Now our 2018-19 mentoring scheme is well underway (see our welcome briefing held in June), we thought we would share what past mentees identified as the best take-aways from taking part in the scheme.

As part of our pioneer survey (see here), we asked what was the best lesson they learnt on our mentoring scheme. This is what they said:

1. ‘Don’t be afraid to take a leap and put yourself forward for things. Resulted in working in DC on US elections.’

2. ‘… it gave me a solid connection to an experienced journalist in the news industry.’

3. ‘To network all the time, you never know when those connections will come in handy.’

4. ‘Try everything – be a reporter, producer, director, researcher. Then decide what fits.’

5. ‘The ability to succeed and go far in this job is very achievable. That lesson gave me confidence in my role, and my ambition.’

6. ‘It’s important to have a work life balance and don’t let your work consume you. It made me more aware of spending time on the stories which enriched my life and led me to doing more solutions-based journalism.’

7. ‘To be bold and take initiative when it comes to owning stories.’

8. ‘To not be afraid to try things I hadn’t done before, which led to me getting work in TV for the first time.’

9. ‘To hold to my instincts when I find a good lead or story and exercise independence in following-up.’

10. ‘Seeing other newsrooms and getting a feel ofth e options out there for me.’