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Speed Mentoring generates enthusiasm

WiRE’s speed mentoring session at the APPrO 2019 conference attracted more than 60 participants including 40 mentors and 20 mentees. Mentors joined from diverse sectors across the energy industry, including the IESO, Potentia Renewables, Sussex Strategy, OPG, Plug’N Drive, and others. WiRE volunteers Roya Rahnejat and Haida Liu organized and ran the speed mentoring event.

Since 2015, Women in Renewable Energy (WiRE) has partnered with APPrO to run a speed mentoring session as part of APPrO’s annual conference. The goal of the speed mentoring session initiative is to connect students and young professionals (mentees) with industry professionals (mentors). The session runs for about an hour and includes small group discussion where one mentor is paired with 2-3 mentees. Every ten minutes, the mentees switch and connect with a new mentor. The students and young professionals get to learn about different sectors within the energy industry, expand their network and potentially find internships and full-time job opportunities. For mentors, it is an opportunity to exchange knowledge and insight, share their career story, and also to recruit potential talent for their companies.

Over the years, the feedback received from the speed mentoring participants has been extremely positive and WiRE notes that it uses this feedback to improve its programs. Comments from 2019 participants included the following:

• “I appreciated the great info you shared before the event and how well the event was run. I thought the time allotted with each mentor was a great balance between giving enough time to connect and being able to meet many people. Also, the two-minute warning was perfect to allow time to ask for a card or get that last question in.”

• “Meeting professionals and get suggestions from them for building my future career. There were a wide variety professionals, so got different aspect of different area I am interested in.”

• “What I enjoyed and the most beneficial aspect for me was the networking part of it with potentiality of advancing my career!”

• “The diversity in the mentors; they all came from different backgrounds of renewable energy.”

• “I really appreciated the chance to speak with the mentors (and the other mentees) and the opportunity to get a taste of the conference at the follow up networking event.”