Career Mentoring Morning

Speed Dating – Career Style

On the morning of Thursday 27 February, Fort Street’s Memorial Hall buzzed with the unmistakable energy of people genuinely connecting. Thirty-two alumni returned to their old school to sit across from small groups of Year 12 students and share something that no curriculum can fully teach: the honest, unvarnished story of a career.

The event, cheekily dubbed Speed Dating – Career Style, was organised jointly by the Fortians Union and the school – a first for both – and brought alumni together across five career streams: Law, Medicine, STEM, Business, and Creative. The structured, fast-rotating format gave students the chance to speak with multiple mentors throughout the morning, with each session running for around six to eight minutes.

To break the ice, each mentor’s name tag carried a personalised prompt: Ask me about… – followed by a word or two of their own choosing, giving students an immediate and natural entry point into conversation. When the formal session wrapped at 10:20 am, a number of mentors generously stayed through recess to keep chatting with students who still had questions.

Feedback from Year 12 was overwhelmingly positive. The vast majority said the morning had made them clearer about their career choices, and the call for the event to run every year was emphatic. The energy in the hall was described by mentors as genuinely exciting, with the small group format and quality of student engagement drawing particular praise.

A huge thank you to the Fortians Union and to the thirty-two alumni who gave up their morning to make this happen. Here’s hoping it becomes a fixture on the Fort Street calendar.

If you’re a Fortian yourself and would like to be part of events like this, the Fortians Union would love to hear from you. Membership details can be found at fortians.au/membership.