A crucial part of the UTC experience for students is exposure to the world of work and destination focused learning through regular interaction with employers. As you may already be aware through discussions with Curriculum Directors, it is the UTC's intention to set up a rolling programme of Employer Mentor Sessions for their students.

The Employer Mentor Programme aims to match a small group of students to a mentor from a vocational area that the students aim to pursue as a career in the future.

We would like to invite you to be involved in this programme as one of the employer mentors for the current cohort of students.

UTC only ask you to commit to 3 separate sessions over 1 year. The time commitment may vary from two hours to a maximum of four hours. They will match you with a maximum of six students per group. For continuity, they will allocate the same students each session to you.

A brief outline of the programme are as follows: -

Session 1 - Thursday 28th and Friday 29th June 2018

• This session will be employer mentor led, an opportunity to get to know each other and for the mentor to introduce the vocational area.
• The focus will be on the skills required for your specific area and linked to the Cutlers Passport skills.
• Students will also be encouraged to ask questions to find out information about the sector, skills required, necessary qualifications, pathways into their chosen career as well as any potential changes to the vocational area.
• Verbal or written feedback from you, the interviewee would be appreciated.
• Approximate time – maximum 2 hours.

Session 2 – dates to be confirmed but this will take place before Christmas 2018

• From the end of the Summer term, staff will be encouraging students to prepare their personal statements/cvs.
• The aim of this session will be for the employer mentor to provide invaluable feedback on the students’ personal statements.
• There will be flexibility in this session as it could be a group or 1:1 session, dependent upon the wishes and time commitment of the mentor.
• Personal statements/cvs can be provided to the employer mentor prior to the session.
• Approximate time – maximum 2 hours.

Session 3 – dates to be confirmed before Easter 2019

• This session is intensive in terms of time for the employer mentor.
• Each employer mentor to undertake an interview with each student appropriate for their sector.
• Alongside this, students will be asked to undertake a presentation of their portfolio to demonstrate to the mentor their development in terms of skills over their time at UTC
• thus far.
• Written feedback of the interview for each student would be appreciated.
• An interview schedule and feedback form will be available, however deviation from this to make this more appropriate or relevant to the specific sector is encouraged.
• Approximate time – 30 minutes per student.

Optional Assembly – dates to be confirmed in the Summer Term 2019

• The final session will be where students are awarded their certificates for successful completion of their passports.
• This will be an opportunity to celebrate with the students the development over time and present the mentor awards.
• Each mentor will have an opportunity to recognise the success of one their mentees.
• Approximate time – maximum 2 hours.

If you would like to discuss becoming one of the employer mentors
at UTC Olympic Legacy Park contact – Lisa Parkin
lparkin@utcsheffield.org.uk or 0114 260 3950.