Career Connect Mentoring - Current students

Career Connect Mentoring, formerly known as Staffs Mentoring, was launched in September 2020 and has since engaged thousands of users, made up of students and professionals. Developed as a tool to aid development, retention and connect our students to industry experts, mentoring has become a part of the culture at Staffordshire University. Mentoring is now an established mechanism to support students from the recruitment phrase, through to graduation and beyond.

What is Mentoring?

Our definition here at Staffs is: ‘Mentoring is a method used to guide and encourage individuals to maximise their personal, academic and professional potential by developing skills they need to be world ready’.

Career Connect Mentoring has 4 main strands: University Life Mentoring, Professional Mentoring, Placement Mentoring, and Preparing for University Mentoring. All mentorships are on a 1-1 basis, mentee led and last for 8 weeks. Mentees have the opportunity to select their own mentor from the MentorNet platform. Mentors are provided with full training and support from the Mentoring Leads.

What strand is for me?
	University Life	Professional	Placement	Preparing for University
Any new student	Mentee		Mentee	Mentee**
Levels 5-7	Mentor	Mentee	Mentor	Mentor
Recent graduate		Mentee/Mentor*
Any graduate/professionals		Mentor*

* Dependent on experience
** Prospective students (Further Education level)

University life

Second year and above students’ mentor first year students, giving them the opportunity to be supported in a time of change. Mentees can ask questions about how to make to most of university life from campus related questions to how to make friends and get involved in university events.

Professional

Industry expert mentors from all industries are available to mentor second year and above students. Guiding mentees in taking the next steps of their career, finding out about the world of work, and developing important contacts and networks.

We are looking for mentors who:

Have a degree and at least 12 months work experience in any industry
And/or are experienced professionals without a degree
And/or are working towards or have completed a PhD
And can dedicate one hour per week, for up to 8 weeks, to share their experiences with a student (in person, via email or video call)

In return you can expect:

Training and support
Opportunities to develop managerial and leadership skills
Connecting with the next generation of talent

Placement

Second year and above students’ mentor first year student , giving them the opportunity to be supported during their placement. This currently takes place within within Nursing and Paramedic placements, due to the need for support whilst out on placement.

Preparing for university

Current Staffordshire University students’ mentor FE students, giving them the opportunity to be supported through their summer transition period before their first year at university, learn about the campus, get the most out of university life, and meet new people.

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