Beau Noafshar is Manager, Life Sciences Strategy Consulting at KPMG. Beau remembers how hard it was to decide on the first steps of his career path, and this is the reason he mentors students with ELBA – he believe it’s important for people who have found their niche to help young people find theirs.

Why do you volunteer?
Work is a big part of our lives, and I can still remember how difficult it was deciding on the first steps towards a career path. With even more options and resources available now, I believe it’s important for people who have found their niche to help young people find theirs.

What have you gained from your volunteering experience?
I gained three main things from mentoring with ELBA this year: 1) A sense of making a difference from helping mentees tackle the big question of what areas to explore for a career; 2) Building my soft skills, such as creative thinking and teamwork through mentoring sessions; 3) This year I also arranged interviews between mentees and contacts that worked within their target career paths (therapy and art therapy) – I was surprised by how much I learned about the pros and cons of their jobs that I didn’t previously know.

Would you recommend volunteering to a colleague and, if so, why?
I would recommend mentoring; it can be a challenge but, like other volunteering work, it’s highly rewarding when you make even small steps of progress. You can help mentees move towards their own ideas and opinions on different career paths, providing them with a sense of ownership and personal accountability that supports the big decisions that they will start to make. ELBA is a great organisation to volunteer with – they support you throughout the process with training, materials and are always on hand to answer any questions.