
Have you ever thought of sharing these with a student just starting out?

Becoming a mentor is an ideal way to give back to those just starting out. Mentor of two years and Director at the City of Joondalup, Mr Ian Cowie says being a mentor is incredibly rewarding and simple.

"I thought it would be good to be able to provide some advice to students on opportunities within the work environment," Ian said.

After more than two decades in business, Ian enquired about becoming a mentor in 2005 and signed up immediately.

"All levels of experience and industries are welcomed; you just need a minimum of four years work experience. To get involved I emailed the Career Mentor Link Co-ordinator (currently Jo Hocking) and indicated my interest. It was as simple as that." he said.

Ian has mentored two students and is keen to continue with the program due to the personal fulfilment he gains from watching the students develop.

"It is also excellent to gain their perspectives on issues and challenges from a different younger perspective. So I guess I gain a lot out of the experience just as much as they do. There are mentoring coaching workshops run by the Careers Centre - so they also help in providing the basic guidelines."

"My mentees tend to ask some challenging questions. It encourages me to think about why things are done in certain ways. It also provides a welcome break from my standard work activities."

Mentoring requires a minimal commitment and reaps many rewards. Ian usually meets his mentee once a month to discuss career aspirations, job opportunities and business matters.

Hunt for Potential Mentors - 21 needed!

The UWA Business School, in partnership with Career Mentor Link, is currently looking for 21 more industry professionals with four or more years work experience to become Business School mentors. Mentors support, guide and encourage their mentee to develop the skills and focus to make a successful transition from university to the workplace. It is not a work experience program, but a career mentoring program.

Mentor coaching workshops will be run for any new mentors who are unsure of what the program entails or would like some mentoring ideas.

We are still recruiting more mentors for 2007 and urgently need 21 more mentors for students of the Business School. If you are interested in becoming a mentor contact Jo Hocking on 6488 3799 or see the website for more information.

'Wow' Designer Leads with an MBA

Andrew Lian likes to think big. As General and Business Development Manager of Woods Bagot in Western Australia, studying his Master of Business of Administration (MBA) was the ideal way to better understand his clients, and advance his architecture career.

A practising architect of seventeen years, Andrew's love of big projects has seen him work on significant projects such as a $60 million entertainment centre in Singapore and a six-star boutique resort in Phuket. In designing his own big project (his career), Andrew considered an MBA vital in reassessing his career goals and future ambitions.

"The MBA has widened my business perspective. I was able to reconsider what role I could play in business and whether I should remain in my profession as an architect," he said.

It was during his studies that Andrew realised that property was definitely his passion - but his MBA qualified him for a management role at Woods Bagot.

"I decided that if I remained in architecture, I would look for a firm that had a global reach with a local operation in Perth with management opportunities. Woods Bagot was perfect, they have twelve studios internationally. It was an ideal opportunity to combine both management and architecture skills."

Andrew has since returned to the UWA Business School but in a very different role.

"Woods Bagot was selected as architects of the new Business School building, allowing me to return to the School in a professional capacity which is very exciting. This building will be iconic for Western Australia."

Andrew's role in the new building involves overseeing the senior staff during the construction phase of the project. He believes the best feature of the building will be the innovative use of space, designed to support evolving modes of teaching and learning.

The Business School project has since led to other high profile projects including design opportunities with universities in Hong Kong and Singapore.

With his love of ‘Wow' projects such as this and his skills acquired from the MBA, Andrew hopes to build a world-class reputation for Woods Bagot, while learning Mandarin in his spare time to assist with business in China.

"I'd like to encourage more people in the design profession to do an MBA to broaden and underpin their work with a firm understanding of their client's business. The diverse group of MBA students was also a great way to make friends and business alliances."

Commerce Degree a Catalyst for Entrepreneur

More than a decade ago, Lisa Lough (nee Whitehead) completed her Bachelor of Commerce (1994). Now thirteen years later - she is Director of her own marketing company, CATALYSE®.

Encouraged by her school teacher, she enrolled in a Commerce degree that opened a window of opportunity for her. She is now delighted at how her career has turned out. The versatility of her degree has offered Lisa variety throughout her working life.

Lisa says her degree was a ‘catalyst' for her successful career and business - CATALYSE®.

"I have worked with a diverse range of companies, not-for-profit and government agencies, conducted studies in a number of languages from Spanish to Korean, and completed a spectrum of projects from the development of communities, brands, businesses and products, through to fundraising to assist with research and business activities." Lisa said.

Having returned to Perth after living abroad for almost four years, Lisa worked as a freelance marketer until recognising she could build a sustainable business around her skills. In 2003, she launched CATALYSE®, a marketing company that specialises in market research, strategic planning and grant writing.

As Managing Director of the company, Lisa has grown CATALYSE® from a home-based sole-trading business, to an office-based company with three permanent staff and a team of sub-contractors.

Like many other business owners she found that as her business grew, the greatest challenge was detaching her emotional connection with the company to make objective decisions for its future. With the recruitment of consultants and a business coach she was able to create a realistic vision for CATALYSE®'s future.

"I'd be happy if people who work with CATALYSE® said that the company complements their lives and that in return for getting to work in an understanding and flexible workplace, they reward the company with their loyalty and passion for excellence. While this may sound like a loose and fluffy goal, it is important that everyone associated with CATALYSE® gets to enjoy a positive work-life balance."

"Another goal is to have a loyal client base that respects and values our expertise."

Even with its short lifespan, CATALYSE® has become a known specialised marketing company with clients including the Water Corporation and the UWA Perth International Arts Festival - for whom they do pro-bono work.

Between travelling, running her business and recently getting married, Lisa has considered furthering her studies. She is keen to create some time to complete her MBA.

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