What is mentoring? Expand The aim of mentoring is to offer support to young people, encourage them to develop key life skills and raise their aspirations. As a potential mentor, you will meet with him/her over a set period of time to help motivate, guide and support him/her towards the achievement of agreed positive goals.
What does mentoring involve? Expand Having regular meetings with a young person Providing a young person with support to move towards employment, education or training Supporting a young person to identify goals and targets to work towards Empowering them to make their own decisions about their development Signposting them to other organisations for support
What experience do I need to mentor a young person? Expand Experience of working with young people can be advantageous but this is not mandatory. You are there to inspire your mentee and to share with them your career tips/work experience to date. You do not need specific skills to become a mentor, just enthusiasm and commitment.
How do I get paired up with my mentee? Expand How do I get paired up with my mentee? The LYR Breaking Barriers team will match mentors with mentees. Factors which will be taken into account include: 1) the life skills and work experience you can share 2) safeguarding considerations 3) availability and location that enables commitment to regular meet-ups
Will I work with the same young person over time? Expand Yes. We believe that both the young person and volunteer gain most from the mentoring experience when they have the chance to get to know one another and build a strong mentoring relationship. Therefore we try to make sure you mentor the same young person over time.
How much time do I have to commit as a mentor? Expand Ideally a minimum mentoring time of 12 hours over the course of a year, eg. 8 x 1.5 hours
What does a young person expect from me as their mentor? Expand Support to build their confidence and CV Inspiration from you Good conversations some fun
Is there a set agenda to follow? Expand No, we suggest topics but the conversations depend on what your mentee would find helpful.
Do I have to provide the young person (mentee) with guaranteed work/apprenticeship opportunity within my company? Expand No; your company will have its own guidelines on work experience. You could help signpost your mentee to specific resources on finding work experience/ apprenticeships.
How do I enrol at as LYR mentor? Expand For more information, or to express your interest in becoming an LYR mentor, please contact programme manager Andy Smith on [email protected]