"Knowing someone had my back, gave me the confidence to keep going."
Hear how Matheus’s mentor helped him revamp his CV to get senior position interviews…!
“I had just finished my first year studying Robotics Engineering at Middlesex University and started looking for an internship. I applied to over 70 companies and got no response. Imagine how downhearted I felt! Things were not getting off to a good start. I had very little support as my academic supervisor had to look at a large number of students in the department. I needed to look elsewhere. It was then that I got an email from my university careers service about a webinar on Graduate Mentor. I signed up for the event and then went onto the website afterwards to search for a mentor.
I had sessions with two brilliant mentors who helped with my CV and cover letter to apply for a three-month internship. What really stood out for me was the experience they had in their industry. There was no way I would be able to find these amazing mentors without Graduate Mentor. They really understood my situation and explained what I was going through was the same for everyone. Immediately I felt better – it was like a therapy session for me. Knowing someone had my back gave me so much more confidence to keep going.
I was now on the right path. After I had done my internship it then fed into my final year module choice and in May 2022, I graduated. Then the next step began to find a graduate job that was related to the software side of my degree. I checked in again with my mentors and I discovered something that changed my expectations. My mentor explained that it takes 12 months on average for a graduate to find a job. A lot longer than I thought but helped me realise I was on a longer journey than I initially thought. I have to admit that I had to dig deep to overcome rejections and keep focused on the end game. After I graduated and was already rejected from lots of jobs, two of which I got to the final stage after long interviews and was really expecting to get the job, I decided to take a vacation (which I still applied to jobs on the go). When I returned I went all in for three weeks solid applying for more jobs. This final burst of energy paid off and I have now secured my first permanent graduate job – and it took 7 months, less than the average that was given to me by my mentor. Thank you Graduate Mentor for helping my find such inspiring mentors in my niche and giving me the resilience to take my career to the next level.”
