The Guild is growing; over the last few months, we have welcomed more than 20 new members, among them journalists, authors, editors, bloggers, marketeers and PRs.
Several of them are associate members, a category of membership introduced last year as a way of giving those who are new to beer writing or communication a way of being part of the Guild, while developing their knowledge and skills.
The Guild has always been supportive of emerging writers as ‘old hands’ help younger members. We’d like to add a bit of structure to this informal support network, by offering every new associate member a mentor who can offer them help and advice. Could you be one of these mentors?
There isn’t an exact job description and we expect the role to vary according to the needs of each new member. It’s about being available to your mentee – by phone, email or face-to-face – and helping them to improve their skills. Advice can be general – we don’t expect you to share all those commissioning editor contacts you’ve spent years nurturing! – but it needs to be directional enough to be helpful.
Although we think mentors will be of most value to associate members, we can also see instances where existing full members could benefit from time with another member, perhaps if they need to learn about a new discipline.
We think to be a valuable mentor, you will need to have been a member of the Guild for at least five years. You should commit to being a mentor for at least one year, and although we can’t offer any fee, we will reimburse reasonable expenses, if you, for example, meet your mentee for a beer now and again.
We’re looking for mentors across the breadth of disciplines represented by our members; not just writers, but bloggers, broadcasters, marketeers, PRs and photographers. If you’re interested in becoming a mentor, please email secretary@beerguild.co.uk to volunteer or to find out more.