The Clamda-DA mentorship program is a project which gives every Clamda-DA student (Mentee) the opportunity to exchange advices, thoughts and concerns with a Clamda-DA Alumnus (Mentor).
The program has the main objective of providing Mentees with support and orientation about their academic and professional career decisions. The program is also built with the long term of strengthening the Clamda-DA network and creating a community of professionals.
Each Clamda-DA student has the opportunity to become a Mentee, applying through the specified channel at the beginning of each year.
Mentors are Clamda-DA Alumni who are either experienced professionals or recent graduates, to best fit the needs of the different Mentees (e.g. new students and graduating ones probably have different priorities and needs). They voluntarily decide to be part of the mentorship program and commit to support the assigned Mentees.
Applications to the program will be opened through an email notification at the beginning of each year. Each Mentee will benefit from the mentorship program from the notification of the matching with his/her Mentor. The Mentor/Mentee relationship has to be considered concluded at the end of the calendar year. At the end of each year Mentor-Mentee pairs may be changed and new ones may be constituted according to both Mentors’ and Mentees’ preferences.
Mentors voluntarily decide to advise and help Mentees. In doing so, they guarantee a minimum of one 30/45 minutes call (or meeting) every two months, figure that may vary according to each Mentor’s availability and to each Mentee’s needs. Mentors commit to offer their professional and academic experience as a support to Mentees, which should be proactive in exploiting them at best. For example, Mentors could be helpful for Mentees by: giving advice on the Clamda-DA courses; giving career suggestions; and opening up their network to the Mentees. In general, Mentors are suggested to be flexible and helpful according to their availabilities and the common sense.
It is in the interest of both Mentors and Mentees that each relationship within the program is managed reasonably and in a way that provides the highest value for both. Therefore, each Mentee is expected to:
• be proactive. It is Mentees’ duty to contact Mentors and not viceversa;
• be flexible and keep in mind that mentors may have a very busy agenda and few available time;
• be prepared in advance for each meeting and bear in mind prior discussions (e.g. prepare some questions or topics you would like to talk about with your Mentor);
• respect Mentors’ time and effort and do not waste their time (e.g. fix a meeting only if needed);
• schedule the meetings in advance and send a reminder to the Mentor;
• define, in accordance with the Mentor, the most efficient and effective way to communicate. Keep in mind that each Mentor-Mentee relationship is unique and that there is no one-fits-all solution to manage it.
The matching of Mentors and Mentees will be done taking into account information about their academic careers, professional preferences and personal interests. A survey will be sent to both new Mentors and Mentees to gather such data. Each Mentor-Mentee matching will be performed by considering the highest possible correspondence of data. Moreover, during the application process, Mentees are asked to provide 3 preferences regarding the specific Mentor he/she would like to be matched with. Preferences will be considered during the matching process, however these don’t imply the certainty of being matched with one of the 3 Mentors selected.
The contents of each Mentor-Mentee meeting are confidential and must not be divulged, published or sent to third parties without prior consent of both parties. The data provided by Mentors and Mentees could be used for statistical purposes, with respect of anonymity and privacy. Surveys may be sent periodically to both Mentors and Mentees with the aim of improving the Clamda-DA mentorship program.