“I was nervous, very shy and I doubted if I was good enough. But my mentor offered me a safe space to open up and to see my experiences, interests and personality as strengths not weaknesses which made me more willing to put myself out there.”
The words of Fortunate Masina, a former student at Stanhope Secondary School in Dublin 7, who is now studying nursing in Cathal Brugha FET College in Dublin. She was speaking at a recent event to celebrate corporate mentoring for fifth and sixth year students at Deis schools.
Co-ordinated by Business in the Community Ireland, the one-to-one student mentoring programme had approximately 350 students and 350 mentors this year – the largest number of participants in its 20-year history.
Working with 35 schools and 38 corporate mentors, the programme aims to inspire, motivate and give confidence to young people as they consider their future careers and educational options. Mentors meet students for about an hour each month throughout the academic year.
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“It’s a tough world out there, with wars and climate change and the beautiful and scary thing that is AI,” says Tomas Sercovich, the CEO of Business in the Community Ireland. “Giving guidance and building community is so important now, especially for students in Deis schools whose parents often have less contacts and networks.”
Conor Keane was a mentor for a student at James’s Street Christian Brothers School (CBS) in Dublin 8. “The students are under a lot of pressure for their Leaving Certificate and CAO, but I tell them that 70 per cent of the leadership team at Gifts Direct work in different areas to what they studied,” says Keane.
Keane studied business and management with a focus on accountancy and, after two years at PwC training to become an accountant, he sidestepped into data analytics. “What you study won’t dictate the rest of your life. You can sidestep into different careers. Getting an education and building a network of connections is key.”
Eábha O’Keeffe who is a fifth year student at James’s St CBS, says she found having Lulu O’Sullivan, CEO of Gifts Direct, as her mentor to be comforting. “It’s someone who isn’t your parent or a teacher who can give you advice,” she says.
A singer-songwriter who has already acted and sung in short films, O’Keeffe is keen to incorporate music into her everyday working life. “My mentor pushes me to be the best version of myself and to explore the things I want to do,” she says.
O’Sullivan says that she has had many mentors herself over the years and believes it is an excellent way to learn. “I had some incredibly successful businesswomen who taught me that you have to be authentic to yourself and find your own style. Building trust with a mentor is a very special thing so you can say anything to each other and they can point out your blind spots,” says O’Sullivan.
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She says the key to mentoring students now is to have a “good connection” with them. “Find their passion and encourage it and find someone in your network who can give them real world tips that they’ve learned over the years. It’s also good to help them have a backup plan if something doesn’t work out.”
Dáire O’Driscoll is the content and communications manager of a distributor for IT components, EPS Global, which is headquartered in Donabate, Co Dublin. “I’ve learned a lot about my colleagues by mentoring because we each explained how we got to where we are at a group meeting with our mentees,” he explains.
While acknowledging that the world of work has changed so much in the 15 years since he did his Leaving Certificate, he says that teaching students the soft skills – communication, problem solving, interview skills and job applications – is still worthwhile. “I like my job, but it’s not what I thought I’d be doing at 33. We all work remotely so mentoring gives us an opportunity to come back into the office to work together,” he adds.
Zuzanna Komon is a sixth year student at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Rush, Co Dublin. Rory Kirwan, the senior group accountant at EPS Global was her mentor. “I want to study astrophysics and I was set on DCU, but my mentor gave me the confidence to go for the higher points course at Trinity College Dublin. I’ve always liked science. I won once at the Science Fest at DCU and I partook in the BT Young Scientists [now Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition] when I was in second year,” she explains.
Melanie Flynn, the Educations Programme manager with Business in the Community Ireland, says that mentors give students the confidence that things will work out and that everything they learn is valuable. “I recall one student at risk of leaving school early whose mentor was a major factor in refocusing that student towards staying at school,” she says. Other students, she says, can become overwhelmed by choices and just want to get a job when they leave school, but mentors can steer them towards apprenticeships.
Patrick Mahilia, a fifth year student at St Paul’s Christian Brothers school in Dublin 7, says his mentor from Cornmarket Group Financial Services helped him build his CV and interview skills. “It helped motivate me and gave me confidence,” he says.
Finn Dunleavy, a teacher and guidance counsellor at St Paul’s CBS says that having another influence on the students is very beneficial. The topics for mentors to discuss with students are scheduled for key events in the year such as exam preparation and even things like looking after themselves during time off school. Students who need mentoring most are chosen from the fifth year cohort each September.
“Informative as we think we are as teachers, a new voice is great. Our students have 10 meetings throughout the year in the mentor’s workplace and I walk with them to the first meeting and then they are trusted to go by themselves and answer follow-up emails from their mentors,” explains Dunleavy.
Kevin Nguyen is a fifth year student at St Paul’s CBS. “Meeting the mentor is a change from the school environment. It’s a new stranger who becomes a friend rather than someone just telling you what to do. The only problem is that there is not enough time with one hour every three weeks or so. I’d like if we had a few more sessions with the mentor in the year,” says Nguyen.
The student mentoring programme at Business in the Community Ireland is funded by the Department of Education. To date, almost 3,500 students from Deis schools and about 2,800 mentors have participated.
Currently reaching almost 40 per cent of Deis schools in Dublin and keen to expand further, the network is actively seeking new companies to join the mentorship programme.
