Become a mentor and make a difference

We are currently accepting new volunteer mentors with experience in the following professional sectors/areas:

• Architecture and Property Development including Architects, Architectural Technologists, Visualisation, Property Developers, and associated experience
• Biomedical Science / Pharmaceuticals - lab and non-lab-based roles.
• Civil Service, Local Government, County Council
• Creative Industries such as TV, music, publishing, design, film, gaming, advertising, and associated experience
• Disability and Neurodiversity individuals with experience supporting colleagues and clients from any sector
• 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 such as gyms and leisure environments
• Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, People Management
• 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 and Environment all areas including green energy, clean energy, environmental specialisms, ecology 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
• Animals, Equine and Agriculture – ecology, farming, zoos, marine, equine, animal charities, land management
• Project Management – individuals who are pursuing or have obtained PMP, CAPM, PRINCE2, Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Association for Project Management (APM) Qualifications

To join our programme, volunteer mentors must complete an online application. If matched with a student mentee, you’ll be asked to complete online orientation tasks which typically take between 1 – 1.5 hours to complete.

Mentors and mentees are introduced via email and should aim to arrange and complete at least five one-hour meetings, typically every two weeks. Meetings can be in person or via video call, based on mutual convenience.

After five meetings, we'll request your feedback through an online survey.

The mentoring programme runs from November to June, with deadlines communicated upon matching. Additional time for emails, calls, or meetings is at your discretion. You may also be invited to optional ARU mentoring 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.

Before meeting your student mentee, you'll need to complete our online orientation activities, these are training resources, and a meeting framework guide to help you through the programme.

Additionally, Anglia Ruskin University's Employability & Careers Team will be on hand support you via phone and email throughout the programme upon request, ensuring everything runs smoothly and addressing any questions.

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.

Please note that applying to Mentoring at ARU does not guarantee a match with a student mentee. Matches depend on participant numbers and suitability. We won't know the number of students or their study disciplines until they sign up, so not all mentors may be matched.

Both mentors and mentees apply online. Students select a mentor from anonymised profiles based on their needs and interests. The programme runs on a rolling basis for several months. If you're not matched right away, a suitable mentee may join later, and you'll be contacted then.

Unmatched mentor profiles are kept on file for future cycles, as the programme runs annually. To amend or withdraw your profile, please contact us using the details at the bottom of this page.