DCU Career Mentoring 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
• Find out about career areas of interest, occupations and sectors
• Explore options with your degree
• Improve your employability potential.  

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 mentors are based in Ireland and/or abroad. So your mentoring relationship could be in-person, online or both! 

The mentees are current DCU second year students.

• Helps you to start thinking about your career ideas
• Better understanding of options with your degree and its application to jobs and industry sectors
• Find out what it’s like to work in a particular area
• Receive personalized support, feedback and recognition
• Improved contacts and expanded networks
• A strong example of career planning and motivation for CV/Applications
• Increased confidence in decision making and identifying opportunities
• Develops various transferable skills, particularly communication and professionalism
• Get to know employers who hire DCU graduates

Second year undergraduate students.

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. They have worked for a number of years and have been identified as role models. 

The mentors may be based overseas and your mentoring relationship may be virtual for the duration of the programme. 

The mentors are located in Ireland or overseas.

The mentors may be based overseas and your mentoring relationship may be virtual for the duration of the programme. 

The DCU Alumni Office invite graduates from the DCU Alumni Community to mentor.

Graduates complete a mentorship application form and the Alumni Office check they are a graduate of DCU. 

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

September 2024

Note: You must attend an Information Session in order to apply for the Mentorship Programme. Click here for the dates and times of Information Sessions. 

October / November / December 2024

 Jan / Feb 2025

March 2025

April 2025

What is the Application Procedure and closing date

Attend an Information session after which the Application Form will be emailed to you.
Closing date to apply is Sunday 6th October 2024. 

• Complete the 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. 
• 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 Programme.

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 introductory 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. Please check you spam forlder in case the email does into this folder. 

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

Activities 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 600 - 800  words).
• In addition, mentees may also undertake a work shadow day. This is discussed with your mentor to confirm if they can facilitate it.

• Discuss career areas of interest
• Explore job roles and sectors
• Explore options after university
• Review a CV/LinkedIn profile
• Practice interview skills, professional communication and networking
• Find out more about and developing key skills required for the workplace
• Clarify and work towards your career goals

• It is expected that the mentor and mentee will meet for approximately 60 minutes once a month on 5-6 separate occasions or for approximately 60-90 minutes on 4-5 separate occasions over your mentoring period. 

• Meetings can be in person or online or both. If meetings are in person, they are to be arranged in a suitable location, for example, on the DCU campuses or the mentor’s place of work or an appropriate public place for example, a coffee shop or a mentor’s workplace common room.

Once you have been matched, you should receive an email from alumni@dcu.ie introducing you to your mentor. We ask the mentor to email you initially to arrange the first mentoring meeting.  Please check your spam folder in case the introductory email went into it.

After the first meeting, it is the responsibility of the mentee (student) to organise all subsequent meetings and drive the mentoring relationship. The mentor will be expecting you to contact them. 

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. 

If meeting your mentor online, it could be via zoom. 

• Students who are motivated to improving their career development and employability potential.
• 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.
• Students who set your objectives and committed to achieving what you set out to do.
• Be committed – for example, attending planned sessions and taking actions agreed with your mentor.
• Be open to new ideas, absorb new language, terminology and concepts.

• 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 and submission of the Mentorship Reflection, mentees will receive a certificate of participation known as a digital badge.

"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, be a sounding board for you, 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!

The Careers Service is the contact point for mentees (students) on the Mentorship Programme. 

We will:

• Provide support for all student mentees, including support with mentoring documentation.
• Deliver an induction session for mentees.
• Address issues arising in a mentoring relationship, these may be identified through the mid-term evaluation or brought to the attention of the Careers Service directly by the mentee themselves throughout the duration of the programme.

After matching, we will give you a Mentoring Handbook that provides more detail and advice about

• Organising meetings
• The mentoring partnership
• Structure and process
• Skills sessions
• Work shadow day
• 2024/2025 Mentorship Hub on Loop
• Reflection and Mentorship Digital Digital Badge
• Mentor and Mentee of the Year Award
• Evaluation

It's important to attend the information session to understand what the career mentoring programme involves. In the past, some students who did not attend the session felt that the programme wasn't what they expected. To avoid this, we’re requiring everyone to attend an information session before applying this year.