Mentor
Any person who is able to motivate others, provide guidance and is a model to follow. A Mentor serves as a role model and helps the Mentee discover his/her potential, offers support in his/her career development, and inspires a sense of responsibility in him/her, helps provide a safe environment for questioning.
Why to become a Mentor?
There have been times in all our lives when we have said to ourselves, “If I had known, then…”. Please think about how much your life would have changed if you had known as a university student what you know now, how much time, effort, nerves and even money you would have saved. And this is exactly what the mentoring programme is all about – you can help students avoid your mistakes and inspire them with stories of how you have achieved success. Help them take off their rose-coloured glasses or help them get rid of their anxieties.
Who can become a Mentor?
- A TBU graduate with many years of experience and a desire to try something new.
- A person employed outside TBU with many years of experience and a desire to try something new.
- A TBU employee with many years of experience and a desire to try something new.
What are the benefits of a mentoring relationship?
- Gaining a new perspective on your work through the eyes of a student – an impartial observer, a person not burdened with stereotypes
- Opportunity to become a role model for someone, share experience
- Development of new abilities and skills
- Enhancement of the reputation of the company
- Giving greater visibility to companies and organizations on the website of the project
- Opportunity to “educate” a future employee
Tools you may use during the mentoring programme:
- Work shadowing – the Mentee will have the opportunity to observe the Mentor in his/her role to understand how he/she does his/her job.
- Assistance and guidance when engaging in real-world projects at work.
- Specialist tutorial – related to work, specialization, professional orientation.
- Specialized thesis consultation – this can also be a complementary activity; the student may, for example, discuss his/her final thesis or seminar paper with the Mentor.
I want to become a Mentor
- Fill in the application form and send it together with your CV to the programme coordinator: mentoring@utb.cz.
- The coordinator will contact you by e-mail to inform you whether you have been selected to participate in the mentoring programme and will present various mentoring options the programme offers.
- Create a short profile intended for students that will be posted on the website.
- After your profile is posted, students will be able to choose their Mentor.
- As a Mentor, you are entitled to select a Mentee of your own choice. If the student is interested in your mentoring services, you will receive his/her CV and application to check whether he/she is suitable to cooperate with you.
- An agreement on mentoring will be concluded between you and the Mentee you have chosen. It is a trilateral agreement between the Mentor, the Mentee and TBU. Your individual cooperation plan (including the selected tools for mentoring, frequency of appointments) set up by you and your Mentee will form an integral part of the agreement.
- The programme starts with an introductory meeting, where you will see your Mentee for the first time and get a short training (about 30 minutes) on how to be a good Mentor. Subsequent meetings can be arranged between the Mentee and the Mentor.
- The agreement on mentoring also includes an agreement on regular mentoring quality assessment. The coordinator of the programme will ask you to carry out this assessment after a predetermined period of time (usually once per month, depending on the duration of the mentoring programme). The assessment takes a written form; several sentences will be sufficient.
- After the agreed period expires, the mentoring programme is terminated. Both parties shall complete a final assessment questionnaire. If both parties wish to continue the mentoring relationship, they may do so, even after the termination of the programme.
Considering becoming a Mentor and positively influencing someone’s life? If so please answer the following three questions:
- Do I have enough experience to pass on to another person? (Minimum of 5 years of experience preferred, but not a prerequisite.)
- Will I find time to devote to meetings with my Mentee during the programme? (The absolute minimum time required to be spent on mentoring is 6 hours per year.)
- Am I willing to develop personally and professionally and devote my time to it FOR FREE? (Participation in the mentoring programme is voluntary and therefore not financially rewarded.)
If you have answered ‘YES’ to all the three questions above, please do not hesitate to send us your application along with your CV!
Should you have any enquiries, please contact us at: mentoring@utb.cz.
Application Form for Participation in the Mentoring Programme – Mentor