Who are mentors?

At VU, we consider mentors to be a more experienced person who assists another person to grow and learn by sharing their personal, career and transitioning experiences.

Our mentors have a minimum of five years professional experience (or at least three years plus membership of the relevant professional association), and use their knowledge and skills in a variety of settings for educational and/or career development purposes. The Career Bridge program focuses on the career development aspect of mentoring.

Being a mentor

Mentors meet and work with a small group of (up to four) students for a minimum of four one-hour face to face meetings over a twelve week period.

The meetings may involve, but not limited to:

• exchanging career and industry knowledge and ideas
• sharing professional experiences over a coffee
• inviting your mentees to your workplace to explore the daily tasks and job realities, and
• generally assisting your mentees to develop confidence in their ability to make the transition to their professional working life easier.

The time and location of the meetings is very flexible and are to be arranged between the mentor and the mentees. A manual will also be provided before the start of the program to be used as a starting point and mentors will also receive ongoing support from VU during the program.

Benefits of mentoring

Mentoring is an excellent opportunity to 'give back' to the community and industry as you contribute to the development and success of an emerging professional with your career and industry knowledge. The Career Bridge Mentoring Program will cultivate growth and learning to mutual beneficial between mentee and mentor.

Benefits include:

• increasing your own job satisfaction by helping someone else to develop their career
• identifying new talent for your organisation
• practising your career-mentoring skills
• keeping in touch with educational advances and the culture of university students
• networking with the professionals of the future and other mentors.

An effective mentor

To be a good mentor, you will:

• be knowledgeable about the discipline, industry or work area you are working in
• have gained relevant industry experience
• be an approachable good listener and communicator
• be keen to share information and experiences
• support equal opportunity and recognise the boundaries of the mentoring relationship.

Register to be a mentor

If you are interested in becoming involved in the Career Bridge program, you can register your details online.

Contact:

Peter Folino, Project Officer
Phone: +61 3 9919 4944
Email: scdprojects@vu.edu.au