Member mentoring
175 minutes for chemistry
Two of our members tell us how they spent their 175 minutes for chemistry supporting other members through our mentoring scheme.
Our mentoring scheme gives members the chance to discuss any aspect of their professional development with a fellow member. Through the scheme, mentees can take the opportunity to think about their career and objectives, while mentors not only find the experience rewarding, but also develop new skills themselves.
Richard Brett
Audit and assurance manager at GlaxoSmithKline
I am one of the first group of RSC mentors. I have been working with my mentee on how she can develop herself and work out how she can move her career forward – possibly in a different direction.
We have had a number of meetings and have certainly exceeded 175 minutes!
We have both learnt a lot through this process and development works both ways – for the mentor and the mentee.
The training and support from the RSC has been first-rate and I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending this scheme to both potential mentors and mentees.
Dr Mario Moustras
Director of Mazamo Coaching
Becoming a mentor has been a very enriching experience. I finished the training in September 2015 and was immediately paired up with a member who was seeking a mentor in the London area. We met for the first time in a coffee shop and spent time building a rapport and starting to figure out what his goals were for our future sessions.
At the end of our session we agreed to meet again in the same place, laid ground rules for how we would communicate in between sessions and decided we would meet once every four to six weeks. It wasn’t until subsequent sessions that we got to specifics about what he wanted to achieve in terms of advancing his career.
I have a fairly non-directional style in my line of work so he did most of the talking! I did give him advice when asked though.
I felt immensely proud that I could use my knowledge and expertise of working with universities and technology focused companies. I also introduced him to people in my networks who were able to help him explore his ideas further.
I am really pleased that I have been able to make a difference with my mentee. It feels great to be able to give something back as a member. It has been amazing to see the changes in confidence and the progress he has made.
As of June 2016, our sessions are continuing and I am looking forward to seeing him achieve the goals he has set for this year.
Further information
You can find out more about the training and support that we offer through our mentoring scheme on our website or by emailing us, including ‘mentoring’ in the subject line.
175 minutes for chemistry
As the oldest chemical society in the world, we celebrated our 175th anniversary in 2016. We wanted to mark this milestone by recognising the important contributions our community makes to the chemical sciences. We asked our members and supporters to dedicate 175 minutes to chemistry in 2016 and share their stories with us. We featured these stories throughout the year on our website, in print in RSC News, and on social media using #time4chem.
Tell us your story
If you've been involved in an event or activity, or just have an interesting story to tell, we want to hear from you! Please get in touch using the online form or tweet us @RoySocChem using #time4chem.