Developing your career with mentoring support
A mentor is a person who has professional and life experience and who voluntarily agrees to help a mentee develop skills, competencies or goals. Even though there is an inequality in the skills, experience and knowledge of the partners, the partnership itself is equal. Both parties agree to the relationship and both parties agree to its success. The partnership is collaborative with both mentor and mentee working together to decide what the partnership hopes to achieve and how it hopes to achieve those aims.
Mentoring as a concept:
M – Manages the relationship
E – Encourages
N – Nurtures
T – Teaches
O – Offers mutual respect
R – Responds to the mentees needs
We aim to facilitate mentorship in whatever form best suits you, be it in person or online. If you are interested in becoming a mentee, please contact a member of the Careers Services team. If you do not hear from us, please contact c.kerr@ucc.ie.
Mentors have a limited amount of resources available to them and we may have to decide which of several mentee applicants to choose from first. Give yourself the best chance of selection by having a complete profile including your interests, aspirations and what you are studying.
NOTE: It is important to bear in mind that we will have a certain number of mentors available within a chosen industry. We work hard to match mentees with someone from their desired industry, but this is not guaranteed.
Our Alumni mentors have experience of UCC and understand what it is like to navigate into the post-university world, they will be just as enthusiastic and interested in the experience as you. Mentors will provide unique insights, tips and tricks. This means that you should feel comfortable being your inquisitive, attentive and respectful self. Mentors are willing to provide practical help such as reviewing CV/Linkedin profile/application or interview practice as outlined in the mentorship handbook.
You will be invited to attend a training session in semester one. The mentoring programme consists of three one-hour virtual meetings over the course of six months, organised by the student mentee. We also ask that you are available to offer advice via email and answer any queries your mentee may have when possible.
Both Mentors and Mentees will be asked to join an introductory training in semester one. Training for mentees will take place in person to give participants an opportunity to ask questions about the programme. Time, date and location for this will be confirmed if you are successful in joining the programme.
To learn more about mentorship, please read the Mentoring Handbook 2024-2025.
Use the Mentoring Workbook to track and reflect on your mentoring journey.
