James Davis, Mechanical Engineering w/Year-in-Industry
Mentor: Andrew Garner, Executive Search and Career Management Consultant
I am a final year Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student matched with Andrew Garner, a leading executive search consultant, as my mentor until June 2020. Our first meeting was in early November 2019.
In preparation for the initial meeting, I researched Andrew’s background as well as his previous mentee experiences, primarily through existing similar blogs to this. One note, by a mentee in early 2019, surrounded their prior assumptions regarding the nature of their first meeting being wrong. Given my knowledge of this prior to my meeting, it is somewhat embarrassing to admit that I experienced a similar occurrence, albeit in a positive manner.
The discussion moved quickly beyond professional targets to long term personal goals, after all, there must be motivations behind professional aspirations. At this point, I attempted to conceal my revelation that I only had preconceived vague notions regarding my career and personal life beyond 30. Andrew probed into why I had taken the path I was now on and, more importantly, why I had discounted alternatives, whether engineering or otherwise. Andrew suggested that I may benefit from researching a broad selection of companies, the LSE FTSE 100, describing what appealed about the organisations and more importantly, why.
The meeting concluded following insights into Andrews current ventures, the idea of “promoting your difference”, the aforementioned “homework” and me frantically writing everything down. Although the meeting initiated a somewhat sobering reflection, I feel more informed of the steps I want to take, compared to those I previously blindly trod. Andrew is a straight-talking, erudite mentor, with an insightful point of view. I look forward to meeting him again, albeit with a larger notepad…
Mentoring 