As an FYE mentor, I received three rounds of training.
In March 2015, I underwent a full day (eight hours) of training where my tasks and duties were outlined and the key skills mentors would need to develop, such as how to send effective emails for responses. This also included learning of the different university services at our reach which we could use to point mentees to if needed.
A second full day of training occurred with the specific purpose of interacting with other university services, one being Tukana.
A follow-up full day of training occurred in July. This was to reiterate our roles, check whether we were on the right track, and to share and collaborate what works for mentoring and what areas needed development.
Communication…show more content… More importantly however, I noticed this also changed how mentees replied to my emails, especially with opening up to some issues that they were facing, personally or academically, which affected or limited their success. I could then perform a more effective role on mentoring by being able to direct them to the appropriate university service(s) they required.
Organising & Planning
One aspect I knew about myself before mentoring was that though my time management and organisational skills are usually exceptional, there are a few moments where I lack promptness when replying to more complex emails. This could become an issue as one of the key responsibilities of being an FYE mentor is to reply to mentee queries in a timely fashion.
Accordingly, I set two goals for myself. Firstly, if an email could be immediately answered, I had to follow through with it. More importantly however, I developed a new personal rule where I had to reply to all remaining unanswered emails during the bus ride into university. Since I also had my own assignments and coursework to manage in the evening, this was a far more effective use of my time in the morning which would usually trivially pass during the
