1. What were your motives for helping this person?
I was working with a former college intern who just graduated from college, and is transitioning into a full-time career in technology. I met with him to offer support in the next stage in his career, but also gain feedback on his experiences as a Genesys Works college student and intern over the last year. I also wanted to build a strong relationship with this person so that he can get optimal support from us in his next career moves, and also continue to engage as an "alum" of the program.
2. Did you benefit from this relationship in any way? How?
Yes - this was an "exit interview" type meeting, mostly designed to inform our programming. I benefited by learning more about the path and experience of an exceptional student, and hear from his perspective how we can improve our programming. I will try to incorporate his feedback into future programming and marketing for the Genesys Works college program more broadly, as well as my specific program.
3. What was your role in the helping relationship? In what way do you think you helped this person? Looking back, is there anything that you might have done differently?
My role in this helping relationship is to offer ongoing and personalized support, and maintain a point of contact with a student who has been involved with the program for many years - yet has had numerous different point-people over that time. I believe I helped this person by validating his experiences to this point, offering words of encouragement, identifying a number of strengths, and establishing some next steps. In particular, I was able to refer this person to two companies of interest and connect him with them for next steps. Additionally, I was able to advocate for this student to be involved in an exclusive upcoming event with corporate partners. I would have done more research in advance of this meeting to know more about past meetings that this person has had with other GW staff, and also have information ready immediately about positions and companies of interest. I would have also taken paper notes instead of having my laptop up throughout the meeting.
4. Was there anything that this person did, said, or believed that you did not agree with? How did you react?
There was nothing that I did not agree with, but there were some moments of silence in the conversation that I had to resist filling. I often rephrased my questions, possibly not in the most clear or helpful way, which may have prevented some conversational flow. Additionally, there was some confusion from the clients side about what services would be provided. I did my best to clarify and explain.
5. Did you learn anything from this relationship?
I learned that students who have been "out" of our program for a number of years still are interested in being engaged and involved. This is still due to strong relationships previously cultivated - past GW mentors played a large role in this. I also learned that there is still a need for guidance, even after students "complete" major milestones - like college graduation - yet we do not have clear resources or next steps for those students. A new "ready to launch" program we are piloting might be the answer to this.