Connecting students for ‘real life’ results
We all know people know who’ve been on both sides of the fence – but have you ever met someone who’s been on all three?
OK, so maybe a fence can’t have three sides, but that hasn’t stopped Flinders University’s Nalini Klopp, a former mentee turned mentor who now puts other mentees in touch with other industry mentors for Flinders University, from being on ‘three sides’ of the mentoring fence.
Ms Klopp, who has recently been appointed as Pathways to Employment Coordinator in the Connect@Flinders program, is clearly passionate about her role in helping Flinders students successfully transition from university to the workforce.
A large part of that passion, she says, comes from her own experience adapting to the workforce, plus her experiences of helping students do the same in a former role.
“When I saw this job advertised, I knew it would allow me to do something that I already knew I liked because of my experience of dealing with Flinders students on work experience in my previous role as manager of Cleland Wildlife Park,” she said.
“I would often give them a real-life project to complete, and one thing I noticed was how much they would all struggle if it was necessary for me to their work apart and make any substantial changes in order to meet business realities.
“That process is something I remember struggling with in my first job, and it made realise that it was probably because at school and university you have total ownership of your work.
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“Pass, or fail, you start it and finish it with almost complete control. Because of this, I think it comes as a real shock for them to have someone come in and just change everything.
“Unfortunately this is just how it works in the real workplace, and that’s something that I as a mentor tried to convey to them when they were at Cleland.
“Thankfully I had people who helped me, so the opportunity to come to Flinders and give this kind of help full-time to others really appealed to me on a personal level.”
One of the unique aspects of Connect@Flinders, Ms Klopp says, is that unlike some other mentoring programs, it does not require any final output or assessment from participants.
“The mentoring process starts and ends with the students,” Ms Klopp said. “It’s not part of any course requirement and is entirely focused on helping them.
“The focus is on assisting them to transition from study to employment in the best way possible, and talking about the things they don’t find out in university.
That’s where the mentors come in, because they are able to talk openly and honestly about their own experiences, and the kinds of things the students will face.”
Asked what benefit is in it for mentors, Ms Klopp has a couple of compelling arguments for why they would want to give up their valuable time to help the younger generation.
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“Some mentors do it simply because they want to give something back, and that’s very rewarding for them. Others do it, I think, because it’s a rare opportunity for them to influence and help to inform the next generation of people entering into their own industries.
“I think those mentors see it almost as a way to ensure their security of their own careers.”
Excitingly, thanks to her appointment, Connect@Flinders is looking at increasing the number of connections between mentors and mentees from 110 last year to 500.
Not only that, but Ms Klopp is working on some innovative new approaches to mentoring, and further developing existing relationships with other key partners.
“Now that I’ve been appointed, we will be able to step up and are planning on running two full mentoring programs,” she said.
“These are formal four-month programs which will facilitate the connection and send them off to meet four times in the four months.
“We’re also going to add different types of mentoring, including “flash” mentoring where you meet once for one or two hours, and possibly even speed mentoring.
So what do the results actually look like for the student?
“They get lots out of it,” Ms Klopp said. “One mentor has spoken about how to create the separation between work and life so that you don’t burn out.
“Students also learn about things like how to get their resumes and application processes correct for the specific industry you’re going into – plus they can sometimes have some very rare opportunities to access unusual work places.
“In one case, a mentee was able to go and gain work experience with a lawyer working in the Federal Court, which was an amazing experience.”
If you would like to volunteer as a mentor at Connect@Flinders, please send an expression of interest to [email protected]
For more information on the program itself, click here.
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