An update on mentoring – now being the mentor!

Hi readers

Through Barclays I’ve recently become involved in a really rewarding volunteering opportunity with the Social Mobility Foundation. Their aim is to support high-achieving young people from low-income backgrounds into the top universities and professions, partly through a mentoring programme with young professionals. I was paired up with my mentee a couple of months ago and we’ve been exchanging lots of emails around which university to go to, what course to study, how to stay motivated during revision for A-levels, and how to start networking early on.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the first mentor-mentee meet-up in central London, which had an impressive turnout of well over a hundred mentors and mentees. It was great to put a face to the name and we covered much more ground than we could have over emails – we chatted about everything from tips for university interviews to our favourite books and inspirational films.

Having been to countless career events, been through lots of interviews (some great, some not-so-great…) and picked up plenty of tips and advice along the way, it’s more apparent to me than ever that there is so much valuable information that isn’t written in any book and often comes simply through experience. To be able to use all this advice to help those that really value it is incredibly rewarding. If you’d like to find out more about the Social Mobility Foundation, visit their website, http://www.socialmobility.org.uk/

This is just one of the many volunteering opportunities available to us here at Barclays, and I know others on the FLDP have been involved in a wide range of activities, from organising a charity fashion show to teaching not-for-profit organisations about accounting and finance (read more about that here).

As always, I tweet away @Barclays_Alex about all things tax and not tax. Have a read!

Alex