Guidelines & Tips for Mentor Volunteers

This section was created to help maximize your involvement of the program and keep you and your mentee safe while involved in the experience.

Your Mentor Profile

• You are encouraged to keep your mentor profile up to date. It does not assist anyone if your profile is not current.
• The UNO Counseling and Career Center and the Office of Alumni Affairs are concerned about your privacy. You can control how much information is shared with students through the Opportunities Database. When you create your profile, pay particular attention to which methods of communication you allow to be seen. Most students choose to communicate be email so you may either keep your email visible or us the "blind email" option.
• Make sure your job information, career history and UNO involvement sections are detailed and informative. You may even want to create leading, informal statements in your descriptions to help frame the questions; such as "If you have questions about the career path to becoming an accountant or need information about the difference between tax and audit accounting, I will be glad to share information with you."

Making Contact

• If a student would like to contact you to be a mentor to them, they will do that directly. The initial contact will be made from the student directly by way of the contact methods that you have turned on in your mentor profile.
• Emails will come to you either through the Opportunities Database or directly from the student's personal email account. We encourage all students to use their UNO email account to provide an extra level of security.
• When responding to requests to be a mentor, please make sure you establish clear goals and expectations from the very beginning. For example, a student may ask you straight out "will you help me find a job?" You can respond with whatever level of assistance you are willing to offer, but if you are not willing to do that, then make sure you respond appropriately. We do not expect nor encourage students or recent alums to use this service as a way to find employment. We also do not encourage or advise that our mentors start doing so because there may be implied promises that ultimately can't be kept.
• We do encourage you to meet your mentee at least once face-to-face if you all are in the same geographic area. If you would like to meet them on campus, we can arrange a space for you to talk and discuss.
• We do not encourage, condone or advise mentors to meet students at bars, weekends or at locations that would not be appropriate for a professional conversation to take place. We also do not encourage mentors to meet with mentees at their homes, even if you have a home based business, you should still meet the mentee in a neutral location or on campus.

Professional Conduct

• Let's be real for a moment, many students and even some recent alums have not had any professional experience, especially in the areas of communication. Emails are now an extension of many students speaking voice so they are sometimes more relaxed and abbreviated even in their emails. This process may require a little extra patience from you but you can use this experience as a time to share with them the importance of professional communication in all emails and other writing. In higher education, we call these "teachable moments."
• If you are in a situation that is completely unprofessional and you are unable to handle the "teachable moment", please do not hesitate to contact the UNO Counseling and Career Center for assistance.

Tips for Your Meeting/Conversation

• If you do meet, only one meeting is appropriate unless you agree with the mentee for additional meetings.
• If meeting at your office, we encourage you to show them your office or meet co-workers as a way to be involved in the professional environment.
• You are not expected to pay for meals, coffee, etc. It should be expected that it is "dutch treat."
• If you ask about academic performance of the student, please try to assist them in making connections with their future professional life. However, we do not at all suggest that you act as an academic advisor and most importantly please do not use declarative statements like "oh you shouldn't be in that program" or "you should change majors right now."
• Try to think of things you wish you had known before graduation, and share this with the student/recent graduate in terms of expectations vs. realities.
• Many students and alumni may ask you to look at their resume. Please view the resume as a way of getting to know the student not as a purpose of giving them advice of what to change or how to write it. Students get 10-20 different versions of "resume advice" from parents, professors, friends, employers, advisors, the internet, books, magazines, etc. In most cases they all conflict with each other. If they have any specific questions about their resume, refer them back to the UNO Counseling and Career Center.
• Give them advice on which professional organizations are most helpful in their career goals. In many cases, there are student chapters on campus at UNO...or they can join the national association at student rates.
• Again, we do not expect you to help students find jobs. It sets a very slippery slope that you may not want to get on once the word gets around. Even if students ask you to help them find a job, you should do what you are most comfortable with. Remember, you are making a referral to someone who will transfer your reputation to this applicant that you may not know very well.