Overview

Frequently Asked Questions

• What am I expected to do? Mentors are expected to provide their student with one hour of support and interaction per month. As a minimum, we ask that you commit to six meetings with your mentee over the 30 weeks you are formally connected. Most of this interaction will take place face-to-face, via email or other web-related tools (for example, Zoom), as appropriate. Mentors should work with their student to determine what kind of support will be most useful—specific feedback related to preparing for life after university, general career advice, information on higher studies, personal encouragement, and so on. Your student should have established a set of goals which they will aim to achieve over the course of the program.
• How long will the commitment be? We ask our mentors to commit to the program for 30 weeks in order to ensure that both parties are able to fully benefit from the relationship. If a mentor must leave the relationship early, we request at least one month's notice in order to search for a replacement mentor with similar background.
• Are there any potential risks to me or my company? No. It is not appropriate for mentors to engage in any business transactions with their students; instead, the relationship should only involve the flow of general information and advice.
• The mentoring relationship is not going well or I have some concerns, what to do? We encourage letting the mentor know about the situation and contact the UniSA Business Careers team immediately. We will provide our full support to resolve the situation in a positive and satisfactory manner.

Mentor DO's

1. Commit to at least one hour of interaction per month.
2. Take responsibility to engage in the relationship.
3. Set aside time for the mentoring process and honour all appointments.
4. Invite your mentee to meetings or activities, as appropriate. Schedule meetings with planned topics.
5. Be flexible on meeting times and places.
6. Arrange frequent contact through telephone, email, online, face-to-face, etc., as appropriate.
7. Respond to emails from your mentee within two days of receipt.
8. Keep information that your mentee has shared with you confidential. If something concerning the mentee needs to be discussed with others, it should first be discussed within the mentoring relationship.
9. Establish open and honest communication and a forum for idea exchange.
10. Foster creativity and independence. Help build self-confidence and offer encouragement.
11. Share honest and timely feedback with your mentee.
12. Provide opportunities for your mentee to talk about concerns and ask questions.
13. Above all, listen.

Mentor DON'Ts

1. Try to give advice on everything.
2. Encourage your mentee to be totally dependent upon you.
3. Provide your personal history, problems, animosities, successes, failures, etc unless they are constructive contributions.
4. Be too busy when your mentee needs your friendship or your support. If you do not have time, give your mentee a heads up, so that they know when they can reach you.
5. Criticise.