From mentorship to a ‘dream job’ with IWFM Mentoring

News

As a reflection on 27 October’s National Mentoring Day, IWFM’s Rising FMs Network set out to discover the perspectives of IWFM Mentoring’s mentors and mentees, the impact on their professional journey, advice for professionals considering taking part and much more. In this edition, we speak to Allan Ramsay FIWFM, Global Facilities and Utilities Manager at Haleon, to discover his day-to-day experience of IWFM Mentoring, how it helped him get his ‘dream job’ and how he wants to stay involved in future.

Remember, IWFM Mentoring is always looking for new mentors and mentees to enhance our community – read on and find out why you should get involved.

Describe your start in IWFM Mentoring, your journey and its impact.

I had been mentored in the past in one of my previous roles and it wasn’t the experience I thought it would be. I was determined to give it another go, and I felt that the IWFM was offering that opportunity. IWFM had made available a directory of mentors from their members – sharing their expertise and backgrounds which made it easy for me to identify who I wanted to reach out to.

I found the right mentor as I felt we shared the same professional background. Our first meeting had a mixed informal/formal environment, we got to know each other and gauge what I wanted to get out of the mentorship and what my mentor could offer. My mentor challenged me to produce a career path plan (something I only ever thought about – I had never put it down on paper). He recommended I conduct a SWOT analysis on my position at that time, something I had never done before. Calling out my weaknesses, opportunities and more brought to realisation some excellent ideas for my development, and I used these in my professional goals at work.

My mentor also advised me to update my CV. He reviewed my current CV and gave me good feedback on how to improve it and pointed out some areas where I had missed some information. My mentor understood from my SWOT and career path plan the direction I wanted to take in my career. He encouraged me to start applying for more senior roles at work to start making the next steps in my path.

We have had six meetings so far in 2024, and in that time, I have started my dream job. I did not expect to achieve so much in such a short period of time. The initial five-to-eight-year career plan I did became a three-month plan! My mentor encouraged me to progress my IWFM membership from Certified to Fellow status. This is something I had put off looking into as I didn’t feel I would meet the requirement, but I have recently gained it. 

Do you have any general comments or thoughts around your experience on the IWFM mentoring scheme?

It’s amazing what comes out of the sessions with your mentor when you have a focus and openly discuss things you wouldn’t have considered if it wasn’t in a mentorship environment. I think this environment is created when the right dynamic is in place with the mentor and mentee. IWFM provides this by the way they conduct their mentorship programme. I cannot praise the programme enough and the mentor I have been lucky enough to have. The experience and advice they bring is invaluable.

How easy was it to sign up to the scheme and be partnered with a mentor?

The scheme was easily accessible through my IWFM login. I was browsing the website when I saw the advertisement as a banner at the top of their homepage. Once I followed the link and filled out my details and described why I was interested in being mentored, it opened the opportunity to browse IWFM’s portfolio of members who had shown interest in mentoring. You can find information like a photo of the mentor, their location and some headlines around their expertise. Once you have found a mentor, it was very easy to select them and send a request. You get updates via email and IWFM set everything up for the first meeting.

Will you continue as a mentee or rejoining the scheme as a mentor?

I would like to continue my mentorship into 2025 as I have gained so much from it in 2024. I feel that my mentor can continue to support me and give advice by listening to my experiences in this relatively new job role. I now need to re-baseline my career path plan and SWOT analysis and look forward to my development in 2025. The experience has been superb, and it has encouraged me to think about what I could offer to someone as a mentor in the future. This is something I would like to give back in the future.

To find out more about IWFM Mentoring, click here.