A struggle the youth of today face is that they want to stand out. “If everyone’s wearing red, we want to wear a different colour,” said Ms Gauri Bhargava, 15. She was one of the mentees who attended the launch of the Tata-PA Youth Career Exploration & Mentorship Programme.
Ms Gauri, a student at Cedar Girls’ secondary school, had raised a question on how the youth can better stand out to companies during the fireside chat segment of the launch event, which took place on July 19, at Heartbeat@Bedok.
The chat was moderated by Mr Mohamed Irshad, head of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) corporate affairs for ASEAN and featured a panel that included Mr Girish Ramachandran, president of growth markets at TCS.
“What really stands out is what you’ve done differently in your day-to-day lives. Trekking in the Himalayas, for example. You learn a lot from it,” Mr Girish responded.
But his main advice to young people is to learn how to collaborate. “One person cannot do it all,” he said.
Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Digital Development and Information, and the Ministry of Health, was the guest of honour who officially launched the mentorship programme.
This initiative by the Tata Group aims to empower more than 60 youths aged 15 to 25 through career exploration opportunities and personalised mentorship in collaboration with the People’s Association.
The three-month programme will run from August to October, with bi-weekly sessions held every other Saturday. It will include visits to the Tata Group of companies in Singapore for real-world exposure and to explore the various roles within the Tata ecosystem.
In his opening speech at the event, Mr Rahul Shah, resident director of Tata Sons for ASEAN highlighted that about two-thirds of the profits earned by the Tata Group companies go towards philanthropic work. The group’s revenue for the 2024 financial year was US$165 billion (S$210 billion).
Each mentee was matched with a mentor from across these companies, namely Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Communications, Tata Chemicals, Air India, Tanishq, Titan, Tata Capital and Bombay Brasserie.
The mentees met their mentors for the first time during the event. Ms Gauri, for instance, was paired with Ms Shveta Bhardwaj, 42, head of sustainability services at TCS for Asia-Pacific.
When asked what their first impressions were of each other, Ms Gauri said, “I feel like I can connect and be myself with her, we have a lot of similarities.”
Ms Shveta hopes to instil in Ms Gauri adaptability, open-mindedness and patience – soft skills that to her are essential in today’s corporate workplace.
“She (Ms Gauri) is absolutely lovely. That energy, her confidence and optimism, is already transferred to me,” Ms Shveta said.
Likewise, she hopes to gain a refreshed worldview through her mentee’s perspective. “I consider this mentorship a two-way exchange. It’s an opportunity for me to learn as well,” she added.
