Mentoring opportunities from ICAS
ICAS offers three mentoring programmes that are designed to work with all ages and stages of life.
ICAS Career Mentoring
ICAS Career Mentoring is the only global, virtual career mentoring programme, for professional accountancy associations in the world. It creates global career conversations for CAs by CAs and presents a unique opportunity to help shape the careers of other members.
Mentoring is a vital activity for all stages of your career, so with that in mind we have removed all associated costs for members to ensure everyone can receive fair access to this progressive programme. Over 1300 members are accessing the programme, and over 750 are signed up; a quarter of ICAS mentors are based internationally.
The programme has been structured to complement and enhance your organisation’s existing mentoring initiatives and uniquely offers mentees the choice to engage with the most appropriate mentor available, from the industry of their choice. It’s helpful to speak to someone who doesn’t know you and can offer a fresh perspective on your career as they see it.
Mentoring for ICAS Foundation students
This scheme offers individuals the unique opportunity to build a professional relationship with an inspirational and enthusiastic CA who is passionate about supporting academically-talented young people to enter into a career in accountancy or finance.
The ICAS Foundation supports young people from disadvantaged communities who wish to go to university to study accountancy or a finance related degree. The foundation’s aim is to help students overcome particular financial barriers that would otherwise deter them from entering university.
Each recipient of an ICAS Foundation bursary is automatically enrolled in the ICAS Foundation mentoring scheme.
The Foundation is currently supporting 70 young people and this number will increase to approximately 100 when future bursaries are awarded. We are recruiting CAs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Stirling and Birmingham to volunteer their time and experience to help a young person get their foot on the ladder. For more information, visit the foundation page.
Business Mentoring
A pilot programme in 2015 revealed that mentoring by a CA was highly valued by businesses and rewarding for the CA. The success led to the establishment of our business mentoring scheme; we work with external organisations such as the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and Entrepreneurial Spark to match CA mentors with businesses across Scotland and England. We can also identify international contacts for members overseas (currently via Scottish Enterprise).
Business mentoring enables our members to help early-stage businesses grow and thrive, through assessment of business needs and guidance for priorities. This is an opportunity to give something back and help improve the chances of success for a business.
CAs have a wealth of experience in business and finance. Professional experience is varied, but our current mentors are a mix of senior CAs in business or practice, consultants, investors, directors, non-executive directors or those who have set-up their own business.