Become a mentor and make a difference
We’re looking for professionals to join Mentoring at ARU.
Mentoring at ARU introduces current ARU students to experienced professionals who volunteer their time to become a mentor on our student facing Get a Career Mentor programme.
Volunteering as a mentor allows you to make a real difference to our students’ lives, supporting them to gain the confidence they need to start preparing for their future careers.
Mentoring is an opportunity to share your knowledge and experience, whilst getting to know the workforce of the future. Checkout our FAQs below to find more detail on how the programme works.
What are the main aims of the programme?
The aims of the programme include helping students boost their employability skills and confidence, making them better prepared to enter the workplace. The programme is open to all ARU students based on our core campuses, but is particularly targeted at these demographics:
- Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students
- care leavers
- students who have come to us from geographical areas that tend to send fewer than average students to university.
This is because we’re committed to our widening participation work. We want to address areas where national data suggests we can make a real difference to equality of outcomes no matter a person’s background. By joining Mentoring at ARU you can support us in this endeavour.
There are benefits for you too!
Mentoring is a fantastic developmental opportunity - research shows that people taking on the role of mentor consistently report positive experiences such as:
- increased self-reflection – asking questions of a mentee supports deeper insight into your own learning path and achievements
- expanded connections and networks – you never know where your student mentee may end up in the future, they could be a great contact
- improved communication, empathy, listening and personal skills, leadership, and management qualities
- increased confidence and motivation
- enhanced people development and volunteering experiences, which look great on your own professional profile.
And that is not to mention the sense of fulfilment you will experience by helping an individual grow to be the best that they can be, fittingly in line with our university’s motto: Excellence through partnership.
Birgit Medal, Ontology and Data Standards Expert at Pfizer provided this quote following her Mentoring at ARU experience:
“This was my first experience mentoring an undergraduate student. It was very insightful to understand some of the content and teaching of today's curriculum (I graduated >20 years ago!) and I was pleased to find out that there are many opportunities for the students to expand their experiences beyond the wall of the campus, be it through field trips, career seminars or this program. It was also a good experience for me because I could learn about how to support a student's career plans as opposed to assisting students with their lab projects which I have done in the past.
I would like to thank you for creating this opportunity for mentees and mentors. It helps those of us who are working outside of the academic system to get an insight into what is on the current curriculum and how students are getting prepared for "life after university". From what my mentee told me you offer a wealth of opportunities for them to find out about opportunities and career pathways after they graduate.”
How does the programme work?
FAQs
We are currently accepting new volunteer mentors with experience in the following professional sectors/areas:
- Architecture & Property Development including Architects, Architectural Technologists, Visualisation, Property Developers, and associated experience
- Biomedical Science and associated experience
- Civil Service and associated experience
- Creative Industries such as TV, music, publishing, design, film, games development, advertising, and associated experience
- Entrepreneurs and business owners from all sectors
- Graduate Schemes including professionals who are currently on / have previously completed a Graduate Scheme with an employer / manage Graduate Schemes
- Health, Fitness and Wellbeing from all areas including Public Health, Personal Trainers, and associated experience
- Human Resources
- International Relations and Languages including political consultancy, Intelligence, international logistics, and associated experience
- Law Enforcement from all areas including policing, detectives, probation and prison services, Ministry of Defence, and associated experience
- Legal Professions including Solicitors, Paralegals, Barristers, Training Contract, in-house or private practice and associated experience
- Marketing and Public Relations including events and social media management
- Management Consultancy including associated experience from Big 4, self-employed, and other environments
- Psychology all areas including clinical, criminology and associated experience
- Quantity Surveying and associated experience
- Sustainability all areas including green energy, environmental specialisms, and associated experience
- Technology all areas including AI and Robotics, Cyber Security, Software Development, and associated experience
- Wealth Management and Investment Banking all areas including Financial Advisors, Analysts, Trading, Asset Management, and associated experience
Volunteer mentors are required to complete an online application form to register for the programme. If selected for a match with a student mentee, we will contact you to request that you complete our online orientation process before introduction to your mentee. This usually takes around 1.5 hours to complete.
Mentors are then introduced to their student mentee via email, together you will need to arrange and attend a minimum of five mentoring meetings. Meetings usually last for one hour and take place around every two weeks. You can meet at a regular time or arrange meetings flexibly as you move through the programme.
We will encourage you to meet in person where possible, but meetings can also be held via video calling platforms. The mentor and mentee will agree between themselves which is most convenient.
After five meetings, we will request your feedback via online survey.
Mentoring at ARU runs on a rolling basis with a steady flow of student applications throughout our application window (November – March), so how much time you have to complete the programme together depends on how close you are to the project deadline when your match starts (we will communicate this to you when a mentee match is identified, each pair will have their own deadline).
Additional time may be included for email correspondence and additional calls, messages, or meetings at your discretion. You may also be invited to optional ARU events associated with mentoring, such as networking events. We will provide you with more information as and when we arrange any such events.
This video by Dr Kay Guccione will tell you more.
Please see ‘what kinds of mentors are you looking for?’. We welcome mentor applications from professionals working at any level within these industries. We do ask that our mentors have at least 2+ years of work experience from any sector.
Our volunteer mentors must be able to reliably commit to meeting their student mentee on a regular basis. To meet our five-meeting minimum, mentors will conduct a one-hour meeting with their mentee around every two weeks, online or in-person.
Ideally, mentors will be based in the UK to allow students the opportunity to meet their mentor face-to-face, however, we do also accept applications from mentors overseas.
Absolutely. You can apply to Mentoring at ARU as an individual, but we are also very happy to discuss how we can involve your organisation with mentoring on a larger scale. Please contact us to discuss this using the contact details at the bottom of this webpage.
Anglia Ruskin University’s Employability & Careers Team will be on hand via phone and email throughout the programme, to make sure things go smoothly, and to answer any questions that may arise.
You will also be provided with orientation activities and training resources before you meet your student mentee, to help you better understand the programme and develop your mentoring skills, as well as a meeting framework guide.
We will match mentors with student mentees on a 1-2-1 basis. Mentors can volunteer to take on more than one student mentee upon discussion with our Employability & Careers Team. This is decided on an individual basis.
It is important to note that whilst we do our best to match as many volunteer mentors with student mentees as possible, applying to Mentoring at ARU does not automatically mean you will be matched with a student mentee.
Successful matches are dependent on the number of participants, as well as the suitability of matches. Until the students have signed up for the current cycle of the project, we will not know the number of students joining the programme, or which disciplines of study or industry sectors they will be looking to pursue, so it is very possible that not all volunteer mentors will be matched with a mentee.
Volunteer mentors and student mentees apply to join the programme via an online application form. Student applicants work with us to select a mentor match from our pool of talented volunteers. All profiles are anonymised, and matches are based on student needs, interests and aspirations, versus mentor skills and experience.
The Get a Career Mentor programme will be running on a rolling basis for several months at a time. Therefore, if you do not receive a notification regarding a mentee match straight away, it is possible that a suitable mentee will join the programme and select your profile within the following months, at which point you will be contacted.
Where mentors are not matched, your mentor profile will be held on file for subsequent cycles of the programme which takes place on an annual basis. To amend or withdraw your mentor profile, please get in touch with us using the contact details at the bottom of this page.
This sounds great, how can I get involved?
Please note, we are currently accepting applications from volunteer mentors within specified sectors as listed in the ‘what kinds of mentors are you looking for?’ section.
Please note, applications for volunteer mentors are currently open for the 2023/24 programme cycle. Matching is anticipated to take place between November 2023 and March 2024. If matched, you may be contacted at anytime during this period.
Sign up to become a mentorAny questions?
Email Katie Johnson, Employability & Careers Adviser (Mentoring & Activators): [email protected]
To find out more about the ways you can volunteer to be involved with Employability & Careers at ARU email [email protected]