The application period for the group mentoring of season 2022 – 2023 has closed. If you applied you will receive an email about your group from the career services by the 28th of October. Thank you to all who applied for the programme!

More information: careerservices@helsinki.fi

Please note: because of a technical error that occurred during the weekend the application form for students is open until 17.10. at 23:59. If you didn’t manage to sign up during the weekend you can do it today!

The application period for group mentoring programme has been extended until 16th of October 2022. We’ve switched one of the groups to English (Henrik Wolff) and there is also still room in the Finnish speaking and the Swedish speaking groups. The groups will be filled in order of registration.

Read more about the mentors and read the application instructions & sign up!

In group mentoring you as a student will get the opportunity to discuss different career paths and their strengths related to job hunting. The group brings added value, as students receive the support not only of their mentors, but also peers in the same situation.

Read more about group mentoring.

The programme is organised by UH Career services together with Helsinki Alumni -network.
More information: careerservices@helsinki.fi

The group mentoring 2022–2023 starts in November and it is the 12^th season of the programme. Students can apply by the 9^ht of October. The groups will be filled in order of registration, so act fast!

In group mentoring you as a student will get the opportunity to discuss different career paths and their strengths related to job hunting. The group brings added value, as students receive the support not only of their mentors, but also peers in the same situation.

After the previous season of the group mentoring programme nearly 100 % of the actors and mentors who answered to the feedback survey recommended taking part in the mentoring process!

– Mentoring was a safe space to discuss about professional prospects after my degree. I received some good advice and encouragement, says one of the actors who participated in programme last year.

7 ENGLISH-SPEAKING MENTORING GROUPS (33 IN TOTAL)

The application time for students is from 26^th of September 9^th to October 2022. The groups will be filled in order of registration, and you need to hand in an assignment with the application. This year there are groups that will meet completely remotely and groups which can decide together if they want to meet live.

The programme is being organized for the 12^th time and the following events are for all participants:

• Question hours for mentors and actors in Zoom 15.11. on Zoom (16–17 pm for actors)
• The group mentoring kick-off on 23.11.2022 at 17.00–19.00 on Viikki campus
• Group meetings (5–6 times)
• The group mentoring closing on May 22^nd, 2023, on Viikki campus.

The programme offers a choice of 33 mentors (7 English speaking), who are University of Helsinki alumni representing different fields in society. The background of studying at the University of Helsinki joins them all all. You may read their descriptions on the programmes website here.

Make use of this opportunity and sign up!

The programme is organised by UH Career services together with Helsinki Alumni -network.

More information: careerservices@helsinki.fi

The University of Helsinki group mentoring programme’s mentor introductions for the season 2022–2023 have been published. The application period starts on Monday 26^h of September at 12pm, but you can now familiarize yourself with the mentor introductions beforehand. The programme kicks off in November.

The programme offers a choice of 33 mentors (7 English speaking), who are University of Helsinki alumni representing different fields in society. The background of studying at the University of Helsinki joins them all all. Some of them will only mentor remotely. You may read their descriptions on the programmes website here.

You can also read more about the group mentoring programme on the website. The application link will be published on the Sign up -page on Monday 26^th at 12pm. You can also get to know the pre-assignment which need to be handed in with the application form.

More information: careerservices@helsinki.fi

Launched in November 2021, the 11th group mentoring programme concluded in May. The programme was based mostly on remote meetings. The next programme will begin in the autumn.

The 11th University of Helsinki group mentoring programme began in late November with a kick-off session organised remotely. The programme brought together 139 actors from almost all University faculties and 36 alumni–mentors from various sectors of society.

According to the coordinating team, among the programme’s strengths were the fully remote group activities. This can be seen as a positive aspect of the remote period. The remote groups also enabled alumni living elsewhere in Finland or even abroad to participate as mentors.

In the wrap-up session, students and mentors had another chance to share their experiences and engage in a final discussion with their fellow group members. They also exchanged comments and feedback, which we have compiled into the summary below. The coordination team would like to thank all mentors and actors for their participation!

Mentors’ comments on their experiences:

• The young people provided me with new thoughts and ideas. I also found more energy for my own work!
• I was really inspired and in a good mood after each meeting. Two of the actors succeeded in finding a job, and also we explored many experiences of working while studying.
• The mentoring programme was definitely the highlight of the beginning of the year. First of all, it was interesting to meet current students whose reality is so different from mine in the 1980s.
• I gained a new perspective on my work. Above all, I am now even more grateful than before for my job, which the actors said was evident. I completed all assignments with my actors, which helped me assess my own skills. I also received valuable feedback from the actors. In addition, the mentoring will support the development of a mentoring project tailored to a different target group in my workplace.
• We shared the responsibility for each meeting between the actors. With each actor responsible for the practical arrangements of at least one meeting, the roles in the group were clear. The guidelines agreed at the beginning were also deemed important because they committed the participants to the process.

Actors’ comments on their experiences:

• We talked about the current work situation, how to handle daily work life challenges, how to prioritise tasks, how to prepare already for future job opportunities, where to look for job opportunities, LinkedIn profile building, CV writing.
• I think my group is just perfect. We talked about the culture here, CV, competencies, LinkedIn, and many other things. Everyone can talk freely and it’s just like meeting friends. We had several remote meetings and met in person (and also hybrid). The remote meeting worked OK, but I still prefer meeting in person.
• I thought everything worked well and would recommend this programme to anyone, so I only have positive things to say!
• I gained clarity about my own skills, personal characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, field-specific skills, job-seeking, job interviews, master’s thesis opportunities and future prospects. I found all these to be very useful topics, and it was precisely because of them that I applied for the programme. We mostly met face-to-face, which made the meetings more successful.
• It was a safe space to discuss worries and concerns about professional prospects after my degree. I received some good advice and encouragement.
• I’ll take away greater self-knowledge and lots of peer-support! Next, I will try to put all I’ve learned into practice as I start a new job.
• I take with me inspiration and more confidence to continue my studies and to search new jobs.
• We learned how to recognise our skills and connect them to our experiences and interests and thus we gained confidence

Feedback helps develop programme from year to year

Mentoring is an interactive process, and each experience of mentoring is unique. Critique is also important and used to develop the programme each year.

Based on this year’s feedback, for example, the introductory and advance material used in the programme will be clarified so that the kick-off session can focus increasingly on launching collaborative group activities. The content of the collaborative sessions will also be made more engaging.

Communication between the coordination team, the mentors and the actors also plays an important role throughout the programme. To address challenging or difficult situations in good time, communication with participants will be increased, for instance, by collecting interim feedback.

The next programme begins in November 2022 – you can express your interest now!

The University of Helsinki will continue to organise the group mentoring programme, with the next programme scheduled to begin in November 2022. Mentors should be University of Helsinki alumni. Further information on the application process for new mentors will be provided through the Helsinki Alumni channels, but you can already express your interest in becoming a mentor. The official application form will open in August.

Alumni interested in mentoring can send an email to alumni(at)helsinki.fi.

Students will be able to apply for mentoring groups in autumn 2022. Information will be published on this website and in the Studies service.

Students can obtain further information on group mentoring from Career Services: careerservices(at)helsinki.fi.

The student application period for the 2021-2022 season of the programme has closed. Thank you to all applicants!

We will inform everyone who has applied to programme during October. The kick-off event for the programme is on November 24th and before this separate Q&A-sessions will be organised for both mentors and actors on November 16th.

The application period for group mentoring programme has been extended until 14th of October 2021. Most of the English speaking groups are already full, but there’s still room in two of the English speaking ones. Read more about the mentors and sign up fast!

The group mentoring 2021–2022 starts in November and it is the 11^th season of the programme. Students can apply by the 10^ht of October. The groups will be filled in order of registration, so act fast!

In group mentoring you as a student will get the opportunity to discuss different career paths and their strengths related to job hunting. The group brings added value, as students receive the support not only of their mentors, but also peers in the same situation.

After the previous season of the group mentoring programme 100 % of the actors and mentors who answered to the feedback survey recommended taking part in the mentoring process!

– I came to understand my strengths better and got many new ideas for searching for a job and developing my professional skills, says one of the actors who participated in programme previously.

7 ENGLISH-SPEAKING MENTORING GROUPS (45 IN TOTAL)

The application time for students is 27^th of September–10^th of October 2021. The groups will be filled in order of registration and you need to hand in an assignment with the application. This year there are groups that will meet completely remotely and groups which can decide together if they want to meet live.

The programme is being organized for the 11t^h time and the following events are for all participants:

• Question hours for mentors and actors in Zoom 16.11. on Zoom (16–17 pm for actors)
• The group mentoring kick-off on 24.11.2021 at 17.00–19.00 on Zoom
• Group meetings (5–6 times)
• The group mentoring closing on May 23^rd, 2022.

The programme offers a choice of 45 mentors (7 English speaking), who are University of Helsinki alumni representing different fields in society. The background of studying at the University of Helsinki joins them all all. You may read their descriptions on the programmes website here.

Make use of this opportunity and sign up!

The programme is organised by UH Career services together with Helsinki Alumni -network.

More information: careerservices@helsinki.fi

The University of Helsinki Group mentoring programme’s mentor introducations for the season 2021–2022 have been published. The application period starts on Monday 27^th of September at 12am, but you can now familiarize yourself with the mentor introductions beforehand. The programme kicks off in November.

The programme offers a choice of 45 mentors (7 English speaking), who are University of Helsinki alumni representing different fields in society. The background of studying at the University of Helsinki joins them all all. Some of them will only mentor remotely. You may read their descriptions mentors 2021 – 2022 page.

You can read more about the group mentoring programme on the website. The application link will be published on the Sign up -page on Monday 27^th at 12am.

The programme is organised by UH Career services together with Helsinki Alumni -network.

More information: careerservices@helsinki.fi

The group mentoring program 2021–2022 will start again in November, and we are now looking for mentors for students.

You now have a great opportunity to help students towards graduation and working life. This is already the 11th group mentoring programme at our university!

Group mentoring means sharing your own skills and life experience with a small group of students at different stages of study. 2–4 students are selected for the group. Language of the groups can be Finnish, Swedish or English. Students of the University of Helsinki need support from alumni of their own fields. You now have the opportunity to provide this support in the students’ path towards graduation and working life!

Applying for the 2021–2022 Group Mentoring Programme as a mentor

The group mentoring programme of 2021–2022 will be kicked off with an initial meeting  on November 24th 2021. A final meeting will be organized in May 2022.

The joint events for this season of the mentoring programme begin remotely. However, the groups can meet face to face during the mentoring programme depending on the situation of the pandemic and their own decision. You can participate in remote events through Zoom. To participate, you need a computer, smartphone or tablet. Between the initial and final meeting the mentoring groups will meet approximately once a month.

Sign up for the programme as a mentor with this Lyyti-form!

More information: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/mentorointi/signup/?lang=en and Marja Peltomäki, (marja.peltomaki(at)helsinki.fi)