Mhairi Winters is a Distillery Manager for Gordon and MacPhail in Grantown-on-Spey. Becoming a Career Ready mentor proved to be rewarding and beneficial to her, as well as a life-changing experiencing for her mentee Jodie. This is her story.
“I think it’s so important that young people are able to get an insight into the world of work when they’re about to embark on their careers,” Mhairi says.
“To interact with people on a professional level and build key relationships, get an idea about what they might enjoy/not enjoy in a career, identify their strengths and things they can work on. I wanted to be part of something which helped bring these experiences to young people.”
Becoming a mentor
Mhairi first met her mentee Jodie last year at the Career Ready launch event in Moray, and the two have gone on to build a strong relationship.
“The mentoring aspect of the Career Ready program is really valuable in my opinion,” she says.
“The young person is able to build a relationship with an adult who is not their family, not their teacher and from whom they can get advice, work through things that may be troubling them, and the mentor can help open doors that they would otherwise not have access to.
“I hope I have helped my mentee think about her future and the path she would need to take to get there, but also know that its ok not to have everything figured out just now.”
A boost in confidence
As part of the programme, in summer 2024, Jodie joined Mhairi for a four-week paid internship with Gordon and MacPhail – and saw her grow in confidence throughout the experience.
“My mentee suffered from a lack of confidence in her ability and quality of her work,” Mhairi says. “I believe that the internship boosted her confidence with the implementation of some of her ideas, and that she was trusted to make decisions.”
A positive impact for the mentor, too
The experience also helped Mhairi to develop her own skills.
“The Career Ready program has allowed me to build on my mentoring skills in a new way and utilise the skills I have gained working with young people in Girlguiding for many years,” she says.
“It was an opportunity to bring those two things together for the benefit of our young people, who ultimately are the workforce of the future and, in turn, will benefit businesses in the years to come.”
As well as giving Jodie valuable work experience, the internship also gave Mhairi new opportunities to connect with colleagues and build relationships.
“Organising the internship and the supervision of Jodie meant I had interactions with colleagues in areas of the business that I wouldn’t have ordinarily dealt with,” she explains.
“I also spent a lot more time at our Elgin site, in the open plan office, and feel like I built up some relationships that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. We were also able to showcase Career Ready to our exec team.”
Watching Jodie flourish
“Seeing Jodie give her final presentation with such confidence, taking on board some advice and comments from colleagues at an earlier presentation, and her being able to highlight the fact that we had already implemented two of her ideas during her internship was such a rewarding moment,” says Mhairi.
“Career Ready is a really enjoyable experience. You get to build up a great relationship with the young person and watch them flourish.”
