Alumni network managers rightly consider the level of student interest in a mentoring programme as a central point in the decision to launch their programme. But it is also important to consider that the critical resource of a programme is the mentors! In any case, this initiative will bring your community together and make it shine at all levels.
- Benefits for mentees
- Benefits for mentors
- Benefits for your network
- Bonus: Successful mentor recruitment campaigns
Benefits for mentees
Whether student or alumni, the mentee is in a learning position. Supported and assisted by their mentor, the mentor’s experience and wisdom will guide them towards their goal.
Whether you are looking for an internship, a work-study programme or simply for academic support, the mentoring programme can be adapted to all needs. It can also concern the development of a particular skill. 50% of HEC Alumni mentees are graduates and the other 50 are students, proving that the programme is of interest to all, whatever the objective.
Participating in a mentoring programme during their studies allows mentees to get used to this type of relationship, which is becoming more common in companies, and to develop soft skills that will be useful in their future professional life. Sciences Po Lille even goes so far as to support the professional integration of its students through mentoring.
Mentoring is increasingly developed in large groups such as the L’ORÉAL Foundation or the Institut Pasteur.
Benefits for mentors
There is a common misconception that it is difficult to convince a graduate to give time to their peers through a mentoring programme.
Not so, alumni are often very willing to sponsor a student who is following the same academic path. It often happens that alumni engage in a mentoring relationship by justifying that he/she “wanted to give back to Dauphine what it had given him/her”. At our partner Dauphine, for example, during events organised around mentoring, pairs testified to promote the programme. And it is with joy that the majority of the alumni mentioned that they had gone there to help.
This is the finding of a study published in the Journal of Managerial Psychology. The researchers found, through analyses of the mentoring programme set up for the study, that “mentoring improves and enriches the leadership skills of mentors“.
Benefits for your network
Alumni institutions and associations all have the primary objective of bringing together their members, connecting them and creating a strong community. For Théo Dorp, Consultant for the EDHEC Alumni Association, “the objective of an alumni network is to engage its members and develop a strong sense of belonging. As soon as a member stays connected with his peers, thanks to a mentoring or flash mentoring programme, the association or the institution wins in terms of image, it’s quite strong!
A mentoring programme contributes to the influence of the school in the sense that it brings an important added value for future students. The alumni network is a strong asset in the choice of a course. The mentoring programme thus reinforces its attractiveness. The possibility for a student to be mentored reinforces his or her attraction for the schools offering this service.
BONUS: 3 tips to successfully recruit your mentors
Call for mentors
Send an email to members of your network who have 5 years or more experience in their field. They will certainly be interested and feel valued.
Reconnect with mentors from previous programmes
They repeat the experience very often, so it is a sure source of recruitment. Organise speed mentoring events, and some mentors will be more likely to join your programme.
Recruiting those who come forward
Some members of the association come forward on their own to become a mentor, often when they have been mentored themselves because they want to give back.
Do you want to go further? We have compiled testimonials from leading schools and universities that have successfully launched their mentoring programmes. Something to guide you if you plan to launch your own!
And you can find all the features of mentoring made in AlumnForce on our dedicated page.
