Career Mentoring

We are no longer accepting applications to become a mentor through the Career Mentoring programme for the 2023-24 academic year. However, if you wish to be notified about any future opportunities to mentor a University of Manchester student, email us at mentoring@manchester.ac.uk, and we will contact you when we are recruiting our next cohort of mentors.

We are delighted to announce that the Careers Service are relaunching our Career Mentoring programme for the 2023-24 academic year.

The mentoring programme will match industry professionals with 1st and 2nd year undergraduate students at the University of Manchester to support them with career planning, decision making, and preparing for their next steps after university.

The programme will run from February to June 2024, and will be hosted on the Mentorloop mentoring platform, where you will be matched with your mentee and can message and schedule meetings with them. Mentors will be required to attend or watch a one-hour training session during week commencing 29th January 2024 before they are invited to register on the platform and be matched with a mentee.

We expect the time commitment to be a minimum of six hours across the programme; four meetings lasting 60 to 90 minutes each. However, you may meet more or less depending on your availability and how often your mentee wishes to meet.

If you have any issues or any further questions, please contact mentoring@manchester.ac.uk.

If you are a student who is looking to be mentored by a Career Mentor, please visit our student website for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I apply to be a mentor?

Navigating the opportunities open to students when they leave the University of Manchester can be overwhelming, especially for those students who don’t have established networks to draw on.

We know that mentoring is personally rewarding but mentors also benefit in many other ways too:

  • Support a current student in exploring options and successfully preparing for their future.
  • Develop your own skillset including active listening, coaching.
  • Raise the profile of your organisation and identify potential talent.
  • Get closer to those soon to enter the job market, gain fresh perspectives/understanding.
  • Reflect on your own journey, realise how far you have come/how much you have learned.

Am I suitable to be a mentor?

We have a diverse range of students who are interested in a range of sectors and roles, and so we encourage mentors from a range of backgrounds, and at various points in their personal career development to apply to be a mentor. Training and support will be offered to both you and your mentee, so don’t be deterred if this is your first experience of mentoring.

We are particularly looking for mentors who are from, or have experience supporting people from underrepresented groups, with a particular focus on care experienced and estranged, disabled, and Black heritage students. If you feel that you would be particularly able to support people from these backgrounds, we strongly encourage you to apply to be a mentor.

How will I be matched with a mentee?

When you are invited to register for Mentorloop we will ask a number of questions about your experience and what skills you are able to support a mentee with. Based upon this information, we will then try and match you with an appropriate mentee. Please bear in mind that we may not be able to ensure a perfect match between mentor and mentee, however we aim to match mentees with mentors who share some commonalities, and to match you with a student who we feel you will be able to support effectively. Even if you may not be in the ideal role or sector that your mentee is interested in, we hope that you will still be able to support your mentee and share career insights that will aid in their career planning.

I’m not based in Manchester; can I still be a mentor?

The mentoring relationship will be facilitated through the mentoring platform Mentorloop. You may not be in the same city, or even the same country as your mentee, and so there is the option to conduct the mentoring relationship entirely online. However, if you both live in the same city and wish to meet in person, this is something you can decide with your mentee.

How will the mentoring relationship work?

We recommend that you aim to meet a minimum of four times with your mentee across the mentoring relationship, although if you are able to meet more frequently and your mentee wishes to, we encourage to do so. In the meetings, your mentee will discuss their career aspirations, and your role as a mentor is to utilise your skills and experience to help them to identify and break down goals with your mentee for them to work on in between meetings.

What support will be available to me?

The mentoring team will be monitoring progress and feedback to ensure that your mentoring relationship is going smoothly. If we identify that your relationship may be stalling, we will reach out to you and your mentee to check in with you and see if there is any further support we can offer.

We also plan on conducting drop-in sessions both online and in-person where you can flag up any issues you may be having in your mentoring relationship. Further details will be confirmed in due course.

You can also contact us at mentoring@manchester.ac.uk if you have any further questions.