Guidelines for Mentors

Mentoring is a reciprocal, two-way exchange. Mentors and Mentees both contribute to achieve a productive and rewarding mentoring experience.
Below are some guidelines that may be helpful before starting a mentorship.

Complete your profile. A complete profile gives you the best chance of being found by a suitable mentee, so please take time to complete it in detail. It is particularly important to make sure that the checklist of the mentoring 'services' you are able and willing to provide is kept up to date and the number of simultaneous mentorships reflects your capacity. We want you to volunteer based on the time and energy you have available.
Be credible. The most effective mentors are those that have credibility and experience in the area where the mentee is looking for support. Most people will seek the guidance of different mentors to help them develop specific skills or qualities, or to help them reach important decisions. Make sure you list your skills and expertise within your mentor profile. Being credible doesn't mean you need to have all the answers. The best answers for a mentee will come from their own thinking, with the help of coaching and experience to support them.
Be genuinely interested in your mentee as an individual. Having started the mentoring exchange with a mentee after reviewing their profile, it is likely you are already genuinely interested in them as an individual, and that you hope the guidance and advice you provide will be of genuine assistance to them in their career. It's important to show the mentee you see this relationship as an important, reciprocal, and to make sure that any time provide, even if it is just a few emails, demonstrates that you are giving them your full attention and are interested in helping them progress and develop.
Share your experiences and insights. In doing so, choose stories that you feel are appropriate and helpful, but do so in a neutral way, without any attachment to how your mentee will use this learning. Be open to sharing your mistakes and failures too, as these are often where our biggest lessons are learned.
Be objective. The mentoring relationship is a unique one that the mentee is unlikely to have come across before. They may not have found the same objective advice from a parent, a tutor or a manager in previous situations. Therefore it's important to make sure your advice is objective wherever possible, so that they can separate and compare it to other advice they have received, in this sense it becomes all the more valuable to them.

FAQ

: Mentoring is an opportunity to help a fellow alumn by sharing your experiences and expertise. The specific shape of the relationship is up to you and can range from taking a phone call to inviting them to see where you work. It is a rewarding experience that generally results in personal growth for the mentor as well as the mentee.
: To become a mentor you must go to the TU Delft for Life portal. On the mentoring page you can join as a mentor. You will be taken through a quick mentor set up process after which you will be searchable as a mentor on the platform.
: You decide exactly how much you feel comfortable offering through this service. When volunteering as a mentor you choose from a list of different ways you want to help mentees. This ranges from reviewing a cv to being a sparring partner for professional questions. You stay in control, being able to modify your offered services at any time.
: A mentor can decide how many mentees that they wish to accept. For those who are new to mentoring, it may be appropriate to engage with just one or two to begin with, monitor progress with them, and take on others as and when you feel comfortable to do so.
: The platform affords the mentor the opportunity to accept or decline a mentee, dependent upon the information given by the mentee. If insufficient information is given initially, you may request more before making a decision.
: This is entirely up to you and you can decide to offer a work experience invitation to someone whom you were initially mentoring over the phone. There are no hard and fast rules as to how the relationship should progress.