Mentoring

Do you need help with discovering your strengths, working with your story, learn a thing or two about work culture in Finland? The mentor-program is for you.

Now you have the opportunity to apply for the Mentor-program of Mentor-klubi for the first time as an international student! Mentoring offers something for everyone if you are ready to reflect on yourself, meet others with respect, and are studying permanently in Finland.

The mentor-program always looks like the mentor couple themselves. The mentor and actor/mentee meet each other regularly and discuss topics of their choice. Mentors have experience working in a food company, applying for such a position, and what it’s like to enter working life after studies.

The mentor-program is for you if you want to have

  • New ideas and perspectives
  • Chance to network
  • Learn things about Finnish work culture
  • Clarification of your career choices and paths
  • Work with your job search skills

What we expect from you:

  • You can commit yourself to the program for the whole year. Please note that this program is for students studying for their full degree in the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry and therefore not for exchange students.
  • You will be self-initiated e.g. when planning the meetings with your mentor
  • Setting your own goals and focusing on them
  • Understanding that mentors or the program will not offer you a job or an internship

We did have one international student in our program last year as an experiment. Since it went well this is the first year we are ready to host the program in English. Please read what Kenia thought about our Mentor-program from here.

Mentors 2022

  • Tapio Bister, Brand & Customer manager, Takeda Oy
  • Kati Harki, Entrepreneur, Kamon Oy
  • Anna Karri, Commercial Development manager, Infant nutrition, Nestlé Finland
  • Stiina Rasimus-Sahari, Quality Assurance Manager, Food Folk

Read more about these four mentors here.

Program

The application period for Mentor-program 2022-2023 has ended. Application to the Mentor-program 2023-2024 will start in September 2023.

  • 9.9.2022-29.9.2022 !
  • We will notify all the applicants by the 9th of October
  • Orientation for new actors(students) will be organized on Wednesday, October 12, 2022 from 5 to 7 p.m. In the orientation, we will go through what to expect from mentoring, and what is your part as an actor and we will help you to clarify your goals. You will also have the chance to meet all the other actors.
  • The first meeting with all the actors and mentors will be held on Thursday 27th October from 5 to 7 p.m.

There are three group meetings during the program – the first in October, the second in February, and the third at end of April. The rest of the program is very informal, and the mentor pairs themselves are responsible for arranging the meetings. We recommend that the mentor pairs meet about once a month.

Apply!

You may apply to the program if you are a member of the Mentor club and a full-degree student of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki. The program is designed for students studying food science, nutrition science, or food economics as their major or minor. Please note that we do not offer this program to exchange students. We happily introduce this program to those international students who in the first place are studying their two-year master’s studies in Finland and are keen to learn more about Finnish work culture.

Apply for the program with a motivation letter. The application (max. 1 page) should be sent in PDF format to the board’s email address: mentorklubi-hallitus(at)helsinki.fi. Subject the email: “Application for the mentor program”. If you wish, you can submit three mentor requests in the email message field. Please do not write the mentors’ names in your pdf application. We will send a confirmation message that your application has been received within two days of receiving it.

Please answer these questions in your application:

  • Tell about yourself.
  • Which program are you studying? What are your major and minor subjects?
  • Why do you want to be part of the program?
  • What kind of dreams or goals do you have considered for your career?
  • Your contact details (email, phone number)

A TIP FOR YOU! Updated on 15.9. We got a question about the application – Do not worry too much. This application is not a job application and therefore the purpose of the application is not trying to make yourself sound better and greater. We hope to read applications that show your personality. Who are you? Why did you choose to study a specific major or minor? Do you struggle with what you want to be or something else? Let your personality to shown but do not worry about the application too much. Most important is that if you are interested in mentoring and would like to be part of the program – apply. 

In the selection process, the most important criterion is the applicant’s motivation, i.e. why you are applying to the program and/or what you hope the program will give you. Mentor pairs are then formed according to the wishes of the actor and mentors. We also will pay attention to which of the mentors could most likely have the kind of experience that you would benefit from based on your future dreams and wishes.

If you want to learn more about yourself, Finnish work culture, and maybe get even some tips on how to find a job in Finland, apply!

Contact

The contact person for the Mentor program 2022-2023 is Emilia Nordström. If you have any questions, please get in touch with us via social media, or send an email directly to Emilia or the Mentor-klubi board:

emilia.nordstrom(at)helsinki.fi or mentorklubi-hallitus(at)helsinki.fi