How to play Super Ace online.Makakuha ng libreng 700pho sa bawat deposito

You’re still with me – great to have you back!

I hope that you enjoyed a great week and had the opportunity to understand the several benefits which mentorship and self-development can yield, as outlined in the second part of this “series”. Hopefully by now you’re starting to realize how undergoing this journey can slowly transform you into gradually becoming a more improved version of yourself.

Take a minute to grab your “Cup a’ Joe” as we discuss the final stage of this mini-journey. I warn you now – this post is a long one.

This week, I’d like to present to you what I like to call…

The “Mentor Memoirs”

What’s the purpose? I’d like to share three personal recounts of how mentorship and self-development have played a role in my life over the past decade to get me not only to where I am now, but where I’m heading. I’ll also share what I believe were the wins of those experiences and the lessons learned along the way. Speaking of which, these three stories all relate back to several points addressed in my inaugural blog post published two weeks ago .

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I still reflect back on these experiences from time to time, appreciating the life lessons which came from each of them, and what I can take from them moving forward. I hope that you too can use some of my takeaways and apply them to your own lives as well.

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Now then, I’d like to share the following experiences with you today:

Mentorship After University
Skills Development While On the Job(s)
Mentoring as a Teaching Assistant

1. Mentorship After University

Well what can I say, the semester before graduating from York University back in 2015, I found out that someone I had known about since my late teens was established in the marketing industry. I had known about this person through Church in my community and decided to reach out for advice. Ever since the first meeting I scheduled with this person, the value was imminent. As a mentee, I was taught several lessons in line with my objective of landing a role in marketing. These included optimizing your LinkedIn profile for what you’re looking for and branding yourself to stand out from other job seekers, how to find, be introduced to, and connect with those other industry professionals who have access to the jobs or opportunities you’re looking for (or know the recruiters that do), and budgeting for a job search (these are just a few).

Wins

Over the months which ensued closer to graduation, and a few years beyond, I must have been introduced to over a dozen or more different connections from one mentor, many of whom work for well known advertising agencies and companies. Several informational interviews and job interviews stemmed from these connections. Although other marketing-related opportunities ended up materializing outside of those I pursued thanks to being introduced to these connections, this is a testament as to how persistent one must be in the pursuit of breaking into this industry. I still keep in touch with this mentor today, on a semi-frequent basis.

Lessons Learned

There were many, but I’ll distill it down to the following:

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You’re In the “Driver’s Seat”. While on a job search or when you’re in a role, be proactive in going about it. Be assertive (to a point), and do your best to find answers instead of waiting to receive them. With busy professionals (at the executive level), you’ll be left waiting a long time if you don’t take charge right away, which could come at a cost.

Hone Your Elevator Pitch. When meeting new, high-level professionals, prepare and get comfortable presenting your Elevator Pitch based on what makes you different, and what you’re looking for. Time is also of the essence (these individuals don’t have a lot of it). Whether it is 10 or 30 minutes, that is valuable so get to the point, and know what you’re looking to accomplish (questions and inquiry for opportunities). At the same time, balance speaking comfortably while not coming across as too intense.

Be Prepared to Follow Up. A Lot. Industry professionals, especially the ones at the Management, Director, Vice President and Presidential level are very busy. They don’t mean to miss those calls or emails you might send them most of the time. Just be diligent about weekly follow up without coming across as annoying. It is the balancing act between leading those interactions so you’re taken seriously, and respecting their time and space.

(Bonus) Industry Resources. The following few resources were recommended to me for keeping up to date with industry-related news. Check out this resource here (Strategy Online), or, this one here (Ad Age) to keep up with news, advertising business wins, and various case studies in marketing. You might even decide to become a frequent subscriber.

2. Skills Development While On the Job(s)

This was an extrinsic benefit which I covered as part of last week’s blog post on the several benefits of mentorship and self-development , and I’d like to elaborate on this point using a few personal examples. During my 20’s, I held two different marketing-related positions with both Phillips Moving & Storage , and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) (Ontario Chapter). Walking into both of these roles, I had limited experience, and gradually gained a greater breadth of experience related to common marketing job responsibilities and technology tools once foreign to me.

By having two very strong and supportive supervisors (who, in a way I consider mentors in their own right), I was challenged with developing a number of different skills in order to be able more efficiently and effectively serve the roles I was in. Not just that, but perform them under tight timelines to be able to successfully execute a project, initiative, or event. Sometimes, these were same day, following day, or the following week deadlines. Keep in mind; these were all skills which I had no prior experience with or working knowledge of.

Here are a few different scenarios which I encountered several years ago which forced me to level up and flex my “technical” muscles:

Scenario 1: Implement a monthly e-newsletter initiative to send to various Van Line Moving Agents in North America. This was not being done at all by Moving Agents in the moving industry at the time. The email marketing program needed to be completed, tested, and deployed within a month of the initial conceptualization meeting for end of January, 2016 release. What to do? Constant Contact? Heard of it, but never used it once…

Scenario 2: Implement a new registration system to deploy event campaigns to over 800 ACC Ontario members which solved existing errors and redundancies in the current registration process. This needed to be completed within about three and a half weeks before an annually sponsored and recurring event in November, 2019, while allowing for adequate promotion time to attract a solid audience. What to do? Cvent? Never heard of it, or used it before…

Scenario 3: Implement a webinar/meeting platform (okay, a bit more directed now) to execute the first virtually hosted ACC Ontario Chapter-specific event during COVID in February, 2021. I was tasked with setup, testing, and ensuring that all components for the event were ready to go in three weeks’ lead time, and that it was professionally executed for attendees. What to do? Zoom? I know it, but have never used it before…

These scenarios were personal success stories while previously on the job(s). Each of these may not sound that jarring now to me or you, but they all did back then. These situations became more comfortable the more they continued to occur.

So, what skills and tools did I add to my arsenal you may ask? Here is a brief compilation of the technology tool “stack” I benefited from learning and using: Constant Contact , Zoom , Cvent , and Canva (to name a few – there were several more).

Wins

Each of the scenarios outlined above all became results-based accomplishments which I still reference today, but more importantly…they were instrumental in me becoming more marketable for employment opportunities. I’ve lost track of how many interviews all of these skills surely helped me land (especially in the Legal Services arena), and I’d like to think that some of these relevant skills led to attaining my previously held full-time position.

I now welcome the opportunity to be pushed outside of my comfort zone with situations such as these ones. My aim this year is to continue this by picking up experience with more technical Search and Paid Marketing tools commonly used in the industry.

Lessons Learned

Relevant Skills. Based on my experience, possessing the relevant skills which employers or organizations value can lead to obtaining those job opportunities you’re after, and can also lead to negotiating rate or salary increases if you can convey a list of notable accomplishments in line with certain job requirements. Learning a breadth of skills adeptly can really open up your options!

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Adaptability. Being put in situations such as those three often enough gets you comfortable with being uncomfortable. Once you being to be put in high-stakes and tight situations routinely, you become more adaptable, building on your previous experience to successfully problem solve on your own. Once you’ve accumulated enough wins, you become more confident with maintaining that track record.

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Be Forward-Thinking. Quite simply, as one of my supervisors and mentors has often restated to me – “remember to always be advancing”. This goes for completing a task, a project, or keeping up with the proverbial “curve”.

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(Bonus) An Additional Resource. This is slightly unrelated, but I’d recommend checking out this great blog from Constant Contact for some interesting and useful information related to everything email marketing (and more). There is a plethora of takeaway value there!

3. Mentoring as a Teaching Assistant

Let me take you back almost 10 years ago. Just after having graduated from York University in 2015 with a Business Commerce degree specializing in Marketing, my first job was as a Teaching Assistant for a full academic year for an Applied Marketing Management course. I guided and mentored several student groups spread across three different classes taking this course over two semesters (over 90 students), as they prepared and eventually presented comprehensive Marketing Plans to actual, small business clients.

The end result was four very impressed clients over the course of that year, pleased with what student groups had proposed and presented for their business. I felt instrumental to the success of their projects (as described by one client), as I guided their progress throughout the course of each semester, made easier by the fact that I had taken the same course myself almost two years earlier. My personal goal was to mentor students in such a way where they would all be given the tools to succeed, advice would be tailored to each of their marketing plan objectives, help them make the most of their experience, and surpass how I performed. I shared my accumulated experiences with students in order to guide them during this project as they saw it through to its completion.

Alongside this role, I simultaneously made time to act as an Advisor/Mentor to two new Co-Presidents of a student-run marketing club called the New Marketing Students Association (NMSA) introduced two years prior at York University. I acted as a Co-President of this student-run organization the year directly before. After reviewing their initiatives and objectives slated for the 2015 – 2016 academic year, my other Co-President as well as myself provided a series of lessons and actionable advice to the incoming Co-Presidents surrounding what worked well for us, and what could have been improved upon.

Wins

Not only did students on average excel very well on their projects overall, but I personally had the pleasure of receiving recognition from students and clients for my efforts, alongside my professor, at the Experiential Education Awards in May, 2016. Networking opportunities with two of the marketing plan clients came to pass that year both before and after this event (one being an introduction to somebody working in a full-service global Advertising Agency).

The NMSA also carried on successfully during that academic year under the leadership of those two Co-Presidents, where I could visibly see that my suggestions were taken into account and implemented (if they aligned with the vision of those Co-Presidents).

Additionally, both of these experiences served as great talking points and items on my resume for a few years’ time, likely instrumental in landing quite a few job interviews over the coming years, as well as playing a role in helping to secure one of my previously held positions I would think.

Can I also state here that a notable win was the personal satisfaction of knowing how many students succeeded and knowing that I helped guide them there?

Lessons Learned

A Resume Builder. First and foremost, having mentorship-related experience as part of my own resume as I noted in my first blog post serves as noteworthy experience (granted it’s still recent enough) which can be used to not only expand your network to connect with other professionals based on what your personal objectives are, but can lead to landing several job interviews and that dream job offer which you may be searching for.

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Bridging Mentee Objectives and Your Experiences. From what I've seen, the key to helping others achieve success in their own right (and what that might mean to them) has to do with understanding and having a good grasp on their objectives, and how your personal experiences can lead them in the direction of making their goals come to life. For example, this might come out of and remain on track through semi-frequent communication via bi-weekly status updates.

Wrap-up

Thanks for staying with me on this one – you made it! In this post, I took you through three different stories of my experience with mentorship after University, self-development through gaining new skills on the job, and my personal experience with mentoring others. I also shared what I consider my wins from those experiences as well as some takeaways I’ve learned and hopefully, you can also keep in mind.

Before getting back to your busy day, I’d appreciate if you quickly head on over to my Twitter page or my LinkedIn profile to follow and/or connect (make sure you’re logged in first).