Alumni Mentoring Scheme

The Scheme provides alumni and their organisations with the opportunity to:

• Share their professional experiences and learning with motivated students who are interested in the alumnus’ field of expertise
• Develop transferrable mentoring and coaching skills for future people management or leadership responsibilities within their own career
• Gain satisfaction from helping motivated students to increase their confidence and progress with their career choices and ambitions
• Promote their sector and profession directly to students, along with potential career opportunities within their organisation
• Build a strong link with Imperial College London

The Mentor role is intended to support and encourage present Imperial students in understanding how best to use their time at Imperial to develop their professional skills, along with providing advice on preparing for the next stage in their career.

In order to promote the scheme's purpose, we are seeking alumni who completed a qualification at Imperial College London within the past 20 years. This is to ensure that current students are paired with mentors who can share insights into entering the graduate labour market and advice on progressing their early-mid career. We greatly appreciate all contributions made by our alumni and please note if you are unable to engage with the Alumni Mentoring Scheme there are various additional volunteering opportunities for Imperial alumni. 

An ideal mentor would be able to help a student by:

• Developing confidence and networking skills
• Providing an insight into graduate career opportunities
• Supporting with one-to-one advice with CV writing and interview skills
• Working in collaboration to prepare for their next career transition.

The standard commitment from a Mentor will be four points of engagement. These engagements can be a combination of face-to-face, telephone, email conversations or via an online platform such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom. The Mentee is expected to be responsible for organising these meetings and reporting their completion of each meeting to the Careers Team via Pathways. 

Before you start as a Mentor you will be provided with our Guide to Mentoring which provides a more detailed outline of the division of responsibilities within the Mentor/Mentee relationship, Mentor/Mentee expectations, logistics and an overview of support for Mentors from the Careers Service. Mentors will also be invited to the Alumni Mentoring Scheme Induction Event where both will receive a brief training session on:

• Key mentoring and coaching skills
• Overview of roles and responsibilities
• Standard expectations and commitments
• Goal setting
• Planning and structuring contact
• Support from the Careers Service

Step 1: Mentor's must complete an online Registration Form, detailing information about their education background, current employment and areas of mentoring support they are willing to offer. 
 
Step 2: The information provided in the forms are collated in to an anonymised directory of individual mentor profiles (Mentor Directory Profile Example). The Directory is only available to Imperial students via a restricted login area on our website. Your contact details and any identifying information will not be included at this stage. 

Step 3: Students submit an application listing their top 3 preferred mentor profiles from the directory and a short statement expressing their motivation and interest in being matched to each.

Step 4: The applications are reviewed by the Placement and Internship Unit and students are matched to one of their preferred mentor profiles. If certain profiles are over-subscribed, priority is given to students from low-participation groups. Please be aware that the Mentee(s) you are allocated may not necessarily match your company's normal recruitment profile but will have expressed a strong interest and motivation in gaining an insight into your sector or occupational area. 

Step 5: Mentor's and Mentee's are notified of the matching outcomes. If you have been successfully matched to one or more mentees, you will be invited to attend a short induction event before connecting with your mentee's to start their mentorship. 

Registrations for the Alumni Mentoring 2024/25 scheme have now closed.

If you are interested in acting as a mentor for 2025/26, please complete our Expression of Interest Form and we will be in touch with more details once registrations re-open. 

If you are interested in volunteering your time on a more ad-hoc basis, please do also consider signing up to our Ask an Alum programme. Full details on how to register can be found on our Ask an Alum webpage. 

If you have any questions about acting as a mentor or participating in either of the above schemes, please contact mentoring@imperial.ac.uk.