As an opportunity to provide the region’s engineering students with project management, teamwork and leadership experience, IET Victoria, Australia launched a Young Professionals Section (YPS) leadership programme.

 

The brainchild of long-term IET Victoria committee member Denise Lam, the YPS leadership programme was launched this summer at the State Library in Melbourne, Australia. Running between six to eight months, participants are paired with a mentor from the YPS committee and develop their soft skills whilst helping to organise and run events for the YPS of IET Victoria, Australia.

 

The aim is to see the students learn the skills necessary to successfully manage projects and how to apply them to their studies, but also hopefully bring fresh blood onto the committee.

 

YPS succession planning

“From the committee's perspective, an important focus of the programme is about succession planning, by immersing the students in an IET volunteering situation and hopefully retaining some of them as permanent committee members,” says Rowan Pattieson, YPS chairperson. “Of course, there are many other important focus points, such as the mentoring, where the existing committee members are available to discuss and advise the mentees on any questions they may have about their studies, careers, or any professional-related matters,” he notes.

 

Developing the YPS leadership programme

Lam had identified the issue of succession planning and having run a successful mentoring program for IET Victoria many years ago, developed the initial proposal, scope and timeline for the programme.

 

“The programme came about from the need to recruit more volunteers to the YPS committee, particularly current university students; engaging with students is one of our primary methods of establishing and maintaining relationships within our local universities,” she explains.

 

“The YPS committee has been focused for the last year on developing its succession planning, with a strategy that can be improved over time and reused throughout future committees.

 

“Early attempts at recruitment events were not very successful, with the feedback from students suggesting that they were reluctant to volunteer without a clear indication of what they would be doing. A more structured programme, where the volunteer activities would be outlined upfront, would remove this barrier to volunteering,” she notes.

 

As the idea progressed, the entire YPS committee became involved due to its critical importance to its ongoing success, with the more experienced committee members taking on mentoring roles, while the newer committee members handled the logistics of the programme.

 

An open invitation

Information on the programme was sent out to students via email and online interest in the programme was overwhelming. The committee received 53 applications and the top 16 applicants were chosen for its inaugural year.

 

“Applicants were asked questions about why they wanted to participate in the programme and what would make a good committee member. Successful applicants were selected based on the amount of thought that went into their answers, as well as their written communication skills,” Lam notes.

 

What the YPS leadership programme entails

Now well underway, Lam highlights what the programme entails.

 

“The programme has a number of components,” she notes. “The students attend several formal meetings throughout the programme. At these meetings, a presentation is delivered by a committee member about either the IET and its activities, or guidance on organising events and activities, such as task management, scheduling, and budgeting.

 

“The programme participants are also expected to contribute to the IET by helping to organise the PATW competitions, first for the Victoria LN, and then for Australia as a whole.

 

“The participants are divided into groups and each group is assigned a mentor from the committee. The mentor's role is to guide the participants through their tasks for the PATW finals, as well as to act as a general mentor by sharing advice on their career experiences,” she continues.

 

“Finally the students will also be required to come up with their own idea for an IET event or activity and to flesh that idea into a proposal document. These will be assessed at the end of the programme, and the authors of the winning proposal will be awarded a cash prize of $500.”

 

Feedback from those taking part

The lucky students like mentee Ariba Siddiqi feel honoured to have been chosen, and as she highlights, believe taking part will greatly help their career prospects.

 

“The leadership programme is an important initiative for several reasons. It can be viewed as a bridge for students completing their studies and gaining work experience, as it presents plenty of opportunities to network with the industry, and as a part of the IET YPS committee, you have an extra advantage amongst other students.

 

“The programme also enables young professionals like us to gain and improve our soft skills that may not have been taught during the studies. Moreover, the programme gets you in touch with existing engineers who can advice young engineers on their careers,” she notes.

 

“The programme provides a vital skills development opportunity for students,” agrees mentor Simon Rodgers. “It gives students real world responsibility for a small part of a big problem, in a similar way to how most workplaces operate.

 

“It’s an excellent opportunity for people like me to show young professionals how exciting and fulfilling a career in engineering can be.  By participating, I will learn to be a better mentor and will have given something back to engineering,” he adds.

 

Sharing the idea with fellow IET volunteers

Clearly feedback from the students has been positive and the committee now hopes to run the programme every couple of years in order to keep bringing onboard new talent.

 

“Hopefully some of the participants this time around will be mentors in the future,” Lam notes.

 

The committee has also been sharing the concept with fellow YPS volunteers and is hoping to spread its use far and wide across the organisation.

 

“As part of the recent YP Training Workshop preceding the 2013 Asia-Pacific Community Volunteer Conference, Steven Mah, student recruitment and retention campaign ambassador for Victoria, delivered a presentation on the leadership programme to representatives from all local networks (LNs) in Australia and New Zealand,” says Pattieson.

 

“Early feedback from this suggests that many of these LNs are now considering implementing similar programs within their own networks,” he concludes.

 

(Article written by Keri Allan)