Frequently asked questions for Mentees

Typically, you’ll meet your mentor for one hour each month over the 6-month mentorship. This may not however always be in a one hour block each month. This can be flexible depending on your mentor’s availability and the objectives of the mentorship. When you meet your mentor for the first time you can discuss the frequency and duration of your meetings.  

We can only match to one mentor under each scheme. You can be involved in multiple schemes at the same time but if you’re considering doing this, we would just recommend making sure you have the time to commit to both schemes.  

Yes. We encourage face to face meetings wherever possible, however, depending on your mentor’s availability and location we recognise this may not always be possible. We welcome you and your mentor to use Teams, Zoom, Skype etc to keep in touch if that is the best option for you both. 

Although we will do our best to find you a mentor, we rely on a pool of volunteer mentors who kindly offer their time. We want to make sure the match is relevant and meaningful for you, so sometimes it’s not possible to find a match from our available mentors.  

There are also other mentoring programme opportunities for you to receive guidance through, and we run 2 rounds of the Careers Network Mentoring Scheme each year to try and provide a few opportunities each year to be matched. 

The relationships typically last for 6 months. You are welcome to keep in touch with your mentor after the 6 months if they’re comfortable with this, but it would be separate from the University and outside of the official scheme.  

We don’t expect our mentors to provide work experience as part of the mentorship as this isn’t always something they have capacity to do. Some mentors may be able to offer opportunities for further experience, but this is very much case by case and not a guarantee.  

Mentors may however support you by connecting you with someone from their network or by sharing advice around how you might source and apply for work experience opportunities. 

Within Careers Network we also have a Work Experience Team who offer advice and guidance as well as bespoke internship programmes. You can find out more via our Work Experience webpages.  

There’s still a lot of value in learning about your mentor’s career, so we encourage you to approach the first few meetings with an open mind. Even if their sector isn’t exactly what you had in mind, they can offer insights, advice, and connections that could benefit you - so stay curious and engaged. 

If, after a few meetings, you feel the relationship has run its course, that’s absolutely fine. We just ask that you keep both us and your mentor informed. This helps us ensure your mentor also has a positive experience and remains happy to support future mentees. 

While we can’t guarantee a rematch, we’ll do our best to find an alternative if one is available. 

Absolutely! Mentorship offers significant benefits when exploring your options and deciding on a direction. Many of our mentors have diverse and extensive work experience, so they can support you with applications and suggest pathways you might not have considered. You don’t need to have a clear plan, just approach the relationship with an open mind and a willingness to stay engaged.