GTPA Mentoring Program

Graduate Turns Professional does not believe that the youth of today and tomorrow are not hard working or capable of transitioning into the work place. But the youth need to be mentored with the right skills and mind-set for the opportunities opened to them.

We hope to achieve this vision and mission by building and equipping today’s potential employable generation and great entrepreneurs through mentorship programs.

The focus of Graduate Turns Professional had since been implementing its vision with a combined leadership and management experience of over 35 years enshrined in its Strategy. The mentoring scheme encompasses the following areas: mentorship academies, communities, corporate, training, organisations and government social projects.

We recognise that the most important ingredients or catalyst for a worldwide societal transformation into a better world relies in part on the shoulders of well groomed, equipped, mentored and processed leaders and managers.

What is Mentoring at Graduate Turns Professional?

The target group for Graduate Turns Professional is the youth who are between the ages of 16 -35 years.

“At Graduate Turns Professional, a mentor is more of a coach than an adviser. It is a relationship in which the mentor facilitates the mentees decision-making process by suggesting alternatives rather than telling them what to do. Ideally, a mentor must motivate their mentee to do their best at their own specified goals or agreed set of goals. This is done through a number of suggested CPD (Continuous Professional/Personal Development routes designed to get you to the top.

Mentoring is an essential leadership skill in addition to managing and motivating people. It’s also important that you can help others learn, grow and become more effective in their dreams, jobs, careers and businesses.
The mentorship program is delivered through a mentoring partnership between a mentee and a mentor.
This is summed up in what Dr Katherine Hansen rightly states: “A mentor is often in a position you’d like to be in and has the clout and connections to guide you to a similar position. He or she is someone you probably have unusually good chemistry with who will share stories with you of his or her own climb to success. An effective mentor isn’t afraid to criticize constructively.” Dr Katherine Hansen, PHD – The Value of a Mentor

Benefits of Mentoring Program to Mentor

A rewarding experience for you, both personally and professionally.
Improve your leadership and communication skills.
Learn new perspectives and ways of thinking
Advance your career network and develop successors
Gain a great sense of personal satisfaction.
Another channel to give back to those who were and have not been fortunate to gain a similar experience you might have acquired over a short or long period in your career and life.
Mentoring is a two-way street, you can learn from your mentee’s experiences and viewpoints as well,
Making a positive impact on someone’s life can be deeply rewarding and rewarding.
Engaging with a younger generation offers new insights and fresh perspectives on issues and challenges
Mentoring provides an opportunity an opportunity to refine leadership skills by guiding and supporting someone’s growth.

Goals and Objectives of Graduate turns Professional

To promote the effectiveness of the skills and knowledge acquired from education into the professional work environment.
To contribute to the employment pool with work-ready candidates
To highlight the importance of having and acquiring right mindset for the professional environment.
To equip the youth with practical tools for community sustainability.
To contribute to the effectiveness of ‘book knowledge’ acquired by effective transition into effective practice into the professional work environment.
To instil into the present and future generations the need to be empowered the right way to achieve their dreams
To help participants to discover and uncover the rich potentials within them.
To mentor participants with agreed objectives.
To reduce unemployment in real terms and increase employment retention
To reduce the rate at which youth fall into gangs by guiding them into other helpful positive-fulfilling youthful and community activities
To instil into participants

Mentors Application Process

Graduate Turns Professional provides mentorship for neglected young people of 16+ to University graduates, businesses and professionals who are desiring to be led and properly mentored to be positioned in their specific skill roles and leadership spheres.

If you believe you can mentor within any of these capacities then we need your CV, a photo of yourself and a short profile!

All you need to do is to complete the Mentors application form and await our response regarding your acceptance within 30days but not exceeding six weeks.

Please note that all mentors at Graduate Turns Professional are volunteers but the benefit of giving back to help great leaders today and tomorrow will always be a valuable irrevocable reward and legacy!

There is no cost to you as a Mentor neither would you be bound by any legal obligation except our constitution (which is available on request) and our Mentor’s Guide. However, Graduate Turns Professional will gladly accept financial and gift donation in all essence to promote the vision of Graduate Turns Professional.

Mentors selection criteria

At graduate Turns Professional we believe all mentors should have the skills required to fully implement an effective mentoring scheme

Mentors must have the following characteristics to be considered the privilege to mentor:

Must have a desire and the passion to be a mentor.
Must hold a recognised qualification in their field, e.g. qualified teacher in education or a Lawyer in law
Must show substantial expertise and success in the respective career
Must have at least 3 years work experience in leadership, managerial, supervisory, specialist or specific role that has elements of mentoring
Must show the ability to be committed to on-going professional development and have up-to-date subject knowledge.
Must have a good interpersonal skill with people at all levels.
Must be able to listen and communicate effectively with others
Must have a variety of teaching techniques
Must be sensitive to the needs of others

Graduate Turns Professional - The Mentor’s Guide

Is Mentoring the Right Thing for You?

Even if you understand the benefits of mentoring and it sounds like a great idea, you have to decide whether it’s right for you. To explore your reasons for mentoring and whether you want to take this type of commitment further, ask yourself these questions:

Do you want to share your knowledge and experience with others?
Do you enjoy encouraging and motivating others?
Would you be willing to train others when required to do so?
Are you comfortable asking challenging questions?
Do you want to contribute to other people’s growth and success?
Are you prepared to invest your time in mentoring on a regular basis by a specific channel such us the telephone, WhatsApp, email, social networks, text, etc?
How will mentoring contribute toward your own career goals?
How will mentoring add to your sense of contribution and community?
What type of person do you ideally want to mentor?
Do you want someone from the same profession or the same career path?
Are there any areas that you don’t want to go near?
Are you happy to speak in public during any of our relative conferences and seminars if required?
What is your reason and motivation for becoming a mentor?

Graduate Turns Professional - Mentoring code of conduct

RESPONSIBILITY

There must be clarity on the length and frequency of mentoring sessions. There must be an agreement between the mentor and mentee on the mode of contact for mentoring sessions such us email/ telephone /text, or other social media platforms.
All mentoring relationships must remain professional at all times over the mentorship period.
The mentor must develop a relationship of trust for an effective mentoring to be accomplished
The mentor must learn about the mentee’s educational background and experience. And in turn share information about his or her own background and experience.
Mentors should work together with mentees to develop mutually agreed short and long-term goals to form the basis of the mentoring activities.
Where Graduate Turns Professional goes corporate consulting or trains a specific company, a mentor or mentors could be required to play a role or roles and may do so for a small fee that will be payable to them at a pre-agreed negotiation meeting.

BOUNDARY MANAGEMENT

When developing a mentoring partnership, both mentor and mentee must have clear boundaries of what you can and cannot do. All parties concerned must respect boundaries established at the beginning of the mentoring process.
Mentors must focus on the identified area(s) of developmental need(s) of the mentee. If anything is beyond your skills and abilities, refer the mentee to the management of Graduate Turns Professional for assistance. For example, if a discussion lead into personal or family problems, the mentee may need more focused professional help from a psychologist, counsellor or a therapist.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Both the mentor and the mentee have the responsibility to maintain and respect all the information exchanged during the mentoring relationship as there may be sensitive and personal information. If such information is dangerous or illegal, an appropriate approach for the mentor is to encourage the mentee to take appropriate action themselves.
Personal details must be kept confidential at all times unless they have given appropriate consent to disclosing them.
Mentors cannot copy or pass on Graduate Turns Professional’s confidential information including any/every material(s) that are considered by the management to be in direct or indirect violation of its vision and mission. Documents to a person(s) or organisation(s) without prior permission.

Where a private communication between the mentor and a mentee is shared, both parties cannot disclose it to a third party outside of Graduate Turns Professional. Unless there is a prior consent given by all stakeholders.

MENTORING CATEGORIES

Delivery Support – New Business Programme

This role is broken down into three parts:

Thematic Mentoring: Delivers sessions of a prescribed or themed seminar course to mentees collectively in areas such as leadership, marketing, management, IT, hygiene, entrepreneurship, social responsibility, book-keeping, mentoring skills, etc.
Measured Mentoring: Supports mentees to carry out activities to test their business propositions and to review and measure results and success.
Exploratory Mentoring: Supports mentees to explore, choose and plan their next step after they have first established contacts and initiated the mentoring process with goals. And any other related issue pertaining to the mentoring process. This could be by completing a business plan with them or helping them to research courses at colleges or write a CV).

This role can be delivered in 2 distinct ways:

Firstly, a mentee may be matched with a mentor who will either guide them through the business planning process or other identified goals. Employs regular sessions using all or any of the channels of communication agreed by both parties at their first meeting.

Secondly, this method of support provides a greater degree of flexibility in helping a mentee achieve their goal. This role would lead to a time commitment of around 6 hours per three months but with a minimum 12-month commitment.

Specialist Support

This role interacts with many different mentees taking part in our business programme to address specific challenges that are impacting their business or career path.
This can relate to both business and professional development. Support can be delivered in face-to-face sessions, over the phone, email or via other useful social media channels.
The time commitment for this role is more difficult to specify, however we would anticipate group meetings would necessitate around 2 to 3 hours per three months whereas one-to-one sessions may last around 30 minutes to an hour with phone conversations probably being similar.

Business Start-Up Mentor

This role is to review, assess and make recommendations on mentees support requirements when starting up a business venture. This can include specialist and on-going mentor support or additional help such as access to resources from other support providers & loan funding options.
The time commitment for this role is expected to be on average 30 minutes per week with a six (6) month commitment subject to review.

Business Mentor (Partnership)

This role provides mentoring support to mentees with a viable business idea who are being supported into business by Graduate Turns Professional. However, this support could also be provided with or without our financial help if the mentee is able to secure funding from other sources. It is about guidance and helping the mentees to develop their business whilst also building their confidence and skills.
It involves helping mentees to find and translate information, understand business problems, identify solutions and implement action plans.
This mentoring category is a partnership role in terms of financial interest in the business by Graduate Turns Professional.
Therefore, all stakeholders including the business, the mentor and Graduate Turns Professional have a shared interest.
The time commitment for this role is expected to be ongoing until the partnership ends mutually.

Please for further information contact Graduate Turns Professional at info@gtprofacademy.org