Mentoring

As a Mentor you are to offer guidance, support and form a positive one-to-one relationship with mentees, who may experience difficulty when it comes to advancing in their careers.

Mentors will provide complementary learning alongside guidance in order to fulfil their potential. The mentor’s role is to provide support to the mentee to enable them to take responsibility for areas of professional development. The mentor is there to help improve the career advancement of the mentee by creating a supportive, challenging, and reflective learning environment.

Main tasks and responsibilities.

• To liaise with the Employability Mentoring Project Officer to identify an appropriate mentee to work with.
• To provide a safe space in which mentees can talk about a particular issue around employment and career goals.
• To build an effective short-term relationship with a mentee.
• To plan mentoring sessions with mentee in advance where the mentee brings their agenda to be discussed.
• Listen to and help mentees to identify and address barriers to their employability.
• To offer perspective, drawing on own experience in applying for and working in roles in industries.
• To work with the mentee, set and monitor agreed goals in line with the mentees employability.
• To keep effective written records of meetings using the forms provided and undertake relevant evaluations.

Due to the nature of our group where we work closely with vulnerable women we will be considering female applicants only for this role.

Benefits to the volunteer

• Opportunity to gain experience and develop communication and interpersonal skills.

What skills do I need?

Skills, attributes, experience and qualifications

•  Knowledge and experience of how to network and develop contacts.
• Knowledge and experience of building supportive relationships.
• The skill of being able to question and challenge constructively.
• To work to and respect confidentiality.
• Ability to identify and address barriers to progression.
•  Ability to use one’s own perspective professionally.
• Planning and organisational skills.
• Skills/ ability to learn to sett goals and record keeping.
• You must be over the age of 20+ 
  

When do I need to be available?

Details

Depending on your availability, however, we would like you to be able to commit to meeting the women you will be befriending at least once a month. But you should also keep in contact with your mentees on a regularly basis. This could be done by meting up in person such as going to cafes, or communicating via email, phone calls/texts etc.