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Mentoring for success – Triangle tech executives seek to give back

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Editor’s note: This is the third “Executive Insight” column, a weekly feature for Local Tech Wire as part of its partnership with the Triangle Technology Executives Council and MMI Public Relations.

By Bill Crosscup, Special to Local Tech Wire

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, .N.C. - As part of the Triangle Technology Executives Council’s mission, we have developed a unique mentoring program for university students in the Research Triangle Park region. Our mentoring program utilizes TTEC’s members as mentors and pairs them with university students in the area.

TTEC’s mentoring program gives students a unique opportunity to gain guidance and advice from experienced executives in the technology industry. The program helps students prepare for successful starts in their careers.

Mentors – Mentees: Areas of Focus

TTEC members are paired with students based on the students’ career goals and current experience as described in their LinkedIn profiles. Mentors and mentees meet once every two weeks, face-to-face or via phone to discuss topics including:

• Career Guidance – advice concerning career paths and opportunities
• Resume Review – constructive feedback for effective resume preparation
• Interview Process – practice interviews to provide guidance for effective techniques as an interviewee
• Networking – insight in networking with other business leaders in the student’s field of interest

How Students Become Involved In Mentoring Program

Students who wish to participate in the TTEC mentoring process can do so online through LinkedIn. Interested students should create a LinkedIn profile that emphasizes their career interests. This is key in matching the appropriate mentor with each student. The student must then request to join the “TTEC LinkedIn” group. Students are accepted based upon their activity in their scholastic programs and the completeness of their LinkedIn profiles. The program selects students on a first-come-first-serve basis, so interested students should apply early.

TTEC Executive Speaker Program

As part of the TTEC mentoring program, we provide volunteer guest speakers to present to university students in our area. To date, TTEC has presented to students on approximately 20 occasions and is currently planning a career panel discussion at each of the local universities.

Monthly TTEC Networking Opportunities

Students enrolled in the mentoring program are invited to attend selected TTEC meetings to benefit from guest speakers and panel discussions on topics critical to technology executives in our area. Recent topics for discussion have included cloud computing, SaaS, security and unified communications. Students benefit from networking with top technology executives in the RTP area both before and after the presentations.

Two-Way Value Proposition

We established this mentoring program in 2008 to help not only university students, but also our members. The students benefit by receiving guidance and counseling from the area’s top technology executives, while members get to meet the “best and brightest” students at our local universities. The mentoring program provides our members with a first-hand look at the upcoming talent pool.

Current Successes

TTEC has expanded its mentoring program’s reach to more students in the area. We are currently working with Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University’s Advanced Analytics students. We held our first mentoring meeting at NCSU in mid-August and introduced the mentoring program to about 45 students in the Advanced Analytics Masters Program. The class showed great interest, and most have already applied for acceptance into the mentoring program.

Currently, 45 TTEC members have volunteered to be mentors, and we are in the process of matching mentors with mentees.

To ensure the program’s continued success, TTEC and our partner universities will provide semiannual evaluations to discuss ways of improving the program for students involved.

Any IT executives in the RTP area who are not members of TTEC but are interested in becoming a part of the council and its mentoring program should contact our president, John Crites, at jcrites@ncttec.net. TTEC is a wonderful way to give back to the RTP community.

About the author: Bill Crosscup has more than 25 years of experience in IT as a vice president of development and support. He has worked at several companies in the United States, India and Indonesia. Most recently he was vice president of development and support for Fidelity Investments Web Content Management Product.

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