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The University of Southampton
Professional Development

Getting started

mentor getting started

Whether you want a mentor or want to be a mentor, the first step is to speak to your Line Manager, Director, Head of Department / School, or colleagues. This way you can find out about existing or potential mentoring opportunities within your area.

Considerations before becoming a mentor or mentee

Whether you're considering becoming a mentor or mentee, it is beneficial for both parties to gain an understanding of the key things to consider before getting started.

As a Mentor, you should consider:

As a Mentee, you should consider:

mentor chatting to mentee

Considerations when deciding if the mentoring relationship is right

Preparation will be key in building and maintaining the relationship.  With any new mentoring relationship, prepare for the initial discussion so that you get to know each other to be able to know if the relationship is right.

As a Mentor, you should consider:

For example:

mentee campus

As a Mentee, you should consider:

further resources

Further Resources

Mentoring seeks to enable you to reach your potential by linking you to the support of an experienced colleague.  Your Line Manager, Director, Head of Department/School or colleagues may also be able to offer their insight from previous experiences or help you to find out about existing or potential mentoring opportunities within your area.

There are some local mentoring initiatives in place across the University to support staff and students on a variety of topics, including career goals, research grants, navigating life changes and more. Each mentoring scheme offers something different, and we have included a snapshot of live University mentoring schemes below:

Mentoring Scheme

Who can participate? Open to mentees? Open to mentors? How do I find out more?
Faculty of Medicine Mentoring Scheme All FOM colleagues, PGR students and clinical academic trainees Yes

Yes

Also open to mentors outside of Medicine

Have a look at the SharePoint Site

Email: [email protected]

Electronics and Computer Science Mentoring Scheme All ECS colleagues Yes Yes Email: [email protected]
Mechanical Engineering & ISVR Mentoring Scheme All staff and PGRs in Mech Eng and ISVR Yes Yes

Email: [email protected]

Email: [email protected]

Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences Mentoring Scheme All FELS colleagues and ECRs Yes Yes Email: [email protected]
School of Humanities Mentoring Scheme All Humanities colleagues Yes Yes Email: [email protected]
Centre for Higher Education Practice

Available to everyone:

  • Gaining fellowship of Advance HE through CHEP PGCAP or CHEP PREP
  • Applying for a National Teaching Fellowship or Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence
Yes Yes Email: [email protected]

Student Career Mentoring Programme

Annual scheme from September

All staff are invited to be mentors Open to students and graduates Yes- open to all staff from all industries and no experience required

Have a look at the SharePoint site

Email: [email protected]

Library Staff Mentoring Scheme

All Library Staff Yes Yes

Have a look at the SharePoint site

Email: [email protected]

If you know of any existing opportunities or schemes within the University that we can promote through these web pages, please email the details (including School/Department and a contact email address) to Leadership & Management Development

For additional resources on mentoring, visit:

Good Practice - log in using your University email address

LinkedIn Learning - Recommended bitesize audio course 'How to build a secret circle of mentors’ . Adapted from the Modern Mentor podcast, the course identifies six types of “secret” mentors—people who can teach you critical skills from afar.

Pocket Books

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