Becoming a Sussex Connect mentor
Being a mentor gives you the opportunity to help someone who shares your love of Sussex.
Benefits of mentoring
Mentoring is a powerful method of professional development, and it can benefit individuals across all job roles and functions, within any department or discipline. It is important to find the right mentee for you, and a good place to start is to have something in common.
By becoming a Sussex Connect mentor, you can not only improve your leadership skills and reflect on your own achievements, you can also help change the life of a fellow member of the Sussex community.
Whether you are an experienced professional in your field, or a recent graduate just starting out on your career path, you can become a mentor to:
- improve your leadership skills
- reflect on your own achievements
- increase your job satisfaction – research has shown that mentors were promoted six times more often than those not in a mentoring programme
- extend your network of contacts
- advance your skills and gain new ideas and perspectives from the younger generation.
Our mentors come from various different stages of their career and our mentees have benefitted from hearing from both new graduates and our alumni with long career histories behind them.
Read our mentoring stories to find out more about what some of our alumni mentors have had to say about mentoring on Sussex Connect.
Definitely sign up. Your potential to contribute is greater than you may recognise.” JAHMELLA ROBINSON
Economics (2008) and mentor on our Global Mentoring Programme 2022/23
Get started as a mentor
- Sign up to our online platform – Sussex Connect.
- Once your account has been verified, check your preferences are up to date and your profile includes your career information.
- Reach members on the platform by posting in the main feed about what you can help with. You can include some details about your career journey.
- Take a look at our Mentor Toolkit in our Resources section on Sussex Connect. This contains lots of helpful guidance, including how to look for mentees, more information about your role as a mentor and core mentoring skills.
- Search for potential mentees through our Sussex Connect Directory and send mentees a message offering your services (be sure to filter by those 'Seeking mentoring').
- Before starting a mentoring relationship, you should read and sign a mentoring agreement with your mentee. This contains guidance on confidentiality and what is expected of you in a mentoring relationship.
Mentoring is available on Sussex Connect all year round, but you can update your profile to reflect when you are and aren’t able to offer help.
What is there to lose? If it's because you think you'd feel uncomfortable, push yourself out of your comfort zone. If it's because you think you won't have any useful advice, don't forget how lost we were at a graduate's age. Any advice will be helpful.” simon cunningham (BIOCHEMISTRY 2007)
Biochemistry (2007) and mentor on our 2022/23 Global Mentoring Programme
Maintaining confidentiality
Confidentiality is of utmost importance in mentoring relationships and is essential for building trust and rapport.
If there are situations in which you would not be able to maintain confidentiality, you must make these clear in the first discussion with your mentee. Ensure that any records, notes and correspondence relating to your mentees are stored and disposed of securely.
You should report any criminal conduct, possible harassment, bullying, health and safety or wellbeing incidents/issues by contacting alumni@sussex.ac.uk.