Media Society Update: our Mentoring Scheme

Here's the third post in this week's series of Media Society LinkedIn updates. This update is from Susan Morton, director of our Mentoring Scheme, and Vice President of the Media Society.

The Media Society Mentoring Scheme

Supporting the next generation should be about more than good intentions. Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is simply share what we know, offer perspective, or help someone find their next step.

That is the thinking behind the Media Society’s new Mentoring Scheme: putting the experience, knowledge and connections within our community to practical use for people building their careers in media.

Launched in June after months of applications, interviews and careful matching, we deliberately chose to keep the first year small. Our original target was 10 mentor and mentee pairs. The response meant we expanded our first cohort to 15 pairs, bringing together 30 people from across the media industry.

Our mentors include established journalists, editors, broadcasters, producers, communications leaders and coaches, all willing to share their experience and help someone else navigate an industry they know well.

Our mentees come from a similarly broad range of backgrounds and career stages, with ambitions spanning journalism, broadcasting, communications, production and digital media. What they share is curiosity and a desire to keep learning and adapting.

Considerable thought has gone into each pairing. Rather than simply matching job titles or sectors, we have looked at what each mentee wants to achieve and where a mentor’s experience and perspective could make the greatest difference.

And we are already seeing the positive impact that a well-matched mentoring relationship can have.

One of this year’s mentees, James Evenden, who has been paired with journalist and author Joshua Nelken-Zitser, recently wrote on LinkedIn:

“Already, Josh has given me confidence and guidance as I continue the early stages of my career.”

That one sentence captures much of what we hoped the scheme would achieve.

For The Media Society, this is also about making good use of what we already have. For more than 50 years, the Society has brought together people from across the media. As a charity, we want to share that collective knowledge and experience with the people who will help shape the industry’s future.

And one-to-one mentoring is only the beginning.

The programme is developing to include workshops, peer support, masterclasses and an in-person event, giving mentees the chance to learn from the wider Media Society community as well as from their individual mentor.

The scheme is supported by the highly experienced former BBC journalist and executive coach Sue Ellis.

If you would like to become a mentor or mentee in the future, please visit our mentoring page.

Susan Morton
Director, Media Society Mentoring Scheme and Vice President of the Media Society