Career Mentoring

We are now gathering expressions of interest to be a mentor with the University of Manchester for two career mentoring programmes – our inaugural Graduate Career Mentoring programme for Summer 2024, and our Career Mentoring programme for Semester 1 of the 2024-25 academic year.

Graduate Career Mentoring

This is an opportunity to mentor students graduating from the University of Manchester in Summer 2024, helping to support them with career planning, decision making, and preparing for their next steps after university.

The programme will run for roughly eight weeks, from July to September 2024. It will be conducted through the Mentorloop mentoring platform, where you will be matched with your mentee and can message and schedule meetings with them.

We expect the time commitment to be roughly two to three hours across the programme, as we recommend holding a meeting roughly every four weeks, lasting 60 to 90 minutes each. However, you may meet more or less frequently, depending on your mentee’s availability and how often you wish to meet. You will also be required to attend an induction session before you become a mentor; this will take place online and last no more than one hour.

Semester 1 Career Mentoring

We are also now taking expressions of interest for our Career Mentoring programme in Semester 1 of the 2024/25 academic year; this programme will launch in Semester 1 and run from November 2024 to Spring 2025.

Similarly, you will be offering career advice to students in the 2nd year of their Undergraduate degree or beyond, including PGT and PGR students, helping them to plan their next steps. This will be a time commitment of a minimum of four to six hours across the programme; we suggest four meetings lasting 60 to 90 minutes each. Again, you may meet more or less depending on your availability and how often your mentee wishes to meet.

For either of these programmes, please register your interest at the following link. We will assess applications and assign you to either the Graduate or the Semester 1 mentoring scheme based on our students' needs.

If you have any 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.