Mentoring Works Joins the Dots with the Careers & Enterprise Company

The Mentoring Works team had an insightful time meeting some of the 800 attendees at the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) Join the Dots conference in Sheffield this month. As grant recipients in the CEC’s latest round of funding, it was an ideal opportunity to network with Enterprise Co-ordinators and schools and companies from all over the UK.

Speakers included Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle who shared her story and gave advice such as “remember that one thing you say could make all the difference”.

For ELBA, as deliverers, it was great to hear messages such as “education and business should go hand in hand.” The CEC made use of the collective knowledge of all participants and sought feedback for their comprehensive ‘how to’ guides on grant bid writing. It was also useful to hear how some of the other grant holders are delivering their mentoring programmes so far.

An added bonus was running into some old ELBA faces who left the organisation to move to different areas of the country, but who still work in related fields. For example Graham Booth who now resides in Sheffield, and who currently works as a Corporate Engagement Manager at Endeavour, a charity for young people, and Sophie Hope, who travelled to the conference from Manchester where she now works as a Careers and Enterprise Co-ordinator at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

The event was a great opportunity to share stories, advice and experiences, and to learn from each other.