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RACI 2020 Mentoring Programme

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We are proud to announce our sponsorship of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's (RACI) Careers Development/Mentoring Programme - a national initiative to support and encourage the next generation of scientists. 

The RACI Careers Development Programme has been established as a national initiative to support and encourage the next generation of scientists, and to demonstrate the long-term value of
membership of their professional society.

They take both undergraduate and postgraduate students (preferably in their penultimate year of study at the time of application) from a wide range of disciplines, from chemistry majors to forensics, nanomaterials, medicinal and biochemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry, physical chemistry and more.

The Mentoring Programme is for young scientists keen to develop industrial / commercial and Government careers. (Academic careers are already well catered to within university systems).

The RACI Careers Development Programme involves:

  • Lectures and workshops;
  • Podcasts;
  • Webinars and videoconferences;
  • Facilitated networking; and
  • One-on-one mentoring for up to 30 students nationally

What does mentoring involve?

In the RACI mentoring programme, we pair (final year) student mentees one-on-one with a mentor who suits their area of interest. Working in this fashion, we aim to help our students better understand the workplace (improve their ‘workplace readiness’); develop the skills to find and capture great jobs quickly; and develop their networks. 80% of our students graduate from the programme with a job already waiting for them – which is a marked improvement over general student employment outcomes.

Of our mentors, we ask only one ‘new’ hour a month of their time, to get together for coffee and a chat with their mentee and talk with them about their studies, their experiences and their skills development. As the student gets closer to graduation, the mentor might then look over one or more job applications, practice interview skills with their mentor, or whatever is appropriate at the time.

On top of that, we ask that where our mentors are already going to networking events, they suggest to their mentees that they might come along. In this way, the mentoring is not adding to the draw on the mentors’ time, but is piggy-backing off what the mentor already does. And then at these networking events, the mentors make sure that their mentee is introduced to people, included in conversations and generally supported until the mentee develops the confidence to network independently. As the mentee will have been paired with the mentor with matching interests, then the mentors’ networks and networking activities should also be a good match to the students’ interest/needs.

Are you involved in the industry and have some time to mentor? Contact us today to find out how you can apply. 

Enquire Call 02 9859 0585