Finding a Mentor
UVU has provided you with the ability to choose mentors -- individuals who have volunteered themselves as resources for advice and information regarding careers, employers, geographic regions, and the job search process in general.
Mentors can be a valuable resource to help you learn more about different industries and opportunities, and give you advice on selecting courses, interviewing, and planning your future.
There are different ways to find a mentor:
- If you know anyone who has experience in a field or position that you are targeting, you may contact them, and ask them to mentor you. They can provide you with current labor market information as well as other important information about the field and ways to break into it.
- Similarly, if you have friends who know people who are working in your targeted field, they can help you make contacts with mentors.
- Contact Career Services & Student employment if you need help finding a mentor.
- UVU Alumni Association provides a list of Alumni that are willing to mentor students in their field.
More information on the different ways of finding a mentor.
What is Mentoring?
- A widely used strategy for self-development, career development and skill development.
- A mentor may assume the role of a career coach, confidant, counselor, correspondent, or consultant.
- A mentor is a person who has knowledge, skills, information, and experience, and is willing and able to share these in order to help the mentee's personal or professional development.
What is a Mentor's Role?
- Mentors help prepare students for work after graduation by providing them with an appreciation of the workplace culture and the challenges of the profession.
- A mentor offers support, encouragement, and an 'industry perspective' to the student. No promise of employment is made or sought in a mentoring relationship .
- From the start, mentors and students should discuss mutual expectations and goals for the mentoring relationship.
What Can Students Do?
The following list provides some ideas and examples of things that could be done:- Participate in an informational interview. The student questions the mentor about their work, how they became involved in the work, the pros and cons, etc. Topics may include:
- How you got your job
- What steps you took to get the job or to prepare for the work
- What your duties are
- What your day is like
- What you enjoy and what you don't
- Would you recommend your work
- The profile of workers in your field
- How you balance work and home
- Your educational background
- Recommended preparation or education
- Provide resume for critique
- Request a mock interview in person or over the phone
- Discuss career options with the mentor
- Discuss how to balance professional and personal life
- Learn how to establish networking contacts
- Participate in a "shadowing day"