PROACTIVE MENTORING PROGRAMME
Aims of this sheet
Before meeting with a mentor or going to interview a contact as part of a networking process, it is important to find out some informa tion about your mentor’s/contact’s organisation – this will ensure that you come across as interested and well prepared. It is also important to give some thought to the questions you will ask your mentor/contact when you meet them. You will want to find out more about their organisation and also seek out advice they can give you as a result of their own experience. This sheet will provide the following starting points:
 Questions you need to start asking, prior to any meeting, about your mentor’s/contact’s organisation
 Questions you need to ask individuals about their career and what they have learned from it
 Some suggested resources to help you in researching companies and professions, particularly via the web
Questions about organisations
Prior to meeting with your mentor/contact your research should enable you to find out as much as possible about their organisation. Listed below are some of the broad questions which you should be aiming to find answers to, through your research:
- “What does this organisation do?”
- “How is this organisation structured?”
- “How successful is this organisation and what does it regard as its major achievements and strengths?”
- “What recent press coverage has this organisation received (including scandals!)?”
- “ What is the attitude, within the organisation towards this publicity?”
- “What sort of work culture exists within this organisation?”
- “ What sort of person fits in well into this organisation?”
- “Do you have any knowledge, skills or experience which is particularly relevant to this organisation?”
You may not be able to answer all these questions at this stage so your research should also help you to:
 Find out the questions you will need to ask your mentor/contact about their organisation when you meet them
Key questions to ask networking contacts
The following questions provide a starting point for any discussion with a mentor/contact where the key objective is to get advice and information on getting into a career:
- “Can you describe your current role?”
- “What are the most and least satisfactory aspects of the work for you?”
- “How have you reached your current position? What are the typical career paths in your field?”
- “What are the main lessons you have learned?”
- “Would you have done anything differently?”
- “What skills/qualifications and experience are vital for getting in and getting on in this career area?”
- “Can you tell me about the range of salaries and rewards available at different stages in your profession?”
- “How would you describe the work culture of your organisation? Is this typical of organisations in your field?”
- “How is your profession changing?”
- “What advice can you give me on … (getting into this career, further research etc.)?”
- “Do you know of any opportunities, within your firm or elsewhere, for … (work placements, jobs etc.)?”
- “Is there anybody else it might be useful for me to speak to?”
Both above checklists will get you started but neither is exhaustive – you must also think up your own questions.

This section will give you some starting points for researching information on organisations and professions. The majority of the resources referred to are available electronically and most can be found on the web. It is not in itself an exhaustive list of resources; rather it identifies websites and search tools that will lead to a large amount of information or further resources.
General Guides to Researching employers
Brunel Careers Service has produced two guides to researching employers:
 Researching Employers, a guide – this detailed, 23 page web-based guide is available at: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/admin/careers/emp_research.shtml
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These pages contain many hyper-links to useful websites and information resources
 Careers Service Job Hunting Notes Sheet - Researching Employers
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This notes sheet can be collected from Brunel Careers Service or downloaded from our website from: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/admin/careers/student_handouts.shtml
Datasets for searching information on employers
There are a number of large, searchable datasets that give access to a wide range of business information about organisations. The two contrasting datasets listed below are extremely useful when researching employers.
 CAROL – Gives access to a range of company reports on a wide range of organisations, worldwide.
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This dataset is publicly accessible on the web at http://www.carol.co.uk
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It is also available to Brunel users via the Brunel network, using the following route from the start button:
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Start – Information Resources – Datasets-Management – Company Reports – Carol
 European Intelligence Wire – Provides access to full-text articles from a wide range of newspapers and journals. Use “go to advanced search” to do a key-word search for any company you are researching.
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This is a subscription only, web-delivered dataset – only available via the computer networks of subscribing institutions and libraries
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Users of the Brunel network should be able to access it in the following ways:
 directly on the web at http://ft.chadwyck.co.uk/
 using the following route from the start button:
Start – Information Resources – Datasets-Management – European Intelligence Wire
A-Z links to employer websites
Most large employers now use their websites to deliver public information about their organisations – this includes information on career paths, job vacancies, work-experience and mentoring opportunities. The Careers Services of both Brunel and London Universities have created large A-Z directories of direct links to employer sites from their websites. You should use both sites, as each will contain links not available on the other list.
 Brunel Careers Service Links to Employer Websites A-Z – links to over 500 employers
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http://www.brunel.ac.uk/admin/careers/emp_link.shtml
 Virtual Careers Library (University of London Careers Service) Employers A-Z – links to over 1000 employers
 http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/links/lempla_z.htm
Websites of Professional bodies and Associations
Professional Bodies usually publish a variety of information on career paths within their field. They often have directories or databases of contacts within the profession(s) they represent – these are sometimes available through their website. Both Brunel and London University websites provide indexed links to a large number of sites.
 Brunel Careers Service A-Z of Occupational Information
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http://www.brunel.ac.uk/admin/careers/occup_link.shtml
 Virtual Careers Library links to Professional Bodies and Trade Associations
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http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/links/l970000.htm