Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni. Graduate Student Mentoring Program Overview

Transcription

1 Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni Graduate Student Mentoring Program Overview Jan 31, 2010

2 Contents INTRODUCTION...2 BENEFITS...2 MENTOR BENEFITS...3 MENTEE BENEFITS...3 PROCESS AND GUIDELINES...3 REGISTRATION...3 GENERAL GUIDELINES...4 GRADUATE ALUMNI MENTOR GUIDELINES...5 GRADUATE STUDENT MENTEE GUIDELINES...5 ESTABLISHING A MENTORING RELATIONSHIP...6 MENTEE OUTREACH...6 GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER...6 DEFINING GOALS...7 COMMUNICATIONS PLAN...7 CONDUCTING THE RELATIONSHIP...8 TERMINATING THE RELATIONSHIP...8 FOR MORE INFORMATION...8 Introduction The APGA has launched a new initiative in 2010 focusing on graduate student mentoring, to provide a new means for current students to connect and develop relationships with like-minded graduate alumni. Princeton graduate alumni embody many different walks of life and career choices, and offer a wealth of experience on how to navigate the post-graduate career. They have lived through many of the challenges that current grad students face, and have an appreciation for where it all leads. Providing a mechanism for current graduate students to tap into that insight can help to promote deeper student/alumni ties, and help current students build stronger ties to the graduate alumni community. At some point every grad student feels some sense of isolation and that nobody fully appreciates what they re going through, but the reality is that we ve all been there, and having somebody to talk to can help. Benefits The immediate beneficiaries of the proposed mentoring activity would be the graduate students who can connect with like-minded alumni and develop a long-term sustained relationship in which they share views about the various phases of graduate student life and what comes after it. Mentors will be able to share the benefit of their insights with someone eager to learn from them, while mentees can benefit from the wisdom of people who have walked in their shoes. These are discussed below. 2

3 Mentor Benefits The success of this endeavor will depend greatly on our ability to recruit a stable of motivated, energetic mentors who can share their insights with students. What s in it for them? Ultimately it s a volunteer activity with a personal reward. Specific benefits to them include: An opportunity to share what they have learned with people in an earlier stage of life, putting them in a role of being an expert on a subject Expand their professional network. Networking is critical in the modern day workplace, and when done right it benefits everyone involved. Obtain a new perspective on a subject area based on interaction with students at the cutting edge of research Identify potential candidates that the mentor may want to recruit into his or her own organization (obviously more applicable for those graduate alumni in industry or government, relative to academia). Make a personal investment in a graduate student s development and future career Grow their leadership skills Mentee Benefits Graduate students who choose to participate in this program gain the benefit of being able to develop a relationship with someone who has walked in their shoes and taken steps beyond Princeton. Our goal would be to reach out to incoming students during the summer, and focus on 1 st and 2 nd year students as likely mentees. Graduate students will benefit by: Getting a sense of what the different phases of graduate student life (pre/post generals, dissertation preparation, defense, etc.) entail and how to approach them Learning about potential career options after Princeton Identifying concrete job leads based on the mentor s own connections and relationships Expanding their personal/professional network Having a source of constructive feedback on ideas they may have, outside of traditional channels such as their advisor Registration The APGA s homepage for mentoring is: Process and Guidelines We ll provide up-to-date process information at this location, including the most recent copy of this document. To maximize the utility of available resources, the initial plan is to use the existing infrastructure offered by Tigernet s Alumni Careers Network (requires Tigernet login): 3

4 What we are trying to do here is not all that different than ACN s stated objectives. However, the intent with APGA s mentoring process is to be more proactive in terms of guidance given to alumni and students, and to take a more active role in facilitating the formation of alumni/student bonds. The general process will be as follows: 1. Alumni register as mentors by ing us at mentoring@apga.reuniontechnologies.com. We ll ask them to fill out a mentor profile for us and register on ACN. When you register on ACN, please provide as much information as you can, to convey your post-princeton path in life. The mentor profile we ll request via to augment the information in ACN is simple, and consists of the following information: Name Princeton degree, date, and area of study Current affiliation A personal statement about what you can offer as a mentor. This should be something written in the first person that communicates the mentor s reflection on their Princeton experience, how it prepared them for what lay ahead, and their assessment of the value of the Princeton degree in their professional lives. Such information goes beyond the type of information that one might find in a resume or an ACN profile to express the person s perspective as a Princeton graduate alumnus. It will help students find their way to mentors who are kindred spirits in their outlook. Any personal URL you might have, such as a website or LinkedIn profile. 2. APGA develops and maintains a roster mentor profiles that we provide to students. 3. APGA conducts student outreach electronically, through Career Services, and at key events such as reunions, mixers, and new student sign-in. Students interested in taking advantage of the program can contact us at the above address as well. 4. Students identify mentors they d like to connect with using online ACN information and the APGA mentor profiles. Initially we ll make mentor profiles available via , or posted to the APGA website (without contact information). 5. Students connect with the mentors, using the contact information available in ACN. APGA would like to track who s connecting with whom, so we would ask that you let us know via the address mentoring@apga.reuniontechnologies.com. General Guidelines It is important to remember that the mentoring relationship is a two-way street. While it s up to students to initiate the relationship, sustaining it will depend on active, ongoing effort by both parties. Both mentors and mentees have busy lives, and it s up to both of you to make sure that you are completely open in your relationship with one another. 4

5 Graduate Alumni Mentor Guidelines As mentors, you have a wealth of knowledge and experience that mentees may find helpful. Students will contact you to determine whether establishing a relationship makes sense. Give thought to how many students you d like to mentor at once. At first we recommend taking on no more than one mentee. If you decide that supporting a given mentoring request is not feasible, please be respectful in how you communicate that to the student. Please feel free to contact us at the APGA if you d like more guidance on this topic. When you do take on a mentee, please let us know via the address on the cover. If you don t want to hear from any more students until your current relationships have run their course, please let us know and also update your contact preference settings in your ACN profile on Tigernet. Your responsibilities as a mentor are to: Help the mentee refine the goals they may have for the relationship Provide guidance based on the mentee s needs As appropriate, help the mentee connect with others in your network who might be able to help them with specific requests or topics Be a resource for them to help them navigate the challenges of Princeton graduate student life Students are responsible for conducting the initial outreach, but from there mentoring is a shared responsibility. It is critical to note that a mentor s role is not to supplant the student s advisor in any way. Students may be limited in how much they can discuss about the details of their research efforts, and it is not the mentor s role to direct that research. Rather, it s all about the broader experience of being a Princeton graduate student and what comes after it. If at all possible try to have a first meeting in person, perhaps coinciding with previously planned campus events such as APGA mixers, Alumni Day weekend, or Reunions. Graduate Student Mentee Guidelines As a student mentee, the opportunity for you is to develop a long-term relationship with an alumnus with whom you have common interests and perspectives. Your responsibilities in the relationship are: Make initial contact with a prospective mentor Conduct an open dialog to see if the two of you are a good match for one another. Ensure that you and your mentor have a common understanding of what you hope to gain from the relationship If you both agree that working together makes sense, define how you ll communicate with each other: , telephone calls, in-person, etc. The first step is the most challenging, to establish the relationship. The discussion below provides concrete guidance on how to approach initiating a mentoring relationship. 5

6 Establishing a Mentoring Relationship The most challenging phase of this process is likely to be the first step, establishing the mentoring relationship. The mentoring relationship consists of the following general steps: Mentee outreach to connect with a possible mentor Getting to know each other Defining goals Establishing a communications plan Conducting the mentoring relationship Ending the relationship, when both parties feel it has run its course We provide the guidelines below to help people get started. Mentee Outreach The APGA will provide interested students with profiles of prospective mentors. Until we have established a more fully automated system, we ll ask that you inform us when reaching out to a prospective mentor. The mentor profiles we ll provide will give you a general idea of each mentor s experience and perspectives on post-princeton life; enough for you to decide to reach out to them. The easiest way to connect with a mentor may be through . Send a succinct to the mentor communicating the following: Introduce yourself: who you are, what you are studying, what degree you are pursuing, and when you expect to graduate Define your general goals in a mentoring relationship. Are you looking for general career advice, specific job leads, networking contacts, etc.? How you d like to communicate: whatever combination of phone calls, , face-to-face meetings, etc. you d like. Your ideas for how to move forward, asking the mentor for their suggestions as well The APGA wants to place no constraints on how mentors and mentees communicate with each other; what works for one pair of people may not be right for others. This will be something for both of you to determine. Through this initial contact you ll decide if it makes sense to establish a mentoring relationship. Subsequent to the mentee outreach, it s up to the mentor to communicate if they d like to establish a relationship with the mentee, and then work together to establish and sustain it. Getting to Know Each Other Whether you connect via , telephone, or in person, the first thing both parties will want to do is to get to know one another. Given that the goal of this effort is to enable students to reach out to alumni, student mentees should first ask questions of the mentor. The student wants to get an understanding of who the mentor is, and how their life/professional experiences line up with the student s expectations. Topics for discussion include: 6

7 What did you study at Princeton? What did you like most or least about your time at Princeton? What do you do for a living and how did you come to be doing it? What is a specific area of expertise you have that the student might find interesting or helpful? If you have your graduate student experience to do over again, what might you have done differently and why? What person or experience has had a significant impact on your life? After discussing these topics, the mentor might ask similar questions of the student: Where are you from? Where did you do your undergraduate studies? What are you studying at Princeton right now? What are you thinking about doing upon graduation? What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of graduate student life? The purpose of this sort of Q&A is for both people to get to know another, using the shared experience as a Princeton graduate student as a common touchstone. Defining Goals The student mentee will define their goals. Before any discussion with a prospective mentor, it s important for the mentee to have defined what it is they want from the relationship in as concrete terms as possible. Possible goals include: Guidance on how to conduct specific research Career advice on possible post-princeton options (academia, industry, government, etc.) Specific job leads of which the mentor may be aware Networking requests with others in the mentor s circle of acquaintances Information about working in the mentor s industry Assistance with development of specific skills (professional/technical skills, interviewing, presentation, etc.) It s important for the mentor to understand these goals, to ensure that they are something they can help the mentee with. Equally important is to define some boundaries topics or areas that either the mentor or mentee may not feel comfortable discussing. Specific examples in this context might be opinions about specific professors, should they be known to both the mentor and mentee. Communications Plan Having defined mutually agreeable goals, it s important to then define how often you ll connect with one another, and at what point you might want to end the mentoring relationship. Topics for discussion include: How often should we connect with one another? How? 7

8 What will we do if we need to reschedule a meeting? Remember that mentors are busy professionals, and the best laid plans can be derailed by life s demands. How long do we think this mentoring relationship will last? Conducting the Relationship Once both mentor and mentee have agreed upon the goals of the relationship and how to communicate with each other, it becomes a shared responsibility to conduct the relationship. If you ve agreed upon routinely schedule phone calls, s, or even in-person meetings, be respectful of one another s schedules and do your best to stick to it. Life often gets in the way of the best laid plans, and when they do, please make sure that you keep one another apprised. If you have to miss a planned meeting, please make sure that you have some agreed-upon backup plan. As the relationship develops and the mentee advances in his or her Princeton career, goals are surely to change. Both mentor and mentee should revisit them from time to time to make sure that each person is tracking with the other s expectations. Apart from /telephone/in-person meetings, specific activities that could occur in a mentoring relationship include: Attending an event together (workshop, social occasion, etc.) Job shadowing, where the mentee spends a day at the mentor s work location Practice interviews and presentations Terminating the Relationship The time may come when a mentoring relationship has run its course, and it s time for both mentor and mentee to move on. Students graduate, mentors may have life demands that make it difficult to continue the relationship. Please be respectful in bringing the formal relationship to a close, recognizing what it has accomplished for both mentor and mentee. Hopefully this won t be the last time you cross paths with one another, and this formal mentoring relationship facilitated by the APGA becomes the basis for a lifelong friendship. For More Information If you have further questions about this effort that are not answered here, please contact us at mentoring@apga.reuniontechnologies.com. 8