Benefits of becoming a mentor

Mentoring is a fantastic way to offer your skills and experience to help support and inspire other chemical engineers, as well as, gaining new or sharpening your existing mentoring skills. 

There are many benefits of mentoring – not just for the mentee, but also for the mentor. By supporting the development of other chemical engineers, you’re not only helping to advance the profession, but also giving yourself the opportunity to reflect and enhance your own professional development while improving your people management skills. Volunteering as a mentor contributes towards your Continuing Professional Development (CPD). 

Mentoring roles

We currently offer two different types of mentoring (some mentors will be able to provide both):

• mentoring for professional registration, eg helping other IChemE members towards becoming Chartered 
• career and development mentoring, eg helping others towards a particular career goal, or offering advice and support.

Professional registration mentor

IChemE Professional Registration Mentors are Chartered Members or Fellows assisting others, usually towards their Chartered application, which may include:

• helping your mentee develop their skills and knowledge 
• sharing your own career story 
• supporting the mentee through the Individual Case Procedure if required (for those applicants with non-accredited degrees) 
• providing support to a mentee as they plan their Initial Professional Development (IPD)
• providing advice to the mentee as they prepare their Competence and Commitment (C&C) Report 
• acting as a referee for their application for Chartered Member (MIChemE) and Chartered Engineer (CEng) registration. 

Career and development mentor

The primary role of a mentor is to use the experience and knowledge they have gained to help a mentee work towards their future career ambitions, and: 

• volunteering time to take a personal interest in others and offer professional friendship 
• sharing your own career story 
• active listening 
• questioning and finding out what is important to others, by exploring their skills, aptitudes and aspirations 
• challenging assumptions and acting as a sounding board 
• coaching to help them meet specific goals 
• respecting confidentiality. 

Is being a mentor the right role for me?

Mentors would ideally have:

• good listening, questioning and feedback skills 
• ability to facilitate goal setting and learning 
• analytical skills 
• an approachable manner 
• willingness to share expertise and time 
• a desire to make a difference 
• commitment to the profession.

How to get involved

Mentor Match is an online tool that facilitates the establishment of mentoring relationships, find out more about Mentor Match.

To enrol as a mentor please activate your profile on IChemE Connect and navigate to Mentor Match.

If your company has an Accredited Company Training Scheme (ACTS), speak to your ACTS manager about registering as an ACTS mentor to help trainees through the scheme.