Mentorship
As I sit in the office cafeteria at 8am waiting anxiously for the 10 students to show up, I can’t help but wonder why am I not wearing my trendy sneakers and cuffing jeans? Oh … I realize because I am a mentor.
In the beginning of the year, I was fortunate to lead a group of 10 high school students for 2 weeks internship program within our UX department. It was a tremendously valuable experience that I would like to share with everyone that will be leading internship programs or mentoring others.
So where to being?
Just right before the holiday session of end of 2019, I spent some time to visit the high school with my 2 colleagues. The purpose was to find out what the school internship program is looking for and how we can help. Fortunate enough our organization would also like to build the brand and to give back to the community. After the meeting with the internship coordinator and the education specialist, we narrowed down to 10 students who will break into 5 groups to work with an individual in the team for 2 weeks.
Logistic at my office
First thing first I need to identify what opportunities are we offering for the students, so I need to gather the job descriptions. Meetings with the human resource team, the illegal team, facility team and the talent recruitment team are all necessary to make sure everything is aligned with the company policy. Then I need to figure out the seats for the 10 students, prepare the materials for the orientation on the first day… etc
The 2 weeks
Waiting patiently at the office café for the 10 students to show up in the early morning. Introduction during breakfast, the 10 students who are from 11th and 12th grade in high school, are bright and they know what exactly they are looking for. The orientation was about the history of the company and what the business about. With the team’s support, the 10 students were divided into 5 groups shadowing 5 team members in different areas. Throughout the 2 weeks, team lunch, midway check point, presentation prep meetings, 1 on 1 meetings were scheduled to keep the students engaged and connected. On Friday we had a workshop to have some fun with the students. The main reason why I initiated that is because I don’t want the students to feel like a real workplace is like heads down doing your own stuff and leave. In our real work experience, we talk to each other a lot and we collaborate a lot to gather ideas and comments. I have the students to come up with design ideas to share with the rest of the group and talk about how they divide the work. The students sure had fun working together with the team.
School internship coordinator and education specialist came to visit after the first week, checking on all the students and making sure they have all the resources they need and they know what they are working on. Approaching the last day which is the presentation day for the students. All the team members helped the students to prepare for the presentation and rehearsed with them. On the last day, students gave their final presentations with our group. The presentations were impressive. We cannot believe they have learned so much in just under 2 weeks. We hope it was a great experience for them.
Key Takeaways
One of the key takeaways from the internship program is of course giving back to the community and also building the branding of our organization. And another importantly purpose is to have the people who doesn’t have leadership skill to practice the skill. Good mentoring will lead to greater career success. The mentoring relationship can push career to new levels. I hope both the mentors and the mentees will benefit from the program.
