Mentoring

Pride Professionals in Training is the Career Center career mentorship for students by alumni. Make connections through Handshake to get first hand insights and mentoring from those that have been in your shoes before.

How can this program help me?

The path ahead is well traveled by PNW alumni who are now successful professionals in their respective fields. This program is an opportunity for you to expand your professional network to connect with and learn from those who were once in your shoes. Specifically, you will:

Gain valuable insights and career development from one-on-one interactions with PNW alumni
Increase your professional network to help jump-start your career
Develop communication skills and understand how to interact with other professionals
Get a professional’s perspective on how you can be successful on the job in your field of study
Gain a competitive edge over your competition on your resume and in interviews

To be eligible for the Pride Professionals in Training program, complete an online profile and upload a resume in Handshake. You must be able to commit to a mentorship of at least one semester. Contact the Career Center to start making mentorship connections in Handshake.

Is Mentoring Right for me?

Remember when you were nearing graduation from PNW filled with feelings of excitement and a little uncertainty about taking those next steps? Now that you’ve become a successful professional, you can be a career mentor to a current PNW student. As a mentor, there are tremendous opportunities for professional development of your own, such as:

Discovering fresh perspectives that can help with your own career growth
Increasing your professional profile and network
Developing your leadership potential and sharpening your listening skills
Gaining experience in coaching others outside your day-to-day experiences
The satisfaction of giving a student from your alma mater a leg up in the world by providing them with professional development advice

Keep yourself and future PNW graduates on the path to success by joining the Pride Professionals in Training program. If you are interested, complete this Mentor Application.

PNW Pride Professionals in Training Code of Conduct & Guiding Principles

Mentoring is a unique partnership requiring the highest standards of professional conduct, consistent with integrity and ethical standards that are demonstrative of Purdue University Northwest. Participation in the Purdue University Northwest Pride Professionals in Training Mentor Program requires agreement to the following program and partnership guidelines.

The Mentor shall always strive to act in the best interests of the Mentee. In practice, any course of action will usually present specific advantages and specific disadvantages, and the optimum course of action will often not be clearly defined. Under no circumstances, however, shall the Mentor further other interests by intentionally advising the Mentee to follow a course of action that is clearly detrimental to the best interests of the Mentee, for example, the Mentor shall not place the interests of the Mentor, the Mentor’s employer, a professional society, or any other party above the interests of the Mentee.

The Mentee is ultimately responsible for the Mentee’s own actions. The Mentor provides guidance for pursuing a specific course of action. This guidance will be based on the Mentor’s specific knowledge, specific experience, specific preferences, and specific biases. In practice any course of action will usually present specific advantages and specific disadvantages, and the optimum course of action will often not be clearly defined. The responsibility for choosing a specific course of action belongs to the Mentee, not the Mentor.

Confidentiality of information shared in mentoring discussions is critical. All conversations and information shared should be considered confidential unless otherwise agreed upon or discussed.
Participants commit to participate in the program keeping relationships free of discrimination, harassment, romantic or sexual involvement. Participants agree to engage with their mentoring partner in a professional manner, free from the misuse of alcohol and other drugs. Any concerns of this nature must be communicated to the Purdue University Northwest Career Center staff immediately.
Participants agree to communicate with their mentoring partner no less than one (1) time per month. In addition, participants must be respectful of their mentoring partner’s obligations beyond the mentoring program by not infringing on academic studies, work commitments and time with family or loved ones.
Introductions to a mentor’s extended network is a privilege. All relationship boundaries are also applicable to those relationships.
Mentors are expected to approach this partnership with an open mind; provide open and honest feedback with no intent to insult or harm, and commit to challenging their mentees to exceed their own expectations, encouraging professional growth. Mentees must commit to be as open as possible, present themselves in the honestly and professionally, and be forthcoming in discussions as they relate to their own development.
Mentees and Mentors are expected to keep their interactions professional and conduct themselves in an ethical fashion. Participants who have been accepted into the program agree to keep interactions free of discrimination, harassment, romantic or sexual involvement. Interactions should be free from misuse of alcohol and other drugs. Any concerns
In accordance with current privacy legislation, Purdue University Northwest’s Career Center will not disclose, share, duplicate or distribute personal information beyond the expressed purposes of the mentorship program. Your personal information will not be shared with, sold to, outside third parties. Specifically, your acceptance into the Purdue Northwest Mentor Program indicates consent for Purdue Northwest Career Center staff to make available your Handshake Mentor/Mentee profile available with registered program participants only.
As a program participant, you are restricted from disclosing, sharing, duplicating or distributing any individual’s personal information to other program participants or outside third parties, without the direct and expressed consent of the individual.
The Purdue University Northwest Mentor Program is not intended to provide students (mentees) with employment from mentors or their organizations.
All participants agree to complete periodic program check-in’s to provide feedback and evaluate program protocols.
Both mentee’s and mentor’s may be removed from the program at any time if it has been determined that there has been a violation of the Code of Conduct of this Purdue University Northwest Mentee program and the Purdue University Northwest student Code of Conduct.