The mentoring programme by Suomen Mentorit

Our programmes are for educated young talents under the age of 36 years. When starting our programmes, mentees are typically 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 approximately one year, during which the mentee and mentor meet 8-10 times.

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 a lot of time and effort in matching mentoring pairs that are as suitable as possible. Please fill out the application carefully so that 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 mentoring programme 2022-2023

  • 9.11.2022 at 13:00-15:00: Kick Off of the Programme (live)
    • VTT FutureHub (Tekniikantie 21, Espoo)
  • 11.11.2022 at 8:00-9:00: Q& A- session (remote)
    • If you cannot make it to the Kick Off or still have some questions, you can chat with our coordinator Iida in Teams
  • 24.11.2022 at 17.00-19.00: Unusual career paths – making changes and finding your way (live)
    • Place: OP Vallila, Vääksy 4 Auditorium (Vääksyntie 4, 00500 Helsinki)
  • 22.3.2023 at 18.00-20.00: Double dating afterwork for mentors and mentees (live)
    • Place: Bruuveri, Helsinki (Fredrikinkatu 63 AB)
  • 4.4.2023 at 16.30-18.30: Networking event for mentoring pairs
    • Place: Vincit/Tampere
  • 11.5.2023 at 8.30-9.30: Mentees’ Morning Coffee: A career abroad (remote)
  • August 2023: Mentees’ summer picnic (live)

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

How to participate?

Our third mentoring programme in English is now running.

The applications for our next mentoring programme open in Autumn 2023!

Criteria for our mentees:

  1. You are studying at a university or university of applied sciences, OR
  2. You have graduated from a university or university of applied sciences
  3. You are searching for a job matching your education, or you are at the beginning of your career
  4. You want to build a career and life in Finland
  5. You are no older than 35 years

Due to the large 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, because we look at it as one factor of commitment. Active agency and motivation in developing one’s own thinking and actions are key factors for the success of mentoring.

Wonderful, that you are interested in our mentoring programme! Applications for the next programme will open in September 2023.

Criteria for our mentors:

  1. You have a university degree or other matching educational background and several years of work experience
  2. You are in an executive, managerial, expert or specialist position
  3. You are interested in supporting young talents to find their path in working life
  4. You can commit to at least eight mentoring meetings during the programme

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

Wonderful, that you are interested in becoming a mentor! Our next programme will open in September 2023.