Guides for students
More about mentoring
Working with your mentor
Has a York graduate agreed to mentor you? Congratulations! It is now time to start building a relationship with your mentor.
Getting started – checklist
Say thank you!
Mentors use their free time to chat to students, make sure you thank them for their replies.
Set up a schedule
Discuss with your mentor when and how you will contact each other. This might be via email, phone, skype, social media or face-to-face. Make sure to ask how often they can be contacted and let them know if you’re prioritising exams or other commitments at certain times.
Find out more about each other
You can take the lead in this by telling them more about yourself. Where are you from? What are you studying? What work experience, volunteering and student activities have you done? What are your plans for the future? Be sure to ask them questions as well to get the conversation going.
Remind them what you hope to gain from mentoring
Set up some shared objectives with your mentor. These can change over time but it would be useful to pick a couple of areas you’d like some help with.
Take the lead
As a mentee, you are expected to lead the mentoring relationship and make sure it keeps progressing. Keep your mentor up to date with your achievements and let them know if you need a bit more time to reply.