Gift of time
Giving comes in many forms, and the gift that is often most precious is the gift of time. The value of your time is priceless as it provides support that money cannot buy and helps connect our alumni with our student community.
Volunteering for Staffordshire University is a great way to support the future graduate community by just being yourself. Sharing your industry expertise, life skills and best practices to overcome challenges, all play a vital part in shaping the graduates of tomorrow. We have short- and long-term opportunities available throughout the year, so even if you only have one hour free a month, there is an opportunity for you.
Opportunities include:
- Be our ambassador! Share on your social media some of the amazing work the University and our students carry out.
- Provide employability experience. Provide a student a placement, internship, or even a shadowing opportunity, with you and your organisation.
- Be our ambassador! Share on your social media some of the amazing work the University and our students carry out.
- Be a mentor - Students and even recent graduates can need guidance and help breaking into industry, and who better to guide them than you?
- Share your experience. We love hearing from alumni, supporters of the University, previous staff members, everyone with a connection to Staffordshire University, and seeing photos and videos, hearing stories and memories, or providing feedback, we want to know what makes you #ProudToBeStaffs!
- Get involved! Could you deliver a guest lecture? Give a short talk on your career path? Be a judge at GradEx?
Career Connect Mentoring, formerly known as Staffs Mentoring, was launched in September 2020 and has since engaged thousands of users, made up of students and professionals. Developed as a tool to aid development, retention and connect our students to industry experts, mentoring has become a part of the culture at Staffordshire University. Mentoring is now an established mechanism to support students from the recruitment phrase, through to graduation and beyond.
What is Mentoring?
Our definition here at Staffs is: ‘Mentoring is a method used to guide and encourage individuals to maximise their personal, academic and professional potential by developing skills they need to be world ready’.
Career Connect Mentoring has 4 main strands: University Life Mentoring, Professional Mentoring, Placement Mentoring, and Preparing for University Mentoring. All mentorships are on a 1-1 basis, mentee led and last for 8 weeks. Mentees have the opportunity to select their own mentor from the MentorNet platform. Mentors are provided with full training and support from the Mentoring Leads.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much experience do I need to be mentor?
We ask that once you have your degree you have at least 12 month’s work experience or be working towards your PhD.
Is there is training and suppor t available?
Yes! There is full training and support available throughout your time as a mentor.
What is the time commitment?
A mentorship usually lasts for 8 weeks, during these 8 weeks we ask up to one hour a week of your time. If you want to continue mentoring after this point you can or you can set your profile as unavailable to skip a mentoring cycle.
Will this be in person?
Mentoring usually takes place via Teams or Zoom, but if both mentee and mentor want to meet in person, we encourage you to do so in a public place.
How many mentees will I have?
The mentor gets to pick is they would like one or two concurrent mentees.
Is it guaranteed that I will be matched to a mentee?
Although we will do our best to find a suitable mentee each time, this is not always possible as it depends on student demand. We are very grateful for your support and if you are not matched during one term, we will do our best to pair you in the next round. There are also other opportunities for you to be involved with that allow you to still share your career journey such as a website profile, being a guest speaker or offering work experience. We will be happy to discuss other options with you too if you are interested.
Are there any other options?
If you have a different gift of time in mind, please get in touch with developmentoffice@staffs.ac.uk to discuss further.
