Workbook for mentoring

This workbook offers tips and support for meetings between a mentor and a mentee. The workbook contains questions which help you to start conversation in certain topics. Also, it has exercises that can help you to process certain topics related to employment.

Using the workbook is voluntary.

Themes of the exercises are:

- Background & getting to know each other: • Lifeline • Familiarizing CV

- Skills and strengths: • Dimensions of know-how • Mind map of know-how • I am competent and excited about my job! • Recognizing skills

- Networking: • My networks • Network map

- Dreams and career planning: • Tree of dreams • Look back on the future • Personal development plan • Step by step

The exercises are meant to be done before a meeting, but mentoring pair can agree to do them together during the meeting.

”Turn yourself into

your best asset”

Table of contents

Discussion topics for the meetings .......................................................................................................... 4

What can we do together? ...................................................................................................................... 6

Excercises .............................................................................................................................................. 7

Lifeline ............................................................................................................................................... 7

Familiarizing CV ................................................................................................................................ 8

Dimensions of know-how ................................................................................................................... 9

Mind map of your know-how ........................................................................................................... 10

I am competent and excited about my job! ........................................................................................ 11

Recognizing skills ............................................................................................................................ 12

My networks .................................................................................................................................... 13

Network map ................................................................................................................................... 14

Tree of dreams ................................................................................................................................. 15

Look back on the future .................................................................................................................... 16

Personal development plan .............................................................................................................. 17

Step by step ..................................................................................................................................... 18

Discussion topics for the meetings

Previous education and work experience

• Where and what have you studied before?

• What kind of work experience do you have?

• What kind of differences and similarities there is in your field between Finland and your home country?

• Which have been your greatest accomplishments in your career?

• What have you achieved so for?

• What experience or education you have? From your field or other fields?

• How can you use your education or experiences when applying for a job?

Life situation

• What is your life situation like now? Family, work, studies, friends, health etc.

• How does your life situation effect job search or studying?

• Do you have time for a job search or studying?

• What are your resources at this moment?

• What helps you to cope with job search and everyday life?

• How to combine work and family?

• Are there some challenges in combining family and work?

Current situation

• What are your biggest challenges in finding employment?

• What could you do to improve your chances to find a job?

• What have you done already to improve your chances to get employed?

• What can you and cannot influence?

• Do you know professional requirements, softwares and legislation of your field?

• What kind of networks you have?

• How can you network in your field?

Professional competence

• What strenghts do you have?

• How can you use your strengths in working life?

• Where else you should still improve?

• What can we improve together?

• Where would you find more competence or know-how you need to get employed?

• How have you maintained your expertise? How could you maintain it?

Job search

• What kind of job-hunting experiences do you have in Finland?

• How would you describe or evaluate your job searching skills?

• What channels can I use to find a job in Finland

• Is your CV and job application up to date?

• How can you improve your CV and job application?

• What kind of experiences you have in job interviews?

• How should you to prepare for a job interview?

• What is important to consider in a job interview?

• Can you verbalize your skills and know-how?

• How can you utilize your networks for a job search?

Goals for the future

• What is your dream job?

• What dreams you have in life?

• How realistic are your dreams?

• What can you do to achieve your dreams?

• Where do you want to be in five years?

Language skills and professional vocabulary

• What languages can you speak?

• What is your knowledge of Finnish? Speaking, writing, listening, reading?

• How can you improve your Finnish skills?

• Are you familiar with professional vocabulary of your field?

• How can you learn professional vocabulary of your field? In Finnish?

Reference: Miessakit Association

What can we do together?

- Practice job interviews

- Practice a pitch to bring out mentee’s know-how and goals

- Get to know each other’s colleagues and friends

- Visit mentor’s working place and follow mentor’s normal workday

- Find suitable jobs and companies to familiarize with

- Find job advertisements from different recruitment

- Improve job applications, CV and Linkedin profile

- Attend events (professional seminars, fairs, trainings) together

- Think and search different channels where to network and learn more about your field in Finland

- Read and practice professional vocabulary together

- Make a follow-up plan: what jobs the mentee will apply? how the mentee will improve herself/himself?

Reference: Miessakit Association

Excer cises

Lifeline Draw your lifeline to a paper.

Mark there all your important memories: life events, studies, jobs, hobbies, big decisions, change of plans and important people for you.

Start drawing the line from a left side where you mark your birth. It’s better to set the paper horizontally.

Keep drawing the like to right side and mark all important events along the way – sometimes changing a shape of the line. Sometimes the line goes steady but in important events the line can go up or down depending on feeling of the life event. Write what happened in ups and lows.

When the line is ready, you can reflect how things have affected on your life. What things you value in your past? Which things you are happy about? What events have teached most to you? Or what have been the biggest turning points? Who are important role models for you, your most important “fellow travelers”, and who have influenced the course of your life?

Tell your mentor a story of your life using the lifeline.

Reference: Helsingin yliopiston mentorointiopas https://blogs.helsinki.fi/mentorointi/files/2014/08/Mentoroinnin-tyokirja_A4.pdf

Familiarizing CV

Get to know mentee’s previous experiences and CV together. Mentee can send the CV to his/her mentor via email before next meeting.

Mentee can introduce own’s background, experiences and know-how – the CV can support in that.

- What things do you want to highlight?

- What are the most important aspects in your history of education and work?

- What kind of know-how and expertise do you feel important to bring up?

Mentor can familiarize the CV with the questions below:

- What kind of work experience and education does the mentee have?

- What image does the CV create for the mentee?

- What are the strengths of the CV and mentee’s know-how have?

- Is the CV balanced and clear?

- Is there something missing? What?

- How mentee could improve the CV?

- What kind of development areas will come up from the CV?

Dimensions of know-how

Reflect your know-how and competences via dimensions presented below. You can demonstrate your know-how by drawing or writing.

1. Knowledge: studies, expertise 2. Skill: practical skills, social skills, life management skills 3. Will: goals, interests, attitude, motivation 4. Experience: work experience, life experience, hobbies 5. Contacts: networks, partners, friends, acquaintance

It’s good to think these in concrete way. How do these areas of your know-how show in your life and working?

And in which dimensions do you have to still improve? What can you to do to develop yourself?

Reference: Turun yliopiston mentorointiohjelma

Mind map of your know-how

Make a mind map about your know-how and skills.

Write your name in a middle of a paper. Draw lines around your name and write areas of your life there, such as work, hobbies, family, friends and education.

After that, reflect what have you learned in these areas:

- What have you learned with your family?

- What have you learned in your hobbies?

- What have you learned in your jobs?

- What have you learned during your education?

Write your skills and competences to the paper. You can use colors and shapes if you like.

Reflect also:

- How can you use these skills when applying a job?

- How can you show or tell about these skills to your future employer?

- How your skills help you when working?

Reference: OSATA-hanke https://osata.fi/

NAME

Hobbies

Volleyball

Social skills

Healthy lifestyle

Painting

Visual skills

Studies

Internships

Research group

Work

Sales man

Sales Language skills

Methods

Problem solving

Custom service

Family

Flexibility

Crisis management

Boundaries

Voluntary work

I am competent and excited about my job!

Reflect and think about competences of your education and features, tasks and requirements of your professional field. Draw a chart of four box, like below. Place those competences, tasks, features and requirements to the chart based on your excitement and competenses.

After this discuss with the mentor about in what are you interested in and excited about and what kind of competences you have gained. Discuss, how you could gain more expertise about things you’re interested about and why you are not interested and excited about some topics?

Reference: OSATA-hanke https://osata.fi/

Recognizing skills

Tell the mentor about a situation in which you have succeeded and are proud of. The situation can be related to studies, work, hobby or personal life. Go through in detail what happened and how did you act in the situation.

The mentor listens and gives feedback. The purpose of mentor’s feedback is to point out and verbalize skills, strengths and course of actions that the mentor sees in the mentee’s actions. Discuss about what thoughts this brings up and how to use these skills in working life.

It’s good to write down all notices and thoughts the discussion brings up.

Reference: Turun yliopiston mentorointiohjelma

My networks

Reflect your networks through these questions:

Who are in my network? E.g. current and former schoolmates, colleagues and superiors, family members, friends and acquaintances.

Who do I wish to be in my network?

How can I grow my network?

For example,

- Can I join to some organization? - Can I use social media to grow my network? - Can I contact with some people?

What I can give to my network? How my network can help me?

Network map

Purpose of the network map is to visualize and observe your existing networks and theirs nature. Write down to a circle people that are part of your network. Represent the closeness of the individuals by placing them in the circle, varying in distance: the farther away from the center, more distant the relationship.

In addition, indicate the quality of your relationship with those people. For example, positive, negative, supportive of employment, broken, contradictory.

After this, observe your network map. - What do you notice? - Who are missing from your network? - Are there some relationships that you would like to improve? - Would you like to give up some of negative relationships? - How could you get more supportive relationships for you? - How could you use these relationships in job search?

Reference: http://www10.edu.fi/ammattipeda/tiedostot/Sosiaalinen%20verkostokartta.pdf

Tree of dreams

Tree of dreams help you to recognize your dreams, resources and stress factors.

Draw a tree. Write down your dreams and goals to leaves of the tree. Then write down your resources and positive things that give you strengths in your life to roots of the tree. And then draw dropping leaves and write current stress factors of your life to those.

Discuss with your mentor:

- What dreams do you have related to your life? How about related to work?

- What things build good wellbeing and are important to you?

- What things in your life stress and take away strengths? What can you do to them?

Look back on the future

Move your thoughts into future: for example, 3 years forward.

”I’m in job that is meaningful and rewarding to me. I can use my expertise and skills in my current job. I’m developing all the time. I enjoy my work and life. I can get constructive and encouraging feedback from my colleagues.”

Reflect:

1. What kind of work I do?

2. Where do I work? Or am I an entrepreneur?

3. What brings me joy in my job?

4. What have been the key moments in my transition to work? What happened?

5. What have I done to get there?

6. Where and from whom have I received some help?

7. Do I have some concerns about the realization of my plans? What make my concerns less?

8. Is something still incomplete?

9. What I am going to do next?

After thinking, you can write your thoughts into a paper.

Personal development plan

Make a personal plan for your development over the next few years.

Think about your goals, actions, schedule and follow-up for your development. There can be multiple areas of development that you will focus on. Process those separately.

For example,

Area of development X

- What goals do you have according to this area?

- How I am going to achieve the goals concretely?

- In what time frame I am going to develop?

- How am I going to follow my progress?

Reference: Turun yliopiston mentorointiohjelma

Step by step

The purpose of the exercise is to reflect your professional dreams and plan concrete milestones or steps to get closer to your dream.

Think about what you want to achieve and what kind of job you want to work in X years. You can decide the time period that you want to plan. You can also search interesting job advertises to come up with ideas about what you want to do professionally in the future, if you don’t know yet.

Next, draw the stairs where you think about what it takes to achieve you dream. There can be as many stairs as you want.

Aim for realism and concreteness. And remember! Even small things and steps can be important.

For example

References:

Turun yliopiston mentorointiohjelma

Osata-hanke: https://osata.fi/

Helsingin yliopiston mentorointiopas: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/mentorointi/files/2014/08/Mentoroinnin-tyokirja_A4.pdf

Miessakkien mentorointiopas