Frequently Asked Questions

What can mentoring achieve ?

Mentoring can help young people in schools with communication and interpersonal skills, career planning, motivation and self confidence, planning for work experience and raising of achievement.

Mentoring is used to:

Organisations of every size and type use mentoring. Mentoring can be found, for example, in the BBC, BT, Delloite & Touche, Leeds City Council, NHS, colleges, universities and small and medium sized organisations.

In business mentoring is widely used to:

Who can be a Mentor?

Anyone who has patience and understanding, is a good listener and non-judgemental. No formal qualifications are necessary and you do not need to be a management guru. Usually, the mentor will be more senior than the learner but will have no line management responsibility for the learner. Mentors are young and old and come from a variety of backgrounds, e.g., business, public and voluntary sectors.

Why have a Mentor ?

Think back to a time when you had to make a difficult decision or do something you didn’t feel ready to attempt. You may have been fortunate enough to have someone who supported you and helped you to resolve the situation in your own way. If not, imagine the difference it would have made if you had the opportunity to have talked it through with someone you respected. They may have tested some of your assumptions or helped you see the matter from a different perspective.

What is the time commitment?

Meetings take place every fortnight for up to one hour usually in a public area at the school or college. Occasionally the mentee may be invited to the mentors workplace or university to gain further knowledge about the world of work or life at university. Mentors are expected to commit themselves for an academic year.

Can a Mentor be placed at a school/college of his/her choice?

Yes - usually we can place a mentor in a preferred school/college near their home or workplace to cut down on travelling time. Some people may want to go back to the school/college they attended or in the case of large companies or organisations we may agree to place all mentors from the same company in one school/college.

What happens if it does not work ?

Every effort is made to make the partnership work and very few mentoring partnerships fail to operate. In such instances mentors would be allocated to another student.

How are the mentees selected ?

All efforts are made to match mentors and mentees according to their needs, aspirations, skills , experiences, knowledge, background, and hobbies and interests. Mentees are all volunteers who have requested that they have a mentor. They all have the potential to gain at least 5 grade A-C GCSE's and progress to Post 16 and Higher Education. Without mentor support they may not achieve their full potential. (See Case Study Volunteering Mentoring at West Leeds High School)