Shaping destiny without realising it

[Tuumble]

This week has seen the culmination of a set of circumstances that has enabled someone to take their first formative steps in their career in part through decisions I have made personally.

At the end of last year I decided to start a marketing and communications blog, mostly for my own sake and partly as a front to a freelance business. In doing this I came to the attention of a second year journalism student who approached me for an internship with 'my company'.

When I received the letter (and resumé) I just laughed as it seemed absurd that someone would think that my blog represented a business that could offer such a placement. I began writing an email to thank him for his interest but that I'd be unable to help and then I stopped. Could I assist him another way?

I wrote another email to my boss stating I'd had contact from this student and that I felt that he'd be a good person to have on board during the summer because it would help us decide if we needed someone in a similar role full-time. We'd be basically helping each other.

The boss agreed this was a good idea and asked for him to contact him direct which he duly did. He came to the office, we both liked him and it was decided that we should offer him a three month contract. Yesterday was his first day.

This set me thinking about the chain of events that led him here. If I hadn't started that blog he'd never have known about me or the business so we wouldn't have been able to offer him the placement. Even if I had started the blog, I'd still have to have the mindset of thinking how I could help him rather than taking his approach at face level. There is always an opportunity to be expoited somehwere along the line.

I'm providing a kind of mentor role for him which I would like to think will stand him in good stead with his journalism career. I'm sure he'd have found alternative employment as he's a bright lad but it's nice to know I've played a part in his development.

The other side of the coin I had a second person looking for a placement through my blog but despite following a similar process they weren't as suitable for the role. How will employing one person over another affect their respective careers. We'll never know.

This apart, this is a great opportunity for me to grow personally and I've enjoyed the mentoring so far and he's clearly enjoying it. You should've seen his face when I told him I wanted him to write some articles for the company magazine.