Career Mentoring Program Brings Students and Alumni Together

On Thursday, October 23, 2019, The American University of Paris welcomed alumni and current students for the Career Mentoring Welcome Cocktail in the Omid & Gisel Kordestani Rooftop Conference Center on the 8th floor of AUP’s flagship building, the Quai d’Orsay Learning Commons.

For the second year in a row, the Career Mentoring Program is bringing AUP students and alumni together to form valuable mentor–mentee relationships, strengthening the bonds that exist between members of the AUP community. Over the course of the academic year, career mentors act as an important resource for students, helping them hone key professional skills such as goal setting, networking and CV writing. In turn, participating alumni have the chance to refine their mentoring skills and help build out AUP’s network of global professionals.

This year, the program boasts record numbers, with 92 students and 74 mentors taking part. Mentors are spread across six continents; attending students were excited that AUP’s alumni network could grant them such far-reaching connections.

As students and alumni got to know one another over a cocktail reception, Darcee Caron, Director of Experiential Learning at AUP, officially welcomed the group with a retrospective on her own experience as a mentee. She spoke about the value of having a mentor outside of your industry: Darcee’s mentor was a high-ranking official in Dow Chemical, while her career focus was higher education. She explained that mentors can do more than inform students about the daily experience of working in a certain job or industry: her mentor gave her crucial insight into how to deal with conflict resolution, managing her time and goals, and motivating her to make big strides in her career. Also present was trustee Christina Sandel de Labouchere ’86, who gave the evening’s closing remarks. She observed that, in a broader sense, networking is an opportunity to listen, understand and be kind to those we come in contact with.

At the end of the evening, students and alumni were invited to take out their phones and participate in a group quiz to see who knew the dos and don’ts of being a mentee or mentor. Navigating professional relationships isn’t always easy, but with the Career Mentoring Program off to such a great start, we’re sure that both our current students and our alumni will find the process immensely rewarding.

A big thank you to our wonderful mentors and mentees for making the night such a success. To learn more about the Career Mentoring Program, visit our website or contact alumniaup.edu.