Mary Paulson-Ellis
I have been asked to join the Napier University Employer Mentoring Programme for 2015/16.
In May, I took part in a short session for undergraduate students from Edinburgh’s Napier University who wanted to know more about how to pursue a freelance career in the creative industries. There were five of us freelancers altogether and we spun our way around the room between groups of film, English and creative writing students as though we were all speed dating. It was fun, but short lived.
Since then, I have been asked to join the Napier Employer Mentoring Programme, where employers (or in my case freelancers) are matched with individual students to help them negotiate their first steps towards the work place in their chosen field. Not just one date this time, but several over the course of a year.
From September I will be working with a 4th year undergraduate English student to support her as she contemplates a career within the arts. I can’t wait to be able to offer up some of the experience and advice I have been lucky enough to receive throughout a varied and eclectic career myself.