The Mentee Experience

The IDS alumni office has successfully completed two rounds of our new Matched Mentoring scheme and are excited to open applications for round three! For this round of matching the alumni office will be giving priority to recent graduates (class of 2021-2023), however that doesn’t mean you cannot apply if you are a current student or graduated before 2021.

The alumni office will match mentees with suitable alumni mentors (with the help of a mentoring specialist) who have a wealth of relevant thematic and sector specific experience and/or similar values or personal attributes and together, the mentor and mentee will embark on a long term (6 month) mentoring relationship where the mentor will help the mentee with setting and achieving their professional development goals.

Both the mentor and mentee will attend a mandatory workshop (2nd November Time tbc) prior to meeting their match where they will learn more about what is expected of them in this programme and best practice for a successful mentoring relationship.

Read what some of our mentees have said about the matched mentoring programme and see how being part of the matched mentoring programme can help your professional development!

Matched Mentoring Mentee Applications
Tips for Great Mentee Applications

Mentor Suitability 

“Since I had extensive working experience and my career goal is to get into leadership positions in development sector, I was rightly matched with a mentor who I could look up to in terms of experience, expertise, professional achievements and personal competences.”
Nidhi (MADev15)

“The match was suitable because of our shared interests and vision. From the beginning, we were clear about the objectives to achieve through the mentoring programme, and we both did our part to achieve them. We are both moved by the idea to make a difference - even small differences - and to impact this world.”
Sharone (MADev15)

"From the outset I had very specific goals in mind and my mentor has been a great match. My mentor has helped me think through how to overcome challenges, different ways of working, and helped me break down my goals into achievable steps - it has been great for my professional development and I would thoroughly recommend it!"
Katherine (MADev14)

Setting Goals

“My mentor helped me in finding and applying the right tools to map my strengths and weaknesses, rightly emphasizing my strengths in my CV and creating a personal business model. She also directed me towards women leadership platforms which I could use to build my own network.”
Nidhi (MADev15)

“My mentor helped me figure out the core of my problems in setting my goals. Instead of focusing only on a certain career goal, she focused more on finding out what I really want out of my career helping me to reflect and set goals that are suitable for my life goals in general.”
Elda (MADev13)

"My mentor was helpful setting goals, especially during my internship. He helped me before my internship started to build a workplan, to ask myself relevant questions, and encourage me to better understand the organisation's vision."
Sharone (MADev15)

Reaching Goals

"My mentor has been extremely helpful in guiding me on how to develop my leadership skills."
Nidhi (MADev15)

“My mentor helped me identify the challenges and opportunity that I faced - both internally and externally - that hindered/supported me to have career progress. She was also very mindful and open to provide me advice from her own experiences.”
Elda (MADev15)

“My primary goal from this programme was to gain guidance in the first step of my career and learn from a successful professional in international development and the challenges I might face. My mentor helped me reach my goal by introducing me to individuals in his network who work on climate change. Through these connections, I engaged in interesting discussions, and I believe that it can open doors for collaboration in the future. My mentor also gave me advice on my CV, on interviews, boosting my confidence.”
Sharone (MADev15)

What our Mentees Learnt 

“From my mentoring relationship, one of the most memorable things I learned was a Swahili quote that my mentor shared with me during a conversation: "Mwenda pole hajikwai" – Whoever goes slowly and kindly does not stumble. As I am making my first steps in my career in development, I often want to get quick results and immediate progress, but my mentor often reminds me to let things flow naturally and keep exploring different things that passionate me while remaining committed to my actual assignments. He emphasized the importance of rethinking my personal vision goal and purpose, and to keep my long-term desire to learn and contribute to the better world beyond the self while staying authentic. Finally, I learnt to make the most of any situation I find myself in and embrace where I am and what I am doing, whether I like it or not. I believe that what I learnt would help me in the future and my next steps.”
Sharone (MADev15)

Matched Mentoring Mentee Applications
Tips for Great Mentee Applications