"Start discussing working life early so you’ll better understand where you want to continue developing"

Mentoring is a goal-oriented, reciprocal process. The student—the mentee—takes the lead in the mentoring relationship and sets the goals for their own development. The mentor’s role is to support and guide the student by sharing their experiences and offering different perspectives.

Who is mentoring for?

Students have joined the mentoring programme to clarify their career plans and the direction of their studies, to bounce around dissertation topics, and, for example, to advance and sharpen their artistic practice. Mentoring suits anyone who wants to reflect on their career path and working life.

“I took part to better understand my field, and to learn new technical skills and topics.”

Students have wanted to understand what kind of work environment awaits them in the future. For example, the employability skills needed in the academic community and in the corporate sector interested many participants. Their employability skills also developed during mentoring.

“Mentoring gave me and strengthened the skills I’ll need for my future work as a sound designer. I recommend it.”

Moving from the university world to industry has also been on participants’ minds. Mentoring has helped them weigh different options.

“I wanted to know more about working life in my field—its demands and the possible career paths.”

The purpose of the Mentoring Programme is to support the career design of master’s-level degree students and doctoral students, promote professional development, and act as a bridge between working life and studies.

“I recommend mentoring to doctoral students who are halfway through their doctorate. This is a good moment to reflect calmly on what you want to do after your doctorate, how you’d like to use your expertise in the future, and what steps you can still take to land your dream job.”

Mentees’ goals and needs guide the mentoring process

Students who took part in the mentoring programme that concluded at the end of May encourage future mentees to be active and to think through the purpose of each meeting in advance. The student is responsible for planning the meetings. Where needed, make use of the ideas collected on the programme’s website, such as “6 Ideas for Mentoring Meetings” and “Ideas for Themes for Mentoring Meetings.” At the same time, you’ll be practising and trying out career design. It’s best to meet face to face—for example, in a café or on a walk.

Share, ask, be curious, and listen

In mentoring, there’s no need to be shy about speaking honestly about what’s on your mind—including aspects of the mentoring process itself. As one student from the previous programme noted, you don’t need to “sell” yourself to your mentor. You can also proactively prepare questions for your mentor on topics that interest you.

Mentors find it meaningful to share and reflect on their experiences of studying, moving into working life, and work itself. Mentors have at least four years of work experience after graduation. Most mentors are graduates of Aalto University or its predecessor institutions, as well as alumni of Aalto University Executive Education. Other friends of Aalto are also welcome to act as mentors.