The Oxford Brookes/OBREMS Mentoring Scheme 2024

 

The Mentoring Scheme Launch 2023

The Mentoring Scheme has been running for 12 years, successfully matching more than 900 students from the BSc Real Estate and the BSc Property Development and Planning with one of our alumni. That's a lot of networking. The Mentoring Scheme is managed jointly by OBREMS (our alumni association) and the School of the Built Environment and is open to second year students as well as students on the MSc Real Estate. In early February we will open applications to the OBREMS/OBU Mentoring Scheme 2024 for second year undergraduate students. Email rdixon@brookes.ac.uk if you would like to take part.

This year, the mentoring period for undergraduate students will start at the end of March 2024, with a launch event in central London on the evening of 20 March (6pm to 8pm). The launch event will include guest speakers and a chance for you to network and meet your mentor. There are a wide range of mentors who volunteer to take part, from recent graduates to CEOs - and a lot of our younger mentors took part in the Mentoring Scheme themselves when they were students. All our mentors are alumni of Oxford Brookes (Real Estate or Planning and Property Development) and are also volunteers - they give their time to the Mentoring Scheme free of charge. For 2024, we have asked all of our mentors to provide a short statement of their area of interest which should help you select your Mentor.

Feedback from students who are on the Mentoring Scheme this year:

• We had a virtual meeting where we went through my CV and did some interview prep. The discussions with my Mentor have been incredibly useful and have provided me with lots of insight on how to better my techniques in interviews. 
• I had a face to face meeting with my Mentor in London. Was really interesting to see the world in which he operates and his general advice has been very relevant to the thoughts I am having in regard to careers.
• We have communicated over email about application, CV's and cover letters, help which has been so useful.
• Our choice for communication is WhatsApp. We both felt it important to have a quick form of contact that is also informal.

Networking at the Launch in March 2023

Finally, please remember that if you sign up to the Mentoring Scheme you must be prepared to make use of your Mentor and initiate contact. Our Mentors sign up to the scheme as volunteers because they want to help and they enjoy being part of the scheme - when students sign up and then drop out, we end up with disappointed Mentors and a wasted opportunity for the student. There is a lot of help on offer and it's up to you to make good use of it.