National Mentoring Month 2022: Dipen Vanmali - Associate Building Surveyor

How long have you been a mentor and how many people have you mentored?

I’ve been a mentor for approximately 6 years, and I’m proud to have mentored many colleagues at Pick Everard and outside of the business during this time.

What made you want to become a mentor?

Mentoring provides a huge amount of personal satisfaction knowing that you’ve contributed towards engaging with and assisting the individual. During my APC I was mentored by senior colleagues and consider it is very important to give back to others.

Why is National Mentoring Month important?

As it provides an amount of focussed time for all so that we can successfully contribute towards the individual’s professional, as well as personal, goals. Particularly in the construction industry it is essential that we attract and retain diverse talent from all backgrounds and provide positive encouragement. We regularly attend Universities throughout the country to talk to students, provide hints and tips on interview procedures, graduate applications, and identify support networks that are available to them.

What makes mentorship at Pick Everard unique?

Our people and the investment of time we are making into an individual’s careers. Due to the diverse workload there are often opportunities available for junior colleagues to shadow senior colleagues on projects, which I know is not always available at all practices. Ensuring the support is there whether this be via sharing of APC information via Teams, holding regular mock interviews, regular 1-2-1’s and ensuring monthly meetings are planned and held.

Why do you and many others also mentor outside of our business?

In order to change a person’s life for the better and in some way successfully contribute towards this. I’ve recently become a STEM Ambassador, which is a great way to engage with young people focussing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Along with fellow STEM Ambassadors from Pick Everard, we quite often attend events at Schools and Colleges in order to provide support for teachers and young individuals.

How has the significance of mentoring changed since the start of the pandemic?

Generally, it has become more challenging as attendance to some virtual events isn’t always possible, compared to when you may be in a classroom or lecture hall environment. My thoughts are mentoring in person is much better as you are able to engage with the audience more and have much better open and collaborative discussions with many individuals, which is not always easy to do via virtual platforms.

What has been your most recent mentoring success?

Most recently having an active role in assisting colleagues at our Leicester office in becoming Chartered professionals. Their hard work, dedication, and willingness to succeed has now resulted in them gaining MRICS status which is a fantastic achievement!

Secondly, in 2019 being shortlisted for the RICS Matrics Mentor of the Year Award, which was great to be recognised by the RICS judging panel at a national level.

As a mentor, what is one piece of advice you always give mentees?

Focus on what you want, put the hard work in and give it your best.

Why do you think it’s important to ensure Pick Everard has a robust mentoring programme?

To attract and retain the best talent the market has to offer. Through the hard work of many, we are proud to have assisted colleagues throughout the business successfully gain MRICS status and become Chartered professionals. By investing our time the programme continues to be a success and we can clearly demonstrate to colleagues and students that Pick Everard is a great place to work.