Mentor Guidelines

Welcome to the Penn State Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Society Mentor Program!

The Penn State Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Society mentor program facilitates a one-to-one relationship between a current student and a volunteer alumnus for guidance, information, and networking related to the student's professional development.

The role of a mentor

Mentors serve many purposes. During the course of most mentor relationships, mentor roles are likely to include:

Good listener
Guide
Positive role model
Facilitator of self-esteem and self-confidence
Job Reference

Benchmarking information from other Penn State mentoring programs strongly suggests that personal contact between the mentor and the student is highly recommended to establish trust and enable open communication. Consequently, regular personal contact is desirable but if that is not possible, we recommend a face-to-face meeting early in the student/mentor relationship. However, if your relationship consists mostly of emails, regular contact will go a long way toward establishing the kind of relationship in which the student’s potential is fostered. Consider the use of Facetime or Skype if meeting face-to-face is impossible.

Action planning

Working together with your student on an action plan for the mentoring relationship is a great way to get started. It will help you to start getting acquainted while developing your goals and the basic steps you and your student can take together to achieve them.

Start with a mentor-led conversation on the student’s goals in this mentoring relationship. Discuss the student’s ideas with the intent to help refine the goals. The goals should be realistic and measureable and achievable. A time line should be established; break down the goals as appropriate – see the example on the Student-Mentor Action Plan form.

Consider the following suggestions:

Start with 2 or 3 objectives, make a plan and start work on it.
When the first several goals are achieved, develop another list, make a plan, and execute the plan. Avoid making a long list of goals that will take multiple months to accomplish – keep the list of goals manageable so that progress can be made.
Depending on the student’s year at PSU, the possible goals can varying significantly. The following list is to spark ideas of possible goals.
- Course selection
- Career direction
- Résumé improvement
- Interviewing skills
- What should I expect when I start work and how can I prepare for it?
- How do I decide between job offers?
- How do I decide which firms to contact for an interview?
- Should I pursue a master’s degree?
- Should I pursue my PE? What is the process?

A successful mentor:

Listens intently to the student, and offers comments only when the student is receptive
Is consistent
Is a supporter but not a crutch
Respects confidentiality (except in cases of potential harm to the student or other people)
Has high, but realistic expectations
Respects the student’s commitment by making good use of their time and by being prepared and on time for every meeting.
Doesn’t expect or ask students to “return the favor” by lining up football tickets or a place to stay in Happy Valley.
Understands that he/she isn’t obligated to make commitments, but keeps all commitments made because the student is depending on it.
Keeps the focus on career and professional development. If the student needs other kinds of assistance, direct them to the best place to get it.

The five tasks of a mentor:

Establish a positive personal relationship.

Most important task in mentoring
Requires building trust
Might take a while to cultivate, but be patient
Is unique to each mentoring relationship
Encourages regular interaction and specific support
Should be enjoyable and fun
Should enhance the student’s self-esteem
As in a professional sense should be a good working relationship

Help develop career skills as needed.

Goal setting
Time management
Communications
Teamwork
Critical thinking
Decision making
Perseverance, dedication, accountability
The importance of continuing education

Assist the student in obtaining additional resources.

Act as guide or advocate
Discuss what resources and courses are needed to pursue and achieve goals and ambitions
Act as an adviser, guide and advocate
Be a resource and a network to help identify openings, as appropriate

Increase the student’s abilities to interact with other social and cultural groups.

Broaden the student’s outlook on different kinds of social and business situations
Respect differences; do not promote your values as superior
Help the student understand the behaviors and attitudes needed to interact in the workplace and the larger society
Challenge the student to think about the importance of respecting and functioning in a diverse world

Develop competencies – help the student develop by:

Providing positive feedback on his or her work
Sharing accomplishments and roadblocks you had to overcome in order to be successful
Encouraging him or her to seek new opportunities and experiences

Remember:

This is about the student.

You are agreeing to help your student with his or her career and professional development. Your shared objective should be to have the student achieve a successful start to a good career. Within that overall objective, what you do with your student, and how you do it, is up to the two of you to agree on. You should get the student to set the direction (it is their career!). If they ask for input, offer options, rather than a single direction.

A mentor listens.

Mentors should encourage students to talk about their goals and concerns. Even when much of the relationship might be via email or phone, it is very important to understand clearly the student’s point of view before commenting. However, as in conversation, the mentor should put aside impulses to direct the student in favor of encouraging a process of self-direction.

A mentor advocates.

A mentor can help link students to resources they might not know exist or be able to otherwise access and utilize.

Please take advantage of connections and associations you have on behalf of your student.

A mentor builds on the positive.

Whenever possible, approach the goals, issues, and/or problems of your student in a positive light, building on related strengths that he or she has demonstrated. You can be the one to help your student see the connection between actions of today and dreams and goals of tomorrow. Be as concrete and relevant as possible.

A mentor encourages.

Mentors can help build self-confidence and self-esteem to last a lifetime by focusing on the talents, assets, and strengths of the student.

A mentor turns opportunities into learning experiences.

Keep an eye out for learning opportunities and teachable moments. If your student expresses an interest in something, take advantage of the situation to help him or her develop the interest further.

You may find that you develop a rewarding relationship with your student in the course of your work together which continues beyond graduation. If so, great! But even if this does not develop, you can still get the satisfaction of helping a Penn State engineer get off to a great start in his or her career.

Outside Resources

As part of the mentoring process, the mentor should be encouraging the student to read articles relating to life after graduation. These articles or books should be selected to assist the student in broadening their knowledge base to equip them for the demands of their profession.

Mentoring assistance and/or advice can be obtained by contacting Willis Heisey.