Become a mentor
Sign up to the Aalto University Mentoring Programme 7th-16th January 2025! Read more about the mentor's role and how to join on this page.
The Aalto University Mentoring Programme is a six-month Programme running from January to June.
The Programme includes
- Briefing sessions for students (on campus) and for mentors (on Zoom)
- One-to-one mentoring meetings approximately once a month during January-June
- Halfway checkin survey and feedback survey at end of the Program
What mentoring may provide you as a mentor
- Opportunity to develop your mentoring, coaching and interpersonal skills
- Opportunity to structure and assess your own skills and experiences
- New perspectives and knowledge
- Chance to develop and expand your professional network
- Chance to meet a representative from a foreign culture
What we expect from you as a mentor
- Support the development of the student’s working life skills as a mentor
- One-on-one time with the actor once a month, on average
- Conversational and questioning approach instead of giving instructions
- Ability to set targets and agree on practical matters with the actor
What we do not expect from you as a mentor
- You are not required to offer your actor a job or an internship
- You do not need to answer every single question that your actor has
- You do not need to share all of your contacts with your actor
Please note that we are not able to cover possible mentoring-related travel expenses.
Who are the actor candidates?
The actors are Finnish and international Aalto University degree students who are currently completing their master’s or doctoral degree. When you sign up, you can choose whether you want to mentor a master's degree student or a doctoral degree student. The students have applied as actors on basis of their individual needs and expectations. Students applying to the programme represent almost all of Aalto University's fields. About half of the actor candidates are international students. Most of the students applying for the programme do their first degree, but there are also so-called adult students. Students do not received study credits for completing the programme.
The majority of the students applying to the Programme reside in the capital area. Some students may be in student exchange during the Programme, so it is good to prepare to organize also remote meetings with the actor.
Who can sign up as a mentor?
We primarily search for mentor candidates who are a graduates of Aalto University or Aalto University Executive Education or their predecessors. But also graduates of other universities are welcome to sign up.
Since a mentor should have a senior position to their actor, we wish you would have at least four years of working experience after graduation. We hope that alumni applying as mentors are still actively connected with the working life.
It is desirable that the mentors for doctoral students have completeled a doctoral degree themselves and have built a career outside of academia.
We hope to welcome mentors who primarily live and work in Finland, so that face-to-face meetings are possible.
– Experiences from the mentoring programme”I always learn how new minds start to approach the business world. New ideas, new enthusiasm and also new topics like sustainability.”
Sign up as a mentor candidate
You can sign up as a mentor candidate by logging in to the Aalto University mentoring platform and filling in a mentor profile. Mentoring pairs are formed on the platfrom. A student who wants you as a mentor can send you a mentoring request directly on the platform. If you accept them as your mentee, both of you will receive each other's contact details by email and you can arrange your first mentoring meeting.
Before signing up for the mentoring platform, please read the additional information below.
Due to the building of our new mentoring platform, the 2025 programme and registration will start slightly later than usual.
Schedule 2025
- Mentors sign up as mentor candidates 7th-16th January 2025
- Students search for a suitable mentor candidate and send a mentoring request 20th-26th January 2025.
- Briefing Sessions are organized for matched students Tue 28th January 2025 (on campus) and for new mentors Thu 30th January 2025.
The Programme runs for approximately 6 months from January to June, during which you will meet your actor once a month.
- Log in to the Aalto University mentoring platform in January and fill in your mentor profile.
Fill in your profile carefully, as students will assess whether you might be a suitable mentor based on the information you provide. - Wait for a mentoring request from a student.
Students will be able to log in to the platform and browse mentor profiles. When a student requests you as a mentor, you will receive a notification of the mentoring request in your email. - Accept the mentoring request on the platform.
If you think you are a suitable mentor for the student, accept their request. Once the request has been accepted, you will both receive an email with each other's contact details. If you do not think you are a suitable mentor for the student, you can also reject the request. - Set up your first mentoring meeting.
- Sign up for the Mentors' Briefing Session.
We recommend the mentor briefing especially for new mentors, but everyone is welcome! The event will take place Thu 30th January 2025 on Zoom.
Note! Please respond to incoming mentoring requests as soon as possible. Students can only submit one mentoring request at a time on the platform, so if you feel you are not a suitable mentor for a student, please reject the request as soon as possible. This will allow the student to submit a mentoring request to a new candidate, thank you!
You can receive two mentoring requests at a time. If you have indicated that you would like to mentor one student, your profile will be removed from the mentors list once you have accepted one mentoring request and found a pair. If you have indicated that you would like to mentor two students, your profile will be removed from the list once you have accepted two students as your actor. If you do not feel you are a suitable mentor for a student, you can also reject the request(s). In this case, your mentor profile will be released again for students to view and you can receive a new mentoring request.
For the mentor profile, we ask you to fill out information on your educational background, professional background and career experience.
Please note that your email address will not be visible in your mentor profile to all students logged in to the platform. Your email address will be sent by email only to a student whose mentoring request you accept.
Your date of birth is asked for authentication purposes, but is never shown to other users of the platfrom, not to the student sending the mentoring request nor to a student you accept as a mentee.
Mentor profiles are available for browsing by students logging on to the platform. Students log in with their HAKA ID, which means that only Aalto University students (or staff) can log in and view your profile.
On the platform, we ask for the language(s) in which you are willing to mentor. Around half of the students seeking for a mentor through the mentoring programme are international students, so we would like to see as many mentoring candidates as possible who are willing to mentor international students in English.
Please note that the needs of international students for mentoring may be different from those of Finnish students, for example, they may not be so familiar with Finnish working life and the labour market in Finland.
The mentoring programme materials are in Finnish and English and the events are in English.
Mentoring Programme: Frequently asked questions
Here you will find the most frequently asked questions about the mentoring programme. If you can't find the answer, please contact [email protected].
Reach out for more information
