Get involved

Careers Mentors

We are proud of our reputation as one of the friendliest Durham colleges and we aim to constantly provide opportunities for our students, staff and alumni to meet, engage, teach, learn, and inspire. 

We wish to connect students with our alumni in a meaningful way, providing them with invaluable insights and support to develop their employability skills, experience and networks. Many of our students are the first in their family to attend University and do not have open doors to push against when entering the world of work. We as a College are committed to supporting every student to reach their full potential.

Careers mentors will have a huge part to play in enabling students to reflect upon and articulate their knowledge, skills and experiences whilst at Durham and how they have developed as a person. Starting in October 2024, we would like to offer careers mentoring for Stephenson students from November/December – May each academic year. Alongside attendance at the workshops, students will also be able to opt into a completion discussion (interview assessment) after the exam period to achieve an Award. 

We hope to reach out to Stephenson alumni from a diverse range of backgrounds and experience. The mentoring will be light touch and informal, focusing on supporting students’ development and helping them to recognise their strengths using their existing extra-curricular participation, inside and outside the University.

Mentors will usually take on a group of up to 5-10 students and coach them as a group. This provides a more lively and engaging setting and facilitates peer-to-peer support in addition to the coach’s overarching guidance. Mentors could hold up to two group sessions and one set of 1-1 sessions each term, totalling around 5-6 hours of time commitment on average per academic term.

“The careers mentoring process has highlighted my strengths and made me realise what I needed to work on. My coach not only provided me with insight into what it's like to work in the retail sector but also aided me in my interview and assessment centre preparation, which undoubtedly helped me successfully secure a graduate scheme job at Uniqlo!”

– Stephanie, fourth year student

How you can get involved

We hope this opportunity sounds interesting to you! To express your interest in becoming a mentor, please complete the short Microsoft Form here.

If you wish to discuss the opportunity to become a Career Connections mentor further, please do reach out to our Vice-Principal Katie Stobbs on stephenson.vp@durham.ac.uk

Senior Common Room 

All Stephenson alumni are eligible to join our Senior Common Room, which holds regular events throughout the year. 

Creating opportunity

Stephenson College is committed to ensuring that all students can take advantage of every opportunity during their time in Durham. No student should feel prevented from studying at Stephenson because of their financial background, or experience hardship while studying here. By making a gift to Stephenson College, you are creating an opportunity for a talented young person to not only explore their academic interests at a world class institution but to also experience all that Stephenson and Durham have to offer. Any gift, of any amount can have a huge impact on the life of a Stephenson student. If you are interested in supporting Stephenson students financially, do get in contact. 

Alumni community

Events

Stephenson alumni events provide an opportunity for members to reconnect with their peers, as well as opportunities for networking and mentoring. Our upcoming alumni events are advertised in the monthly Newswire email as well as via our alumni mailing list.