The mentoring programme by Suomen Mentorit

Our programmes are for educated young talents looking for their first job matching their education or thinking more broadly about the direction of their career or life. A mentor is like a critical friend to a mentee. Critical because a mentor can challenge the mentee’s viewpoints and stimulate new thinking. A friend because the mentor genuinely cares about the mentee’s life and well-being. Our programmes usually last 6 to 12 months, during which the mentee and mentor meet 8-10 times.

Our next mentoring programme in English will be organised as part of the Future in Finland 2026 mentoring programme. Applications are now open! Apply by 9th August! More info can be found here. 

The Future in Finland mentoring programme offers international students the opportunity to participate in one-on-one mentoring, build professional networks, and establish closer connections with Finnish working life. Over 100 international talents will run through a 6-month one-to-one mentoring programme with an experienced professional, focusing particularly on topics such as integrating into Finnish way–of–life, making job search, finding an internship, or a placement for thesis easier.

A multidisciplinary programme

The combining thing with our mentors and mentees is higher education, but we have no limitations regarding the field of education. We are first and foremost a multidisciplinary mentoring organizer and, we believe in the value of encounters between people from different backgrounds. When the mentee and the mentor are from different fields, surprising and fruitful perspectives can occur in joint discussions.

Topics for the meetings

Every mentoring meeting is always based on trust. The topics you can cover during the programme can be, for example, the following: recognizing and articulating competencies, values and dreams, job hunting and job search skills, building networks, well-being and self-leadership and future and career planning. 

Success lies in a clear goal and commitment

At the beginning of the mentoring relationship, the mentee will define a goal that they would like to achieve during the programme. That can be finding a job or clarifying future direction, for example. The mentor will help with insightful questions in setting the goal if necessary. 

The activeness of the mentee and the commitment of both parties are keys to successful mentoring. We also recommend agreeing on shared collaboration principles at the beginning of the process. All these instructions we will go through step-by-step in the kick-start event for those selected for our programmes.

We do the matching – you create the journey

The core of our mentoring programme is the unique shared journey of the mentee and the mentor. Our most important task at Suomen Mentorit is to enable the encounter of the mentee and mentor. We spend time and effort matching mentoring pairs that are as suitable as possible. Please fill out the application form carefully so we have all the necessary basic information to find you a matching pair. After this, the inspiring journey between you two can start. 

Events of the Future in Finland 2026 mentoring programme:

The mentoring programme runs from September 2026 until February 2027 and during these months the mentoring pairs shall meet at least once a month. Besides the one-to-one meetings, the programme has the following complementary events:  

  • 10 September 2026, 16:00-18:00 | International mentoring training (for mentors, on Teams) 
  • 15 September 2026, 16:30-18:00 | The Kick-Off of the programme (Teams) 
  • 12 November 2026, 15:00-19:00 | Follow-up on mentoring training (for mentors) & joint midterm meeting (live, Helsinki) 
  • 4 February 2027, 16:30-18:00 | Closing event of the programme (Teams)

Because surprising things happen in life we reserve the right to change schedules and event contents.

How to participate?

Criteria for our mentees:

  1. You are studying on your last year at a university or university of applied sciences, OR
  2. You have a degree from a university or university of applied sciences
  3. You want to build a career and life in Finland
  4. You are searching for a job matching your education, or you are at the beginning of your career

Due to the number of applicants, we primarily offer a mentor to applicants who meet our application criteria and are applying to the program for the first time. As a mentee, you must also be ready to commit to the mentoring process and mentoring meetings. Please fill out the application carefully to show us your commitment. Active agency and motivation in developing one’s thinking and actions are primary factors for the success of mentoring.

Criteria for our mentors:

  1. You have a university degree or other matching higher educational background and several years of work experience.
  2. You are in an executive, managerial, expert or specialist position or an entrepreneur – we welcome diverse backgrounds!
  3. You are interested in supporting young talents to find their path in working life, clarifying their future direction or solving working life questions.
  4. You want to support international talent in integrating into Finland and Finnish working life
  5. You can commit to at least eight mentoring meetings during the programme

We do not require prior experience in mentoring. The primary factor is that you are genuinely interested in helping a young person at the start of their career!