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Commitment and expectations as a Mentor

Your role as a mentor will be to use your skills, experience and knowledge to support a student as they make key decisions about their life and career. This may include offering advice, support, answering questions and working with your mentee on specific tasks related to their employability.

What to expect

After completing an initial application form your suitability will be assessed by the mentoring coordinator within Career Development Services.  Training and a comprehensive resources pack will be provided, prior to the matching process, to build your knowledge of the programme and the mentoring process.  

You will be matched with a student who has career interests either directly in the field in which you are working or where the student may benefit from your knowledge and experience.

The student is expected to enter the mentoring partnership with clear objectives and ideas of how they hope to benefit from the scheme. You will be able to agree with the student the different ways in which you may help them achieve these objectives. For example, this may be in the form of talking to them about your career progression, current responsibilities, insights into your industry and advice on how to prepare for the world of work. Although not guaranteed, past mentors have occasionally offered “work shadowing” or introduced their mentee to a network of useful contacts.

Your commitment

The commitment level is intentionally NOT onerous and we simply ask that as a mentor you commit to the following:

1. Attendance at an Induction Training Session which will cover an introduction to the scheme, skills for mentors and experiences of past mentors.  This will be delivered in a group or one-to-one setting, appropriate to your needs.
2. A minimum of four, one-hour meetings with your mentee during a period of four-six months. Many mentors in the past have voluntarily exceeded this minimum commitment, but it is up to you and your mentee to negotiate convenient times of when and for how long you meet.
3. Attendance at a “Reflection and Evaluation” event to recognise progress and achievement and to consider future recommendations for the scheme.

Support is available for mentors via Career Development Services and you will be given a lead contact for any queries or support needs that you have throughout the mentoring partnership. 

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