Jasmin’s Story
I had been volunteering at the Collective Gallery – learning how to run a public, contemporary art gallery. My volunteers’ manager at the Collective suggested that I might like to think about getting an employment mentor to run alongside my volunteering and help me translate what I was learning as a volunteer into helping me getting a paid job.
Being a visual art graduate interested in visual arts management I was initially dubious as to whether the mentor that I was matched to would be able to relate to my occupational interest – however I was reassured when I learned that the Manager at the Collective was a mentor herself. I had little to lose from the experience and even better, it was free!
After having a meeting at the Volunteer Centre to discuss my situation and career goals, the matching process began, and soon enough I had my first meeting with my new mentor - Conor.
It is fair to say that I was anxious as to how the meeting would go and if I would get anything out of it at all. I was also concerned that Conor didn’t work in the arts industry as I had hoped for, though he did have relevant experience of how hard it is for graduates to find work.
I went in unsure of my ideas and what I had to do in order to achieve my goals and left feeling confident because Conor pointed out how many good ideas I had in the first place. On the first meeting I also learned there was no defined time limit expected of me to need the support of a mentor.
Idealistically I was hoping that the mentor would impart to me a ‘special’ knowledge and the secret of getting a great job and in reality I knew that to find this great job would require me to be patient and learn from my mistakes when applying for jobs.
Conor explained that he had to do a job that didn’t particularly suit him when he graduated and he had to be patient and stay focused on his goals before eventually landing a job that he felt inspired to do.
For the past year I have been juggling a part-time sales assistant job, a visual art practice and serving as a volunteer in a few different art organisations. I am a sales assistant more out of necessity and it is definitely not a career move though Conor made me appreciate the value of ALL experience , not only where we think it is valid. He also has made me more aware of the value of networking, again in ANY situation as you never know where it might lead you career wise.
After I had finished volunteering at the Collective it became more of an imperative to find paid work in a relevant field and so while continuing to work part-time I still have meetings with Conor for this reason. He helps me pick apart job descriptions to help in tailoring each of my job applications to various job roles. A great yet simple piece of advice when applying for jobs , that I previously didn’t consider before is to approach new jobs as something that you are qualified to do already not something you could gain further experience from.
Unfortunately I am still working part-time in a place that isn’t complimentary to my goals and skills, no doubt this is due in part to the over whelming competition and the current economic climate. However, because of the support of my mentor, the fact I’m not getting jobs hasn’t slowed me down in continuing to search for them.
Now I find myself branching into new occupational territory, not just outside Edinburgh but possibly beyond this continent. I have just completed a course to teach English as a foreign language and have been in discussion about teaching arts and crafts alongside English to children in India.
Mentoring has definitely helped me to be more self-confident in applying for jobs. Patience is a virtue in terms of finding the right job for you and I have learned that sometimes you might do something out of your comfort zone or seemingly insignificant that might lead you into a whole other realm of career possibilities.