Student Spotlight: The road to finding mentors

Written by: Laura Kerslake, Work Experience Coordinator, Faculty of Arts

In January 2017, Sabrina Tharani (BA Political Science) walked into her new role as International Relations Assistant at the University of Alberta International (UAI) with excitement and nervousness. This is the first time an AWE student had ever been in this position before. There were bits and pieces of information left from previous interns, but there really wasn’t anyone there to show her the ropes and help her get the lay of the land. She was faced with navigating a new workplace, a giant database and new work tasks mostly on her own. Sabrina said "I didn’t have anyone in my unit to offer peer-to-peer mentorship. I was able to work with the previous intern a little, but only after my first week of work so I had to be self-reliant and learn the processes on my own. I really only had my immediate supervisors to provide training.” For the first couple weeks of her work term, Sabrina felt like she was trying to navigate through this new experience almost blind. At times she felt quite isolated, as she was unsure what way to turn to get the answers she needed to learn about the work she needed to do. However, in trying to navigate through the unknown, Sabrina was fortunate that she found great mentors in her supervisors. Her supervisors encouraged her to ask lots of questions. Sabrina said “when you start a job, there is a tendency to think 'everyone is so busy, or I don’t matter' however when you ask questions, they can lead to unexpected areas and support you didn’t realize was there.”

By being curious, proactive, pushing herself out of her comfort zone, and asking lots of questions, Sabrina found that she had such an incredible support system at UAI that she didn’t realize would have been possible when she started a job. “I think what impacted me the most was how unexpected my actual relationships with my mentors have been.” Sabrina said. Sabrina talked about how she expected her work life to be sort of what she had seen on tv, where your boss throws tasks at you, you do them, and you sometimes chat about those tasks and then you go home. She never imagined that her relationships with her supervisors and colleagues went beyond that, where people genuinely cared about her progress in her job. Particularly with her mentors, Sabrina felt the more questions she asked, the more they learned about each other. This lead to her supervisors really supporting her professional and career development. With her supervisors support, Sabrina was able to realize that she really enjoyed International Relations the most, and her supervisors pushed her towards professional development opportunities that would foster growth in this field. “It sort of help set up the immediate trajectory of my career in the next few years and I think that the mentorship helped that a lot. The relationship that you develop with someone who has so much experience in the field that you are interested in is so important, and that really really helped me in my career management process.”

A year later Sabrina transitioned from intern to professional. She now had the opportunity to practice her own mentoring skills when Srosh Hasaan started her AWE term as the new International Relations Intern. Srosh entered her new role with the same excitement and curiosity that Sabrina once had. However, Srosh had Sabrina to help guide her through her transition into her new role. Srosh said it was extremely valuable to start a position where she received immediate mentorship for “Sabrina was so accessible to ask questions and get clarity on work tasks. She is someone who has experience with the information and knowledge required for the job. But more importantly it was so valuable to work with Sabrina especially during those first few weeks, because she had actually been through the same experience that I was going through.”

Srosh commented on how patient Sabrina was during training. She always allowed for extra time and questions, which really helped make the transition a lot easier. Sabrina brought to her new mentorship role “a lot of human kindness because of the fact she had been there before. I remember her telling me ‘don’t beat yourself up for making mistakes’ things that she knew I was already doing, because she had been there before” Srosh said. Not only was Srosh learning from Sabrina, but Sabrina was learning from Srosh. Mentoring “really opened my eyes up to how how people learn and what other’s needs might be. I had to change my approach to be able to communicate ideas and information, while being sensitive to her learning styles and approaches. I often found myself saying 'oh I had never thought of it that way.' As a result we refined some of our approaches to things because of questions Srosh was asking, which was great.”

Although Srosh is wrapping up her time at UAI, what she really loved about every mentor she had is that “each one of us is invested in the other for human reasons, not just employer reasons. So my mentors are invested in me as a person, not just because I am working for them. I think because of that we have all had the potential to learn from each other and help each other be better because of the fact that we all genuinely care.” Moving forward, both feel that they will continue to apply what they have learned from their mentors, and in working with others in a mentorship capacity. 

Sabrina was lucky to receive such great mentorship from her supervisors. For Srosh, she was able to have a peer-to-peer mentorship experience with Sabrina as well as more formalized mentorship with her supervisor. So if mentorship opportunities are not always apparent, what do you do? Sabrina suggests “Just ask. It can be scary, and you don’t necessarily know how to do it, and it doesn’t matter how many higher ed articles you read on 'how you get a mentor,' it is hard to transfer those skills. But really it is about stepping out of your comfort zone, asking questions, and being proactive about opportunities because you never know where those opportunities will lead. It is going to be hard to find mentorship opportunities, if you expect those opportunities to be handed to you. You have to ask and say 'okay how can I do this, or how can I get there,' because that will help you develop professionally and lead you to find those mentors that can lead you in the right direction.” Srosh also suggested finding people that can support you, even if they are not working in the same role as you. She mentioned that peer-to-peer mentorship can be really beneficial as you are able to talk through things and perhaps learn how to navigate through the world of work. Srosh suggests “I definitely think it is good to have someone to talk to about these things and find a common ground. I can share strategies that I have applied and addressed the challenges in my work day and maybe it can help someone else!”

Want to be a mentor or a mentee? Apply to join the AWE Peer Mentorship Program!