Having a mentor

1. You will complete a form with your employment adviser. This form is about you and what you would like to gain from a mentor.

2. Your adviser will match you with a mentor. We will try to look for a mentor who is working in a field that interests you, but we cannot guarantee this. It could take several months to find a suitable mentor. We will keep you updated.

3. Once we find a suitable match, you will meet your mentor and employment adviser. In this meeting you will introduce yourself and find out about your mentor. You will also talk about what you would like to gain from having a mentor and agree guidelines for meetings. Finally, you will agree when your next meeting will be and what you will cover in it.

4. You will then have meetings with your mentor.

5. Your adviser will contact you each month to see how mentoring is going.

6. When the mentoring ends, we will ask you for feedback.

You could ask about:

• your mentor's career journey, life experience and how they got to where they are now
• support available for disabled people in the workplace
• what it is like to work for a large organisation
• feedback on your CV or interview skills

You should treat mentoring as a professional relationship. Respect your mentor’s time by:

• letting your mentor know if you cannot make your meeting
• being on time
• preparing for the meeting

Mentoring lasts up to 6 months. You and your mentor will decide how often you meet.

• Mentoring takes place on Zoom or Teams.
• You will have at least 3 sessions with your mentor.
• Please let us know if you decide you no longer want a mentor or if mentoring ends.

• Arrange the meeting for a time when you can focus and are free from distractions.
• Think about what you would like your mentor to help you with.
• Think about some questions or things you would like to talk about with your mentor.
• Make some notes if it will help you to remember.

• Write down ideas or questions that come to you between sessions to ask your mentor during the session.
• Make notes. What did you learn? What will you do before the next session?
• Prepare for your sessions. Send anything you would like to cover (for example, a new CV) ahead of the session.
• Ask questions.

Get in touch with your adviser.