Discussion Update on Mentoring Interaction

Thanks for posting an update.

My mentee, Gabriel, started his first profession position right after Annual. This mentoring opportunity has been perfect for him as he can ask me questions or discuss issues. It gives hin an outside perspective. We have discussed time management, first year expectation, preparing for the next level of expectations, goals, and many other topics.

The Depository tour was definitely interesting! It's not something one sees every day, and I do also find it useful to have a mental image of my mentor's workplace.

As someone who is still in school and starting to think about applying for jobs, I've found our partnership to be very valuable. It's good to get a sense of what is going on outside of my grad school "bubble" -- both to get a sense of what people may be talking/thinking about that I'm not hearing in my classes, and to have chances to put the concepts I'm learning in a real-world context. My program sometimes leans toward the academic/theoretical, and talking to Tom ensures that even for the coursework that is more academic I touch ground at least every once in a while to reflect on things from the perspective of practice.  I'm a relative newcomer to workplace politics and other practicalities, and our conversations have been good for helping me resolve questions and issues as they arise. I've also really enjoyed hearing about Tom's projects and the various things he has going on.

And he's just a fun person to talk to!