Overview
A mentor is a guide. A friend. A resource who paves the way to success, and derives satisfaction from helping others succeed. Your role as mentor is to inspire, encourage, and support your student, and to contribute to their professional and personal development.
eligibility
- Mentors should have 3-5 years of experience post-Bachelor's degree
- It is not necessary to be a Xavier alumni to be a mentor in our program
- Willingness to give constructive feedback and guide a student in their professional development
- Ability to commit at least 1 hour per month to your student mentee
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I get matched with a student? Once you apply and create your profile, you will become available to be selected by a student. Students will be able to browse profiles of available mentors and choose someone who seems like a good fit for their goals. You will receive a request from the student with a note explaining why they chose you and you have the option to approve or deny their request. Students will make their match selections in October and March of every academic year.
- What am I expected to do? Mentors are expected to provide their student with about one hour of support and interaction per month. Most of this interaction will take place via email and other web-related tools (for example, instant messaging) or face-to-face, as appropriate. Mentors should work with their student to determine what kind of support will be most useful—specific feedback related to preparing for life after college, general career advice, information on higher studies, college planning, personal encouragement, and so on. Mentors are not expected to get their mentee a job or internship.
- How long will the commitment be? Once matched with a student, we ask that you commit to being their mentor until they graduate from or leave Xaiver. If a mentor must leave the relationship early, we request as much notice as possible in order to search for a replacement mentor.
- Are there any potential risks to me or my company? No. It is not appropriate for mentors to engage in any business transactions with their students; instead, the relationship should only involve the flow of general information and advice.
- Relationship is not going well or I am concerned about mentorship, what to do? We encourage letting the student know about the situation and contact mentor@xavier.edu. We will provide our full support to resolve the situation in a positive and satisfactory manner.
Share your expertise with those willing and eager to learn.Mentor DO's
- COMMIT AT LEAST ONE INTERACTION/HOUR OF SUPPORT per month.
- Set aside time for the mentoring process and honor all appointments.
- Invite the student to meetings or activities, as appropriate and encourage students to come to the meeting with planned topics.
- Be flexible on meeting times and places.
- Arrange contacts through telephone, email, face-to-face, etc., as appropriate
- Respond to emails from your student within 2 days of receipt.
- Keep information that your student has shared with you confidential. If the student discloses something concerning, please notify staff by emailing mentor@xavier.edu.
- Establish open and honest communication and a forum for idea exchange.
- Foster creativity and independence. Help build self-confidence and offer encouragement.
- Provide honest and timely feedback to your student.
- Provide opportunities for the student to talk about concerns and ask questions.
- Above all, LISTEN.
Mentor DON'Ts
- Try to give advice on everything.
- Encourage student to be totally dependent upon you.
- Be too busy when the student needs your guidance or support. If you do not have time, give the student a heads up, so that they know when they can reach you.
- Criticize.