Self-reflections and seizing opportunity through mentoring program

Mentee

Dr. Pande Putu Erawijantari, Postdoctoral researcher of Turku Collegium for Science, Medicine, and Technology (Department of Computing, University of Turku)

PhD degree holders can often feel lost in pursuing the next steps. During my graduate program, I rarely came to career events and took only one company internship which really limited my understanding of the options out there. But at the time, I was sure I needed to do at least one postdoc after graduation, so I was not paying attention enough to other possibilities. Now that I am a postdoc, I started to think about what I want to do in the long term. Thus, when the application for the mentoring program opened last year, I was immediately sure that I needed to apply for one. It turned out to be the right decision.

I was lucky enough to find a perfect match mentor, Geri, through this program. Although I did not have very concrete goals in the beginning of mentoring, Geri helped me to progressively discover what are the opportunities and how to pursue one. We started our journey by knowing each other and then followed by setting up plans and goals which help to make the program flow smoothly structured yet somewhat flexible. We have a shared directory, where we put the materials and notes throughout the session, so that we are well-prepared during the discussion for efficient meeting. I also like how Geri let me to lead the conversations, as I am rarely act as initiator. It naturally becomes a good practice session for me too. Additionally, I also learnt many essential practices towards networking, job searching, job applications, tailoring applications letter to meet job requirement, and negotiating among other things.

Midway throughout the program, Geri advised me to do informational interview, which essentially having an informal conversation with someone whose work interest me. For me, this is the highlight of the program. With the help from Geri, her network, and several persons within my circle with various backgrounds, I learn diverse career-perspective. I learnt from these interviews the common aspect in choosing career includes, defining personal motivation 1), how you want your contributions to be valued 2), how the personal and organizations goals align 3), and importantly try, try, try, never limit yourself 4). Related to these points, Geri also suggests me to exercise on self-reflections ​​to know what I naturally good at, best work environment so far, and what need to be improved for more meaningful and enjoyable work that give us the sense of purpose leading to positive feedback loops in working.

Besides from mentor, I also learnt so much from other mentee, mentor, organizers, and invited speakers in the mentoring common meetings. Most of the topics that were presented and discussed are so relatable with current hot discussion of fix dichotomy of career path which are academia vs industry. But in real practice, both aspects are rarely can be categorized as it is. Both have their roles, and none of it, is superior to each other, but instead bring harmony when work together. I found there are good balance of perspective of both and beyond in this program, and it is exciting to know that there are also many unconventional paths that we can pursue for career instead of focus on two dichotomies, such as working in public sector, policy thinker, consultant, research enabler, and so on. There is also good discussion around self-esteem and work-life balance which are really very important aspect of career. Importantly, even this program has ended, most of the mentee, including me, still engage in communications with mentors.

In summary, the mentoring program is such a rewarding journey for me. It is a perfect platform for connecting between someone who feel uncertain or want to rethink about career and mentor whose experiences can give guidance and broaden the network.

Mentor

Dr. Gergana Gateva (Geri), Project and Portfolio Developer/Analyst (Fortum)

This mentoring program brought lots of joy and purpose to my life. I have always thought that to be a mentor one needs to have decades of work experience and be in a very senior work position. But I found out that a good mentor needs simply a genuine interest, empathy, and an open mind.

I hope that I was able to create a safe space for Pande to share her story and aspirations with me, and I felt privileged to serve as her mentor. The best part of this mentoring experience was genuinely connecting with Pande and feeling that I was able to help her on her journey. I recommend this experience to everyone, because I believe that through our mentoring relationship both Pande and I developed ourselves not only professionally, but also personally.