MENTORS
Employees of our Corporate Partner companies can volunteer to become mentors for young people from low-income backgrounds at our School Partners. This is preferably a 2-year commitment, or a minimum of 1 year. Mentors work with their mentees for 60-90 minutes once a month. If a mentor joins for 2 years, they will normally work with two different mentees, each for one year.
YEAR 1
In the first year of the programme, a mentor’s first mentee will be in Year 12 Caged 16-17) and highlighted by their teachers as ‘high potential. We aim to match mentees with someone they can see themselves reflected in, be it in terms of gender, race, background, geography or otherwise. The mentor’s role during this year will be to guide their mentee’s development through a self-reflective process to build their confidence, career ambitions, communication skills, professionalism and more.
YEAR 2
In the second year of the programme, a mentor will be re-matched with a mentee in Year 13 (aged 17-18) who has expressed an interest in the business industry or function the mentor specialises in. Together, mentors and mentees will work through our ‘Career Readiness’ coaching curriculum where each session has a specific task or outcome to do together. This includes activities such as writing a personal statement, creating a Linkedin profile, interview practice and more. At the end of the programme we encourage mentors to make industry introductions or arrange work-experience placements for their mentee where possible!
While some Corporate Partners might encourage involvement in the mentoring programme as part of a CSR initiative, this is an individual commitment on the part of each mentor to complete the programme they have embarked on with their mentees.
MENTOR ELIGIBILITY
In order to create effective mentor-mentee relationships, it’s important that our mentees can see themselves reflected in their mentors. We want our mentors to be enthusiastic, committed and passionate about improving the future outcomes of their mentees. Therefore, we are looking for mentors who are truly dedicated to this process.
Ideally, we would like our mentors to be:
JUNIOR TO MID-LEVEL EMPLOYEES, 40 OR YOUNGER
While we do see the value in the involvement of senior level employees, the world of work has evolved rapidly and we want our mentors’ experiences of getting a first job to be as reflective of the present day as possible.
UK-BASED
Although many of our Corporate Partners have global offices, we believe UK-based mentors are in the best position to advise on careers and the job market in the UK – where the majority of our mentees will secure their first role. We will expand globally in the future.
RELIABLE
Being dependable and reliable is extremely important. For many of our mentees, a lack of consistency may be a common theme in their life. For the mentor-mentee relationship to be effective, reliability and commitment is a must.
EXCELLENT COMMUNICATORS
It is important that mentors can establish a rapport with their mentee. Mentees may be a little shy at the beginning of their journey – mentors should be able to adapt their communication style for a younger audience and explain concepts in a way that is easy to understand.
FROM A DIVERSE RANGE OF BACKGROUNDS
We would like to match mentees with mentors that reflect some of their demographic characteristics such as gender, race, socio-economic status, culture or religion. It is important psychologically that our mentees can see themselves reflected in their mentor on some level.
Mentor Registration Form
15-min interview with ECF
Enhanced DBS Check
Submit Two References
Virtual Mentor Training
Safeguarding Training
Begin your journey!
Match with a Mentee
Mentor Registration Form
15-min interview with ECF
Submit Two References
Enhanced DBS Check
Virtual Mentor Training
Safeguarding Training
Match with a Mentee
Begin your journey!
If you have employees who don’t fit the mentoring criteria, but are interested in getting involved, there are plenty of opportunities to work with The Early Careers Foundation – both at individual and organisational levels:
Office Days
Host the mentees of your employees for an Office Day so that they can shadow other employees and learn about different roles and functions across your organisation.
Mentee Presentations
Hold a presentation about your industry, organisation or function This could either be at a School Partner (that your employees’ mentees attend), or virtually for all enrolled mentees on the programme.
Work-Experience Programmes
On completion of the mentoring programme, host your employees’ mentees for work experience at your organisation so that the young people can benefit from the experience and introductions.
Industry Insight Days
Imagine a University “Freshers Fair”, but instead of societies, we have organisations within a certain industry. Employees at our Corporate Partners can attend and promote your organisation or field of work!