Testimonials - Career Accelerator

Testimonials.

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What our Mentees and Mentors are saying

Business Testimonials

Schools Programme Testimonials

LGBT+ Programme Testimonials

Neurodiversity & Disability Programme Testimonials

Business Testimonials

For me, it was personally fulfilling to be able to meet young people from the area I grew up in and provide them with an opportunity that I didn’t really have.

Ismail

Just Eat Takeaway

Good to develop new skills and work with young people, networked with colleagues from different areas of the business and had to work collaboratively.

Emily

Vodafone

It was refreshing to engage with young minds; learn what they need, aspire, so we can create better conditions for young people who decide to join Vodafone.

Apolo

Vodafone

I felt that this experience helped me to further develop my presentation and communication skills. It was also helpful to learn how to plan an event like this to meet the participants’ expectations and ensure the session is useful for everyone.

Ekaterina

Uber

This opportunity helped with building my listening and communication skills. To focus and understand what is best for the mentees, I needed to understand what works and does not work for them.

Charu

Vodafone

I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this program. Career Accelerator did a fantastic job of bringing it all together…the young people were incredible – ambitious, driven and willing to learn. A real pleasure to work with. Thank you for the opportunity.

Audrey

It’s great to have the opportunity to be able to mentor young people, offer them advice and provide them with insight into the business world and what potentially lies ahead for them.

Maurice

Cisco

A really good opportunity to share my experience with young people struggling with so many opportunities in front of them, it gave me insight into cultural considerations that I would never have encountered and made me more aware of the impact these could have on future decisions for a young person.

Darren

Just Eat Takeaway

It was a great opportunity to provide support to a young person going through a similar process that I did at that age. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on the decision I made to progress academically and through my career and share some insight as to what I’d change for the mentee to learn from.

Samit

Virgin Media O2

Schools Programme Testimonials

It helped boost my confidence talking about my career progression and it was really great to help out someone getting into the industry I suffered getting into.

Henry

Vodafone

My path has been set straight thanks to my mentor and I have a clear target ahead of me.

Gary

Mentee

I thought it was a great tool for myself to gain mentoring experience. It was great to learn more about what my mentee was interested in and how I could provide advice and guidance to help him work out what he might want to pursue in his education.

Thomas

Onfido

My mentor really helped me have a clearer understanding of different options after 6th form and helped me decide what is best suited to me.

Ellie

Mentee

I mentor several people within our business at various levels but mentoring someone who is in school is a lot different. It was a good test of my ability to talk to people with a very different level of understanding of business, use of language.

Lucy

Just Eat Takeaway

As someone who knew little about the digital sector and was previously not considering any careers in it, it was interesting… to learn more about the wide variety of careers available.

Elspeth

Mentee

I appreciated being able to provide practical tips and have discussions with my mentee. It also helped me reflect on my learnings and what I can do better with.

Simon

TrueLayer

I’ve really enjoyed the sessions and super impressed with how driven the young people are!

Carly

Brunswick

I really enjoyed working with both my mentees. They were both incredibly polite, motivated and really a joy to talk with – I looked forward to these sessions all week! It was a great opportunity for me to look back at my path so far and share my experiences with others as well as really confirming my desire to go into coaching / mentoring as part of my future career.

Lauren

Vodafone

My mentor was very helpful in helping me fill out a form for my internship, which I got into.

Armela

Mentee

The best part of the programme was having the opportunity to be able to speak with a professional in a role within a field I also plan to be a part of in the future.

Firat

Mentee

If it wasn’t for me speaking to my mentor I wouldn’t be where I am now and be this confident.

Erin

Mentee

This compliments the work I do as a mentor to colleagues in my workplace – these Mentees have different context and different experiences which are useful to broaden my perspective on mentoring and development.

Kevin

Vodafone

Suleiman and Saniah both seem very engaged and committed, it’s been great getting to know them.

Emma

Brunswick

I really enjoyed being able to share things I have learned over the past 7 years. It was great to be able to hear about Lexi’s interests and her ambitions and plans. It was great to be able to find out how much she knew and what hasn’t dripped down into the education system which is needed.

Laura

TrueLayer

I loved being able to share about my journey and hopefully be able to help someone on theirs.

Jeannie

Just Eat Takeaway

LGBT+ Programme Testimonials

Marin’s mentoring sessions were incredible. In our last session we went over what we learned, what Marin was going to put into practise and future goals and achievements Marin has planned. We discussed how we’ve actually both learned from each other, and how we’ve both been putting time aside to focus on our creative hobbies; Marin with writing and myself with video editing. Marin’s attitude is positive and inspiring, and I’m so proud to see how determined they are with their career going forward. Thank you Marin!

Zach

Mentor, PinkNews

The mentoring has been super useful. A lot of the mentoring was about things such as CVs and interviews, but having someone who’s also part of the LGBT+ community made the process enjoyable and easy-going.

Braden

Mentee

It was very beneficial to me as I got to speak to someone who understood me and my needs. My mentor was very supportive and kind as well as informative.

Beyonte

Mentee

It was definitely a step in the right direction being connected to those who are LGBT+ and already in professional jobs. It allowed me to network with people I wouldn’t necessarily have met without being on the programme.

Brandon

Mentee

I find it so energising to listen, and have the opportunity to share nuggets of learning I have had over my career. Every person is different, so listening to what is important to them, what is challenging to them, what is it they are looking to achieve makes me dig deep to do all I can to support their journey.

Mark

Mentor, Cisco

I think for me this was incredibly valuable because I know there are often social or economic factors – as well as possible bias and discrimination – which come into play for LGBT+ people, which may hinder the opportunities available to them.

Drew

Mentor

It’s great making an impact in someone’s career by helping them in areas that they are not familiar with yet. It was great to help Kade with improving his software engineering skills, giving him suggestions on how to deal with his manager to achieve his goals and setting a roadmap of things he could work on. I also learned a lot from him, so it was a very good experience.

Alvaro

Mentor, Cisco

I’ve been able to work with people I wouldn’t normally work with and connect on topics and experiences I wouldn’t normally discuss with colleagues.

Patrick

Mentor

It was a great opportunity to become a mentor to someone who wanted to work full-time in the industry. I also learnt a lot of what it takes to become one too.

Savan

Mentor, PinkNews

It was good to be able to share some personal experiences with my mentee and impart advice that she took on board and led to her securing a job.

Carmen

Mentor

It is great to mentor a younger person who is in the process of figuring out what they want to do, and help them to develop their confidence and professional skills. It’s been fulfilling to have positive feedback that my mentoring sessions have been helpful for both of my mentees, and that’s very rewarding.

Cara

Mentor, Suntory

It’s really made me stop and think about how we support young people starting in our organisation and what we should be doing for them. It made me realise how much easier it is for young people to be out at work from the get go. But it also made me think about what support young people need when joining a company.

Rich

Mentor

Neurodiversity & Disability Testimonials

I learned new skills, practised good conduct and learned about helping people.

Mentee

The Tower Project

The program helped me to learn a lot about myself, adapting to a new environment and help to think about what mentoring path I want to take in the future, what areas I’ll still need to improve.

Petra

Cisco

It was useful to look at different roles that they have in different jobs.

Mentee

The Tower Project

Being able to see first-hand the difference you can make to how someone feels when it comes to applying for jobs…has been really impactful!

Mentor

Centrica

I enjoy working with young people within my company such as work experience, interns and graduates to help them develop. This had given me the chance to expand my skills outside of my company and give back to a community that I have a personal connection with.

Goya

Cisco

I learned how to be confident and build communication skills.

Mentee

The Tower Project

It was a great way to connect with students and was really meaningful for me as I could share my own expertise, knowledge and share experiences with young people who found the conversations helpful. It was a good way to give back.

Havana

Pearson

It was an experience that I really enjoyed. I can now think about how I could improve given the chance again. And I really enjoy learning from others and supporting people.

Mentor

Centrica

My favourite things about the session was talking about what I enjoy in jobs so I can be more specific and put that on my CV.

Mentee

The Tower Project

I have learned many new skills as a mentor and would love to do more of it. I had no experience of working with young people, though I have completed a Youth Mental Health First Aid course, so I was very pleased to be able to gain that skill and implement some of the wellness tips I learned on my Youth MHFA course.

Harriet

Pearson

It was great to spend time with young people helping them determine who they are in the world of work.

Mentor

Centrica