Professional Development Program – ‘HR Help!’
The second of our four pilot Professional Development events was held on Tuesday the 14th May 2019. The format of the event was ‘TURBO PANEL’, and the theme was ‘HR Help!’. Our ‘TURBO PANEL’ format allowed small groups of students to chat face-to-face with each of our guests for a longer timeframe than was possible in the previous event. It also reinforced the value that can be obtained by listening as each member of the small group posed their questions.
As with our previous event, both guests and students found the evening stimulating and valuable. Guests were impressed with the quality and forethought of the student questions. Students on the other hand found the information and insights shared by guests to be valuable, and in general they left the event feeling optimistic and enthusiastic about their future prospects.
At this event we decided to open up some places to students from other colleges. The general consensus of these students was that the event was ‘fantastic’ and ‘extremely beneficial’. All students asked to be invited to any future events if possible as ‘they had never attended something like this’.
The underlying objective of this event was to create an environment for the development of natural mentoring dyads. It also expanded on our previous event by introducing the development of ‘soft career skills’. St Andrew’s College was privileged to have the expertise of prominent recruitment specialists who have all offered to participate in future events.
Dr Diane Spencer-Scarr
College Life Professional Mentoring Project Officer
Photo credit: Chester Burns (Fr 2019)