Jane's Story
Jane Charlton is a Senior Marketing Manager at the not-for-profit tech charity Jisc, who became one of a small group of volunteer mentors on our latest Employability and Skills Programme in May 2024. Jane was matched with a young person not in employment, education, or training (NEET) after the first workshop. She met with him in person or by video call once a week over the following 12 weeks to support him and help build his employability skills and confidence. Jane quickly formed a strong rapport with her mentee and was able to have a real impact on his outlook and goals for the future.
During their time together, Jane supported her mentee in various ways, including helping him to update his CV and apply for an ESOL course at a local college. Most importantly, through building a high level of trust, Jane became somebody that her mentee felt he could talk to openly and comfortably.
She commented, “It was incredibly rewarding. I was glad I was able to be someone my mentee could trust and talk to because it has helped him get the support he needs to move forward.”
Jane saw an increase in her mentee’s confidence, and he was able to better articulate what was important to him going forward. With Janes encouragement, her mentee was able to identify fluency in English as a priority for him in obtaining a job, and he began to take the first steps in achieving this goal.
“I felt the young person’s confidence and their ‘can do’ approach improved. For example, they were confident going to the college for an ESOL assessment without additional support.”
What’s more, the personal benefits of volunteering as a mentor were significant for Jane. The mentoring experience gave her an opportunity to develop her coaching skills as well as handle safeguarding risks with support from the Ablaze team. She also expressed that it gave her an important insight into the reality of finding work as a young person in the current climate:
“I felt I learnt and understood a lot more about the struggles and challenges of younger people today. It is very different to what it was like for me. There are so many different hoops you have to jump through even for the most basic of jobs. The employment environment has really changed, it’s very competitive.”
“Overall, I think the programme is excellent, and I can see that without it, a lot of these young people could drop out, become very isolated and end up in dead ends or worse situations.”
Jane’s involvement in the programme and the support she’s given has been invaluable to her mentee, who completed a 2-week work placement at Nisbets and has started an ESOL English and maths course at SGS College. We are delighted to welcome Jane back as a mentor for our next round of the programme and to witness the transformative impact mentoring can have on another young person.
Find out more about our Employment & Skills Programme.
