Zoe Whitten

Please can you tell us about yourself and your interests?

I am currently a Service Improvement Project Manager for Learning Disabilities at Autism Services at Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust in the Midlands. It is a combination of basic project management, service improvement, and relationship management etc. so it is varied and I really enjoy it. Outside of work, I like to keep fit; go running and to classes at my local gym. I volunteer with the Dog's Trust on Saturday mornings where I clean kennels and walk some very cute dogs. I am also a keen crocheter, so I am attempting to set up a side hustle on Etsy selling what I make.

How did you start down your career path?

When I graduated I had no idea what I was doing or what I wanted to do. So I applied for a Master's, which I secured a place on, but also needed to pay for it. I had previously been a telephone fundraiser with the alumni office at Reading and so I applied for a team leader role with them. Although I wasn't successful, they told me that I had interviewed really well and that there may be other opportunities in the office for me. I was able to work with them in a maternity cover role, working part-time during my Master's. Over the next few years I took several roles in the alumni team until I decided that I wanted to do something slightly different. I thought about the NHS and considered going back to University and studying again. I then came across the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme at a stand at the University careers fair. I chatted to a really nice chap there decided to give it a go. I was successful in my application and was given a place on the scheme which lasted for two years. It was an absolutely amazing experience. My current role is my first job since completing the graduate scheme in July.

If you could look back and give yourself one piece of advice when starting out in your career, what would it be?

The main thing I struggled with was not knowing what I wanted to do. I studied Ancient History which doesn't have a natural job progression into many careers and I also seemed to be surrounded by people getting good jobs and knew exactly what they wanted to do. I felt like the only who was thinking 'I've got a job but I don't know what I want to do long-term.' My advice would be if you can, try to ignore that feeling. It might be that in your early career you fall in to a job. If you don't love it, it doesn't matter as long as you have found yourself something that will add to your experience. Find opportunities to get your confidence up and adjust to working full time. It is okay if your first job isn't your dream job you have time on your side. If you don't know what you want to do, don't worry about - now is the time to experiment with different things before you have the responsibilities of later life (mortgages, babies, etc.).

What is your style of mentoring and can you highlight what you think the most important aspect of the role is?

I try to keep my partnerships informal. I am quite happy for someone to say that they have no idea what they want to do, no clue how to get started, no idea how to talk to people and ask 'what should I be doing?' I would rather someone is honest with me and tells me how I can help them rather than coming and trying to impress me or put on a brave face to me as their mentor. I would rather keep it informal, have a laugh and be like right, ok, let's work from scratch and have a chat and see what you want to do. Sometimes these chats can spark something in your head and you can develop a plan from there. The most important aspect of the mentoring role is to listen properly because people don't always know recognise that what they're saying is very meaningful. My last mentee spoke about a youth centre that she volunteered with. I noticed that she wasn't able to connect the dots that her love of working with kids could be a career possibility. So when I listened to her, I digested what she had said and mentioned I had a friend who works in CAMHS services that she could talk to about placement opportunities, so sitting and actively listening to what they say is really important.

What made you decide that THRIVE Mentoring was the mentoring scheme that you wanted to volunteer with?

I studied for a Humanities degree and it is a blessing and a curse. It opens up a lot of different career paths but doesn't train you for anything specific. I had always thought of mentoring as quite a serious thing and that you only had mentoring if you had a specific goal in mind. What I liked about THRIVE was that students didn't have to have a particular career in mind, that they could talk to anyone. When you're doing a humanities degree that is really useful. You need some advice to tailor yourself and you generalised skillset to find career opportunities.

What skills or knowledge do you think it is crucial for a graduate to hold when looking for their first graduate role?

You might not meet 100% of the job application criteria when you're a fresh graduate but don't be put off. There is a commonly used statistic that women only apply for jobs when they meet 100% of the criteria but as a grad you will never meet that so don't worry too much. If you think you can do the job, it is something that you'd enjoy and you'd be willing to work hard in - apply for it. The worst that might happen is that you won't get the job, but, what could happen is a) you get it b) you get your face out there with people in the industry that you want to be in and c) you can have a chat with and get advice from potential employers. If you don't get the job, you ask for feedback.. I have had several job applications turned down but I have always had useful feedback. One key piece of information I was given is that I have a 'tell', as in my left hand shakes really badly when I give a presentation and I'm nervous. They told me that it gave me away that I was nervous. Now I know that I either need to hold something or put my hand in my trouser pocket when I stand up and present in front of people. It is experiences like that, when you apply for jobs and you receive feedback, which creates a roadmap of where you can develop. Otherwise you might be stumbling about putting in applications without really knowing that it is going wrong. This is key when getting your first few jobs.

Do you have any goals that you have set yourself during your time as a mentor?

The one thing I want to do is be helpful. I would never want a mentee to see our partnership as a burden, I want it to be helpful for people that need it. I also enjoy coaching and mentoring and have done some of it in work. A career goal of mine is to try to pursue that further, but I want to see if I am any good at it! Mentoring people who aren't in the same industry as you is a challenge. I am hoping that taking part in the THRIVE programme it will be a learning opportunity for myself and I hope to get some feedback from the students that pick me as their mentor.