What It Means to Be A Mentor

Becoming a mentor means, first and foremost, sharing your time and experience with others and helping them thrive in a situation that you have already mastered. 

We appreciate your willingness to do so and do not take your commitment for granted. Therefore, our number-one goal is to support you, making sure that your time resources are used in the best possible way and that you can focus on the essentials.

Your role as a mentor
As a mentor you are your mentee's go-to person for all questions regarding career topics. You will help your  mentees reflect on their plans against the backdrop of your own experience and support them in planning their next steps.

Your role as a mentor is, above all, to support your mentee and to open up space for reflection in joint discussions. The mentorship is intended to provide mentees with an opportunity to take their time and order their thoughts.

Even if most mentees begin the mentoring process hoping to primarily gain new information, we know from many years of experience that a mentorship is most successful for mentees if they find in you someone who is personally available for them.

This also means that you do not have to worry about perhaps not having sufficient knowledge or too little experience to act as a mentor. Mentees should be encouraged to research information on their own and remain active throughout the entire mentoring process.

Recommendations for Your Mentorship

Keep in mind the following principles in order to establish a successful mentoring relationship:

• You are volunteering your experience,  not a blueprint.
  Remain open to the mentees' wishes and ideas . Make it clear that your opinion on how to best manage a situation is just one possible way;  the decision is up to the mentees.
• Mentoring is a work relationship.
  When mentees go through a tough time, e.g. before graduation or in other stressful situations, they might confide in you; after all, they put their trust in you. Stay aware of your role within the framework of mentorship and, if unrelated topics threaten to take over, steer the conversation back to relevant issues.
• You are not Google.
  You will be able to answer many of your mentees' questions, but certainly not all of them. For you, knowing the limits of what you can do and watching your resources is just as important as it is for mentees to become self-sufficient.

Time Investment

Mentoring someone means supporting them during a specific process and, as such, should last between no less than six and no more than twelve months. We recommend that you meet once a month and between five to seven times, with each meeting lasting about one and a half hours, i.e. you should invest about eight to ten hours in a mentorship. As a general rule, each mentoring team agrees on a schedule together, with mentees defining their needs and you outlining your resources. 

Apart from the time spent on meeting with your mentee, you will also need some time to complete your profile, familiarise yourself with the website and get ready for your role as a mentor. You can do this conveniently online by using our >>Mentorship guide for mentors.

In any case, extensive preparation for your role as a mentor will not be necessary, as you already bring two essential qualities with you: your experience and your willingness to help others.

For those interested, there is more to explore within the alma Mentoring Programme: 

Feel free to join and/or initiate mentor groups and share your experience and network with other alma users via the website or at regulars' meetings. 

Your Benefits

When a mentoring process is successfully finished, not only mentees will benefit, but also their mentors: mentorship will help you improve your consulting skills, and, by sharing your experience and views with your mentee(s), you will come up with new ideas, expand your horizons and perhaps look at your own career path from a different perspective. At our events and group meetings you will get to know other mentors and have plenty of networking opportunities.

Whatever suits you, you will certainly find inspiration and get new ideas.