Mentors and career advisors
Here you will find a selection of Caius alumni who have volunteered themselves as mentors and career advisors for students and recent graduates. If you would like to make contact with anyone listed on this page, please contact the Callia in the Development Office (callia.kirkham@cai.cam.ac.uk) with your:
- Name
- Subject
- Year
- Details of the alumni you would like to be put in touch with
- Message you want Callia to pass on to the alumni
The alumni are very busy so it is important we are considerate. We recommend you read the below guidelines to indicate your appreciation and show respect for their time:
1. It is the mentee's/advice seeker's responsibility to manage contact: be clear about goals (even if a start is to say "I'm not sure what I'm looking for, getting help on narrowing it down would be great"), be proactive about scheduling a meeting, establish next steps, and/or agree on a long-term mentoring plan if appropriate.
2. Contact should be made via email first, then phone, before agreeing to an in-person meeting if both parties agree this would be helpful.
3. At the end of each contact you should have agreed on next steps: it is advised the mentee follow up with an email to their mentor/advisor to put the agreed next steps in writing.
4. If you decide to stop mentoring for any reason, or do not need the arranged meeting, please communicate this to your mentor/advisor. Both your time and theirs is precious, contact should only be carried on or taken up if it is useful.
5. If you agreed this was a one-off contact or decide not to continue, please follow up to thank your advisor/mentor for their time and advice.
The difference between mentoring and career advice:
Before seeking to make contact with an advisor, please think about what you hope to get out of your relationship.
Career advice will typically be one-off advice related to specific questions such as how to write a more compelling cover letter, subject/field specific, or broader questions around how to find a job in a given field.
Mentoring refers to coaching based on exploring your personality traits and interests, it is usually longer-term work towards an identified and agreed goal. We will recommend mentoring starts with a first meeting which may well be career advice, then mentor/mentee can decide to renew contact and explore mentoring if there is interest.
NB: this list of volunteers will be revised and refreshed in a year’s time. Last updated in January 2024.
