US2U Consulting are pleased to support City College Norwich School of Higher Education's Business Management Mentoring Programme, and attended the launch at St Andrews House on 17 October.

The programme aims to support students in pursuit of business degrees, matching individuals with mentors from specific fields or sectors of interest. It also focuses on fostering greater links between organisations and individuals within the community.

Rachel Blackburn, who was heralded as instrumental in working with City College Norwich to develop the programme, spoke at the launch of her own personal mentoring experiences and of the three key benefits of the programme for both parties.

For mentees these typically include getting inspired, being able to identify and learn from a professional role model and finding a source of advice in problem-solving.

Mentors themselves can also benefit greatly from the experience, with the process reinforcing what best practice means in their line of work, challenging their assumptions of 'what is normal?' and also providing a sense of personal satisfaction. Mentoring may also lead to extra responsibilities and therefore have benefits for career progression.

Rachel was excited to meet and scope meetings with her mentee and looks forward to lending her advice over the next year!

Watch City College Norwich's video to find out more about the programme