Â鶹ӰԺ

When it comes to top tips for career success, the chances are that having a mentor will be pretty near the top.

Forging a relationship with someone who can advise or support you is something that plenty of people have benefited from, including famous faces like Denzel Washington, mentor to Chadwick Boseman and Mark Zuckerberg, who was Steve Jobs’ mentee.

And there is no bigger cheerleader for mentoring at Â鶹ӰԺ Leicester (Â鶹ӰԺ) than Andy Morris, who has now just been nominated for a national award for his work supporting students.



His mentoring programme Inside Edge which offers students a range of some 15 separate offers, from 1-2-1s, group work, masterclasses, practical workshops and much more has seen him reach the finals of the national Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) awards, in the Significant Contribution Award category.

Andy, Â鶹ӰԺ’s Employability Manager, said: "It's great to be shortlisted, no matter what the outcome on the night. Whilst the category of my shortlisting is classified under an ‘individual award’, because it’s just myself that runs the scheme, huge credit goes to the excellent collective of industry mentors who journey with me and make the scheme what it is. My success is their success too, and I’m hugely grateful for their individual investment in our movement."

More than 500 Â鶹ӰԺ students every year take part in Andy’s mentoring offers, bespoke tailored  mentoring groups and course-embedded sessions. He also teaches courses on non-mentoring topics such as confidence, networking, and identifying strengths. Andy has built a network of mentors keen to support students with a range of different experiences and from a host of different backgrounds and industry sectors – based on the idea of “not what mentoring is, but what it could be”.

His work within Â鶹ӰԺ’s Careers Team began in 2014 and has evolved every year, with Andy reflecting and developing the offers to respond to changing needs. Students and graduate mentees are put through a rigorous 15-stage process which is designed to build career preparedness, where they can go the whole 15 steps or hop on and off as they choose, depending on their circumstances.

This past academic year, Andy has set up around 70 mentor matches, either individually or as part of group mentoring. A long-time collaborator has been Zainab Zaeem-Sattar (pictured below left), who’s been a mentor, using her legal skills to support law students.



She said: “Andy is committed, focused, efficient, dependable, and most importantly, friendly and lastingly punctual. He has a warm, cheerful approach with students/professionals. He goes above and beyond in delivering sessions to ensure students have access to professionals, to mentor and guide them in the working mechanics of life. I can think of no one more deserving of this award than Andy.”

Phil Curtis, Andy’s manager, said: “Andy’s scheme has been a core offer to students at Â鶹ӰԺ for nearly a decade. Andy always delivers an immersive and engaging programme, and what impresses me the most is that he isn’t content with its success.

“He improves the project annually and consequently further enhances student experience/outcomes. It’s my firm belief that would you struggle to find a better professional UK mentoring initiative.

“Andy’s talents are extremely sought after at Â鶹ӰԺ, and Andy has improved employability for countless students through his interactive and energetic embedded employability sessions.”