Volunteering-NI

A mentor is a more skilled, experience or knowledgeable individual who offers support to a mentee, usually a younger, less experienced person.

How a project selects mentors and mentees will depend on the aims of the project. For example:

a business mentor may be required to have been involved in the business sector for at least four years and the mentee must be striving to set up his/her own business.
a mentoring project that encourages pupils to consider their future educational options may recruit mentees from secondary schools and mentors from universities and colleges.
a mentoring project designed to support single parents will only recruit single parents as mentees and may prefer the mentors to be parents, preferably single parents, who are able to pass on advice.

Other projects will recruit mentors from a wider audience but will require essential qualities and commitment.