Promentor Programme Experience: Daniel Bowen
My experience on The Promentor Programme: An Alumni Mentoring Programme has been very positive. I found the initial application process to be smooth and easy to get involved, and the pairing with mentors was efficient too.
The mentor pairings I received were very useful to me. I am interested in pursuing a career in conservation, and my mentors were distributed across different sectors from researchers to project leadership. This wider range of experience in different sectors besides academia was very helpful in guiding my future career development.
Key benefits:
The main benefit was hearing how people in careers I would consider pursuing reached their current positions, because finding out mentors' past opportunities and placements is great for guiding your own pursuit of internships and work experience.
Furthermore, mentors offered their advice on which internships would be most beneficial to career development, and they could help suggest what these hosts were looking for in candidates.
My advice for future participants:
The Promentor Programme is definitely worth applying to participate in. The mentors that you are paired with will be in the broad field that you are interested in pursuing, which is very useful for learning which avenues are out there and how to obtain them. Furthermore, mentors are very approachable and actively want to engage with you, so be sure to make contact as you need it when finding your way into internships and positions along your career path.
Article by Daniel Bowen (he/him), Biology at Queen's College, University of Oxford.
How to take part in the Promentor Programme
- Oxford University students: Applications for the next round of the Promentor Programme opens for University of Oxford students in Michaelmas term 2024.
- Professionals: If you are a professional interested in mentoring, find out how to become a mentor.
