Bruce Gillingham Pollard have always been at the forefront of nurturing their young team and when MD Tracey Pollard was asked to participate in the Mentoring Circle, she said yes immediately. We talk to founder Vanessa Murray prior to the official launch on International Women’s day, about why she felt that despite an increase in women in all sectors of the property market a mentoring programme was still required.

What made you start up Mentoring Circle?

Over the last few years I have worked with some really brilliant young women who don’t recognise their own strengths and are poor at promoting their own interests. This is a recurring theme that I really wanted to tackle given the lack of women in senior leadership positions in the industry. There are mentoring schemes already in existence but they tend to be for school children or focussed on mid level professionals who already have a network to lean on. I decided to set up my own scheme Mentoring Circle which partners senior female professionals with young women in the industry who have a maximum of 18 months PQE. The scheme is free, cross sector and designed as a career ‘kick start’.

There are a wide range of mentors from different sectors of the property industry, what are you hoping they will be able to offer potential candidates?

It’s really important that we collaborate as an industry particularly considering the similar challenges we are all facing. Young mentees will typically be working in specific areas of property. Exposing them to expertise outside of their direct sphere will broaden and contextualise their understanding of the industry. Most importantly, access to senior level professionals at these key developmental stages has the ability to make a really positive impact to the future careers of our mentees. As women working in an industry where this is still a disparity at top level, there is a great opportunity here to close that gap.

Why should someone apply, what do you think they will get out of mentoring?

It would be easier for me to ask that question in reverse! Who wouldn’t want to be partnered with an inspirational woman for a free quarterly mentoring session over the course of 12 months? Not only do mentees benefit from valuable mentoring with a top level professional, but they benefit from our guest speaking events which tackle broader issues like public speaking, leadership, imposter syndrome and many more. We are also holding networking events over the course of the year which mentees are required to attend to help them build their own professional network.

LinkedIn: Mentoring Circle

Instagram: @mentoringcircle