Last week, Ladder Step Up Latrobe Valley Program 20 participants and Alumni travelled to Melbourne to attend a Group Mentoring Day with our fantastic group of volunteers from ANZ.

The Group Mentoring Day ran for four hours and was action packed with ANZ volunteers providing real-time advice and guidance to program participants on all things careers. The main sessions delivered by ANZ included goal setting, preparing for employment and the day was finished off with mock interviews.

Each young person pre-prepared answers with their ANZ mentor for their upcoming mock interviews and were given tips on how to best present themselves in an interview setting. Each young person also spoke with their ANZ mentor about the long-term goals that they set for themselves. They also identified shorter-term goals to achieve, that would help them work towards achieving their end goals. 

The ANZ mentors shared their personal career stories and the “take home message” throughout the day was “It’s okay to not know what you want to do, just give everything your best and don’t be afraid to try new things”.

The young people were very grateful for the one-on-one support given by the ANZ mentors and really enjoyed their session.

“Something I took away from the day was to find a job that aligns with your natural passions. It helped me realise that what you want to do and what you enjoy doing as just a pastime can be more linked to employment than you thought” – Sam, program participant

Ladder CEO, Stephanie De Campo said of the partnership with ANZ

A unique part of Ladder’s program delivery is the networks and opportunities we can open to our young people. Our fantastic supporters at ANZ have been working with Ladder through Group Mentoring and fundraising since 2018 and we are truly grateful for this support. What sets aside our volunteers at ANZ is the way in which they approach these activities and their abundance of commitment to assist program participants to achieve their goals.