Graduate to Student Mentorship Programme

The Mentorship Programme assists students in your professional and career development.  It provides an opportunity for you to be mentored by graduates (alumni of DCU) who are able to offer support in helping you develop your career ideas, clarifying goals and improving your employability. 

The Mentorship Programme helps you to find out more about career areas that interest you. You have the opportunity to meet monthly with a graduate (alumni) about your career ideas and they can also help you with your CV and interview techniques. You may also have the opportunity to undertake a work shadow day at your mentor's organisation. 

The mentors are graduates from the DCU Alumni Community who are working in organisations from large Irish household names, multinationals, SMES, family businesses and start-ups.

The mentees are current DCU second year students.

• Helps you to start thinking about your career ideas
• Find out what it’s like to work in a particular area
• Get to know employers who hire DCU graduates
• Gain insights into workplace and employability skills such as communication and collaboration
• Receive personalized support, feedback and recognition
• Build self-confidence and understand your skills and abilities
• Make professional contacts
• Great addition to your CV
• Opportunity to gain the Mentorship Badge.

Second year undergraduate students.

The Mentorship Programme is a voluntary activity.  It is about 15 hours between October and April. In addition, you may also undertake a work shadow day at your mentor's organisation. 

September 2023

October 2023

November 2023

Dec / Jan / Feb  2023

March 2024

April 2024

What is the Application Procedure and closing date

Application Form available here. Closing date to apply is Sunday 8th October 2023. 

• Complete an online application form. 
• The application form asks three questions to help find the best fit mentor for you. 

  • Please tell us about yourself? (For example, what you are studying, modules you like, work experiences, participation in clubs & societies etc).

  • What career would you like to explore at this point in time?

  • In one or two sentences, why would you like to join the Mentorship Programme

  • Select your top two career areas of interest

Tips for Application Form

• Take the time to think about your profile before submitting the form. This is important for matching you with the most suitable Mentor.
• Think about how you intend to use the experience of mentoring to move your career ideas forward. Mentoring involves reflecting on your experiences, listening to your mentor and then putting the advice into practice.
• Be specific about the areas you are keen to have a mentor from and try to focus on job areas.

Before Submitting

• Does it read well?
• Have you tailored your answers to the questions?
• Have you thought about the Mentor who will be reading your profile?
• Check grammar and spelling to ensure you are creating the most positive impression.
• Also keep a copy of your form so you have this for reference if you are successfully matched on the scheme.

By submitting the Application Form, you are consenting the information (excluding student ID, email and contact number) in the Application Form to be made available to the mentors who have signed up to the Programme.

The mentors (graduates from the DCU Alumni Community) review the Application Forms to select their respective mentee (student) via Loop. 

Mentors and Mentees will receive an email from the DCU Alumni Office with details of the mentorship pairing. This email will share mentee details with their mentor. The email will ask mentors to contact mentees to arrange the first meeting. 

The mentorsgraduates from the DCU Alumni Community who are working in organisations from large Irish household names, multinationals, SMES, family businesses and start-ups. They have worked for a number of years and have been identified as role models. The mentor often shares his/her career experiences, advises and informs the mentee.

One to one meetings with your mentor, activites and events. 

Activites to be undertaken by the mentee (student)

• Regular meetings with your Mentor. The Mentee organises and meets with your Mentor once a month over the period of the Mentoring Programme from October to April.  
• Submit a Reflective portfolio demonstrating reflective learning arising from participating in the Mentoring Programme and how it has developed you, your skills and career ideas (max 500 words).
• In addition, mentees may also undertake a work shadow day. This is discussed with your mentor to confirm if they can facilitate it.

• Meet with your mentor once a month. 
• Meetings about 1 hour in duration.

An email will be sent to you and your mentor as a way of introduction. Then, the mentor will email you to make initial first contact. After this, it is the mentee'e role to arrange the mentoring meetings. 

Mentoring meetings to be arranged in a suitable location, for example, on the DCU campuses or the mentor’s place of work, for example, a workplace common room.

As with extracurricular activities and off campus meetings, please ensure you share the meeting detail, travel route and expected return time with a friend or family member. 

• Discussing career areas of interest
• exploring job roles and sectors
• Exploring options after university
• Reviewing a CV/LinkedIn profile
• Practicing interview skills, professional communication and networking
• Finding out more and develop key skills required for the workplace.
• Clarifying and working towards your career goals

• Students who are motivated to improving their employability and professional development skills.
• Students open to ideas and feedback
• Students committed to participating for the full duration of the scheme
• Students who are prepared to commit to your future through this programme.

• A student that is willing to drive the process; organising meetings, articulating what you would like to gain, what areas you are interested in finding experience in and asking questions etc.  Remember the mentor is volunteering their time.
• That you are committed to achieving what you set out to do, for example, helping to increase your self-confidence, insights into roles and sectors etc

On completion of the programme which includes the submitting of your reflection, mentees will receive a Badge of Completion.

"The DCU Mentorship programme was a firm highlight of my time in university. It's a fantastic opportunity to meet a professional in your area of study and learn valuable career insights, enhance employability skills, access a broad network of professionals and improve your CV."

"This programme was definitely a first step insight of a professional career and how it is to work in the public sector. Hearing from my mentor's experiences, the challenges and opportunities along the way, inspired me to work even more towards a future career and be better prepared in the sense of expectations. Also, it is a good chance to start developing those networking skills! I would definitely recommend this programme."

"A really worthwhile programme which allowed me to gather invaluable information on my career area. I would highly recommend this to every student!"

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time on the DCU Mentorship Programme. I found it extremely beneficial as it helped to build my self-confidence which was especially important before I began the process of securing my third year Intra Placement. Although I was paired with a mentor who was based overseas, we Skyped regularly and still keeping contact over a year later."

"Very good programme and helps with employability as it shows you have taken time out of your schedule to find out more about your career. Very good on the CV and was a talking point in all interviews. Helps you find out if you really want to go down that career path from someone who is in that field."

The DCU Mentorship programme is an award winning programme that matches students with graduates. The mentor will be in a position to access your details through Loop and select someone that they see as a good fit for them.

While it can be challenging when two people are meeting through Loop, you will see why it’s important to put some thought into how you present yourself on Loop. In our experience, this method has been very successful over the years. In some instances, we may need to match some people manually.

Of course, in many cases, your mentor may be working in an area that is of interest to you. However, it should be stressed that some mentors may not be working in your chosen area. This can actually have added advantages and it is vital to remember that your mentor has volunteered to give their time and expertise to help you to navigate your way into your chosen career. Of course, no mentor would volunteer to do so if they were unable to provide you with help in making the transition into your career.

The role of the mentor goes far beyond simply discussing their experience of your sector. Let’s look at that role. They are there to provide you with support, be a role model, share some personal examples to help you while you are in college, help you to consider all your career options, provide some emotional support, be a sounding board for you, help you with your journal, your cv and applying for roles, and to give you some constructive feedback. In order to do this, a knowledge of your sector is not necessary for them.

It is not a condition for the mentor that they would introduce you to people in their network, although some mentors may offer to do this for you. Remember that mentors tend to have wide networks. You don’t know at this point who they know, and they may be able to introduce you to someone in their network who does have direct experience of your sector. Remember that the more you are in a position to grow your own network now, with a little support and encouragement from your mentor, the more you will open up possibilities for yourself.

We have had students in the past who had been disappointed when their mentor had little or no experience of their sector. They expressed high levels of satisfaction with their mentor by the end of the programme, indeed some still maintain contact with their mentor many years after the programme has ended.

Some of the factors that will help you to make the transition into your career as you graduate are flexibility, adaptability and openness to experience. Research into mentoring tells us that your curiosity, inquisitiveness, and enthusiasm will encourage your mentor to work with you. If you become less engaged, it can discourage the mentor, remember, the mentor has volunteered to help, but you must do the work!  Do check out Carol Dweck’s research into Growth Mindsets.

An effective mentoring relationship is one that should challenge you – you will be asked to work outside of your comfort zone. This is where the real growth happens!