Mentor

Mentoring is defined as a trusting and collaborative relationship in which there is a commitment of time and a series of interactions that contribute to the personal and professional development of one or more parties to the relationship. GoTeach mentoring enables young people to build relationships with skilled, qualified and motivated employees who share their knowledge, provide guidance and act as role models to young people. In addition, virtual platforms (e.g. YouthLinks) enable mentors to keep in contact with young people online, thus breaking geographical barriers, facilitating increased and regular communication, and supporting young people in taking further steps into the working world.

Programs can, for example, be used to support language learning among refugees, accompany students as they prepare to transition to professional life or provide job application training. What's more, they can also develop the leadership skills of your own employees. Mentoring is as simple as it is effective: an experienced person (mentor) accompanies a less experienced person (mentee) or a group of mentees for a predetermined period of time, e.g. during the trasition from school to work. During this time, mentees and mentors meet for personal discussions, and in doing so develop a trust-based relationship that in many cases does not end with the completion of the mentoring program. Mentoring can take various shapes and include different activities and formats. We distinguish between individual mentoring and group mentoring.

Individual Mentoring

How?

Whether for the entire program or specific individual parts - the support of external experts or partners is highly recommended for both sides. Matching suitable mentoring tandems can be a great challenge. It is also helpful to have an experienced partner at your side when identifying mentoring topics or potential conflicts that could arise in the context of individual mentoring tandems. Their help is also invaluable in terms of the organizational framework, which can take up a lot of resources.

Goals

To achieve your goals you first need to know what they are. Perhaps it's a desire to acquire language skills, to gain access to "locals", feedback on one's own appearance or support in choosing a career. The list is endless. The final program and its content can be as varied as the participants. What's important is that the mentor and mentee clarify right at the beginning of the program what the mentoring should ideally achieve and what their focus will be so that time can be used optimally. A standardized questionnaire that mentor and mentee fill out together when getting to know each other can be a great help here. It is also helpful to consider your wishes and goals in advance of the matching process to achieve a better fit.

In career entry mentoring, mentees are at a crossroads in their lives, facing important questions about career orientation and possible career paths as well as application strategies. In order to make well-balanced, confident decisions on future careers, it is important to develop a sound knowledge base. This can be done with the help of the mentor's experience and discussed together. An important prerequisite for this process is having a mentor who is sensitive towards the topics of equal opportunities and social integration. The contribution mentors make is based on their own personal commitment and carried out on a voluntary basis.

Mentor/mentee matching

The matching process is designed to ensure that mentees are matched with mentors who have the right personal characteristics or experience, who are familiar with their future mentee's career aspirations in a given field, and who are a good fit in terms of hobbies or family context. What makes matching quite challenging is that you are usually only equipped with the mentee/mentor's own personal details and, where appropriate, individual personal information from sources such as teachers or colleagues. Over time, a certain level of expertise develops, but it is still very helpful to have professional support on board.

Recommendations for successful mentoring

Voluntariness Mentee and mentor take part in the program voluntarily and see in it a personal benefit / value for themselves
Independence - There is no relationship of dependency between mentee and mentor, i.e. no direct or indirect employment or care relationship
Defined period - The mentoring relationship exists for a defined period of time, but can also be continued informally beyond that time.
Personal contact -Getting to know each other personally is of great importance for the success of the mentoring relationship. The meetings can be supplemented by e-mail correspondence, telephone calls or, if necessary, Skype contacts, etc.
Confidentiality - The mentoring discussions take place in a protected environment and are to be treated as strictly confidential by the participants.
Commitment -The binding and reliable handling of appointments and agreements is an essential Basic requirement for a successful mentoring relationship.
Expectations and agreement - At the beginning of the mentoring partnership, the conditions of the cooperation (e.g. contact, feedback, confidentiality) between mentor and mentee should be clarified and the expectations and role concepts are communicated. Personal goals for the mentoring period and possible topics and issues are to be discussed.
Process character -Mentoring is understood as a process. For the process character a mutual openness on both sides should be so that at the end of the mentoring process, plans or solutions are not necessarily finished must stand. Even the sharpening of individual development perspectives or Strategy development of the next steps are valuable results.

Content of a mentoring activity

The range of topics in the mentoring relationship is diverse. Mentors contribute their varied experience and knowledge and thus provide valuable individual support. Possible topics are:

Definition of goals and development of individual strategies - Joint development of objectives (short, medium and long-term) and the necessary Steps and implementation or solution strategies Development of personal competencies Reflection and development of personal competences, e.g. by means of a location analysis, potential analysis and strengths/weaknesses analysis, if necessary diversity dimension analysis Transfer of informal knowledge bases Transfer of informal knowledge and rules of the game in the desired field of activity.
Networking - Tips on the practical procedure for establishing and maintaining professionally or personally relevant networks.
Choice of profession - What can he or she wish for; development of realistic scenarios with alternative options. What can the path to this look like. Development of strategies.
Career entry - When starting their careers, mentees find themselves at a biographical crossroads: career orientations and decisions and the exploration of possible career paths and application strategies. In order to make well-balanced, confident decisions on future careers, it is necessary to develop a sound knowledge base. This can be developed with the help of the mentor's experience and discussed together. An important prerequisite is also the sensitivity of the mentor towards the topics of equal opportunities and social integration.
Application - What does a proper application look like. How to successfully pass an application interview. What do you need to know about an entrance test. Types of application. Tips on practical procedures, practising situations and sharing personal or network information.
Integration Support for the development of language skills. Access to "other" social groups and thus to other life worlds. Analysis of possible offers of help that can be taken advantage of. Assistance with authorities.
School leaving certificate - Analysis of the possibilities - which degree > which profession. What support is needed to achieve the desired degree.
Mentoring offers access to role models for young people. In addition to professional exposure and professional experiences, it strongly fosters personal development, trust, esteem, and leadership skills. The content of the sessions, as well as the duration, are defined between partners on the ground according to the needs of the young people.

Group Mentoring

In general, mentoring-experiences beteween mentors and mentees can also take place in a group-setting. Especially in terms of virtual mentoring formats, these group-activities showed special effectiveness and scope.

Good Practices

Please access different good practices of mentoring-programs all over the globe in the Good Practice Examples chapter of this Wiki.

Chapter lead	Susanne Novotny