Overview

Eligibility

• have graduated from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington with an undergraduate or postgraduate degree
• be able to commit approximately 10-12 hours to each mentoring partnership (by default set to 4 months). This estimate includes mentoring activities (e.g. mentoring meetings, networking events) and communicating with the Alumni as Mentors team. 
• engage with training material before their first mentoring connection if they have not mentored on the programme before.

Application and Connection process

Sign up to the platform and create your mentor profile
To help mentees identify suitable mentors, we ask you to provide information about your academic background, career history, as well as your preferences and motivations for joining Alumni as Mentors.
Once approved, your application becomes your mentor profile.

Specify your own availability
You decide how many mentees you can support at any one time (by default this is set to 1) and the maximum number of requests you can receive per month. If your circumstances change you can update your availability to suit, choosing to make your profile unavailable. 

Mentees find your profile and send requests for connections
Students, whose applications are approved after participating in mentee training, browse profiles of available mentors and can contact you on the platform to request a mentoring partnership. You are notified of the request and can choose to accept or decline. 

Partnerships with flexibility

Every mentoring partnership is determined by the unique needs and goals of the student mentee and the experiences and insights you can bring to the partnership. The 'goals and tasks' function in your Connection Plan on the platform allows you and your mentee to structure your priorities, while you can also draw on goal and activity ideas suggested in the mentoring resources. 

For more information on what to expect as a mentor, see the Mentor Guide. 

"Being a mentor is a great chance to hone some of the skills that are so important if you want to get better at managing teams: coaching, active listening, leading etc. It's also a good opportunity to work with future leaders and build your Wellington network." - previous AAM mentor

YOUR PROFILE INFORMATION

Each application is checked against our alumni and student records, to ensure the platform provides a dedicated space for alumni mentors and student mentees.

As a mentor, certain information in your profile (e.g. name, location, background, and motivations) will be visible to mentees to help them determine whether you are the right mentor for their needs. Your contact details will only be shared with mentees after you have accepted their request to connect. 

All the information you provide (including your date of birth and platform activities) will be visible to administrators.

Careers and Employment support 

The Wellington Careers and Employment team are here to support you and the mentees to make the most of the partnerships. In addition to specific support for your mentoring partnership, your student mentee is encouraged to participate in workshops, employer presentations, expos, and leadership programmes organised by our team, to complement the topics discussed in your partnership.

Previous mentors

JASON NICHOLS
Alumnus Jason Nichols shares what his Law degree taught him, highlights from his career and what he enjoys about supporting the next generation of the legal profession through the Alumni as Mentors programme.
Read about Jason's career journey and his experience of mentoring. 

RICHARD CAWOOD
There are many strings to Richard Cawood’s bow. He shares with us his story of practicing law, becoming an entrepreneur and giving back.
Read about Richard’s career journey and why he gives back through the Alumni as Mentors programme.

further information