Career Services eMentoring Orientation

1. Career ServiceseMentoring Orientation

2. Vision To provide an online mentorship program that will help students development both academic and career related goals.

3. Introduction • Mentors can expect students to initiate contact • Students will determine their goals for the program with a career counselor and discuss these with their mentor. • Open and honest communication is the key for a successful mentoring relationship

4. Agenda • What is mentoring • Benefits of mentoring • General Guidelines • Expectations of mentors • Expectations of mentees • Procedures: Where do I go from here? • Providing Constructive feedback • Millennial Generations information • FAQ’s

5. What is a Mentor A trusted and caring friend who provides support, encouragement and information about specific careers, the world of work, and/or related information

6. Benefits of Mentoring For Mentors: • Satisfaction from helping others develop • Share my professional knowledge and experiences with students • To support students in their career exploration • Give back to the community and students • Share professional networks with students • Be committed to sustaining an effective mentoring relationship

7. Benefits of Mentoring For Mentees • Gain knowledge of prospective field • Exploration of career options • Get career advice and support from a mentor in your field • Explore job options and opportunities within the Charlotte community • Help to set and achieve personal/professional goals • Enhance networking skills • Increased confidence and motivation • Enhance communication skills

8. Program Guidelines

9. General Guidelines • Establish a set of communication methods • Discuss appropriate topics • Maintain respect and professionalism at all times • Honor meeting times • Remain committed to the mentoring relationship

10. What is Expected?

11. Expectations for Mentors • Respond to emails and/or phone calls from mentee (as scheduled) • Encourage mentee to establish goals and work towards them • Establish a respectful, friendly and communicative relationship with mentee • Submit final evaluations

12. Expectations for Mentees • Communicate professionally with mentor as scheduled • Schedule meeting times in advance • Be on time • Be flexible and have a variety of available times • Be somewhat familiar with the industry or organization before meeting them mentor • Establish goals and be willing to work towards them • Establish a communicative relationship with mentor • Submit final evaluation

13. Procedures

14. What to do from here? Mentors • Establish a time for contact • Provide feedback and support Mentees • Contact your mentor & introduce yourself • Establish regular monthly contact • Take advantage of the knowledge you learn • Have a list of questions or suggested topics to discuss ready before you speak with your mentor.

15. The Millennial Generation • Many mentees are traditional age college students. Here are some tips for understanding and working with students of this generation. • We hope this information will help you communicate with your mentee in a way that will make the mentoring relationship more effective

16. Providing Feedback

17. Providing Feedback • Providing positive feedback is key to helping your mentee become knowledgeable about career options, the world of work and achieving their goals • However, people react to feedback in many different ways &, therefore, many mentors find it difficult to provide mentees with constructive criticism • The key is assessing the readiness of the mentee to receive feedback and maintaining the balance between supporter and role model

18. Tips for Providing Effective Feedback • Discuss expectations at the beginning of the relationship • Know the mentee’s career related goals and how you can help • Try to balance constructive criticism with positive feedback and encouragement • Ask the mentee if they would like feedback before you give advice • Try to understand the mentee prospective • Practice active listening • Be honest, but tactful • Share the importance of workplace skills and teamwork

19. Tips for Providing Effective Feedback • Remember that you may not have the advantage of face-to face communication in which body language and tone of voice give important cues. Make sure your message is clear and clarify any misunderstandings • Be specific in providing feedback by describing the situation/action to be addressed • Be open and willing to share feedback • Contact Career Services if you encounter a problem that you are uncomfortable handling • Remember that this is a learning experience for your mentee, so be sure to focus on student learning throughout the experience • Most importantly: Have fun!

20. The Millennial Generation born between 1980 and 2000 Millennials’ characteristics: • Confident & Goal Oriented: In addition to being long-term planners, this generation believes that they have the potential to be great. • Hopeful: They are collectively optimistic • Civic minded: Will probably provide us with a new definition of citizenship. • Inclusive Want to learn: • With technology • With each other • On their time & In their space

21. Communicating with the Millennials • Millennials expect and need praise • Will mistake silence for disapproval • Desire feedback • Appreciate clear expectation • Expect detailed instructions and guidelines for completing assignments • Millennials have become “a master set of negotiators” capable of rational thought and decision making skills. Therefore, they will negotiate with anyone

22. Millennials In the Work Place • Work that is personally meaningful is most important • Want their ideas to be treated respectfully • Looking for leaders with honesty and integrity • Want learning opportunities & to be challenged • Seek positive & friendly work environments • Want to incorporate fun into workday • Need orientation to organizational culture • Want flexibility in their schedule

23. Got Questions?

24. FAQ’s • Is there ongoing training? At this point, a formal ongoing training program for mentors is not available. However, additional training resources will be available. If you have questions about how to handle a situation please contact Career Services and we will assist you. • Who would I contact if there is a problem? In the event of an emergency, please call 911 or the appropriate emergency response number. For non-emergencies, contact Career Services (704.330.6551)

25. FAQ’s • Will mentors be provided with a list of suggested activities? The most common activities that mentors will be asked to engage in are informational interviews, career panels, job shadowing or workshops. However, you will be provided a listed of suggested activities to help the mentoring process if you want would like to interact with your mentee more frequently • Will I need to track my interactions with my mentee. Yes, you will need to summarize your activities in the final evaluation. Please keep track of the number of interactions you have with your mentee (not including communications to schedule further meetings), the types of activities you engage in, and the method by which you interact with your mentee.

26. FAQ’s • What kind of advice should I give the mentee? The mentor will only provide career exploration, career related information. • How will I be contacted by mentees? By the Career Services staff? The initial contact from a mentee is by email. However, from that point on you will be contacted by your preferred method of contact that you listed on your registration form. If needed, Career Services will contact you through this preferred method. • What is the process for removing myself from the list of mentors? It is as simple as contacting Career Services staff and asking to be removed.

27. Acknowledgements Some of these materials were adopted from the following: • Mentoring Partnership of Long Island • University of Arizona, Sarah Thompson, ementoring coordinator • State University of New York at Buffalo • Hostos Community College, Bronx New York • Brookdale Community College, Lincroft New Jersey • University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School Association De Accounting Technicians’ Benefits of Mentoring

28. The End • Thank you for completing the online mentor training. • Career Services appreciates your time and willingness to assist current CPCC students. • If you have any other questions, please contact Career Services at (704) 330-6551 or career.services@cpcc.edu.