Thank you to everyone who has agreed to be a mentor in 2025. on our Women in Journalism scheme – we all believe that we need more women thriving at every career stage, whether working in-house or freelancing. The idea of the scheme is that we help each other out and foster connections. The best mentor/mentee relationships can become enduring friendships.

Please read these guidelines before you make contact with each other. 

Timings
● Get in touch with each other as soon as possible via the email addresses in your introductory email. There are no rules about who contacts who first.
● Email your mentor/mentee once or twice, and if you don’t get a reply, try phoning the desk/department they work on or DM-ing them via social media. Please remember how precious the time of a more senior female journalist might be.
●  Aim to have at least four half-hour conversations over the year. If you both agree to be in contact more often, go for it, but it’s up to the mentor to set clear boundaries about how much time they can spend with their mentee.
● At the end of each meeting, arrange the next one.
● If you have still not heard from your mentor or mentee two weeks after receiving your introductory email or if the relationship is not working out for whatever reason at any stage, please email wijmentors@gmail.com to let us know and we will try to help. We really value our mentors and don’t want to waste them!

To make the most of meetings…
● Agree on goals/tasks for the mentee to work towards before your next meeting, make notes, and then discuss what progress has been made. This will help prevent things from drifting along with no clear outcome.

What to expect from your mentor

For mentees

● What do you need help with? We recommend you go to each meeting with a list of questions/talking points.
● The role of a mentor is to offer general advice and support about how you might progress. They are not there to get you a job or edit your work. If they are happy to do that, fine, but please agree this with them from the outset and respect any boundaries they set.
● Be receptive to your mentor’s advice and their point of view – even if it’s not what you want to hear!
● Take initiative and make the most of your mentor’s wisdom.
● Please please please do NOT set a date for a meeting and then not turn up. This does nothing for your reputation and may deprive others of the mentor’s support. 

For mentors

How can you help?
● It’s hard to help someone who doesn’t know what kind of help they need. From the start, establish what your mentee is most concerned about. Ask probing, open-ended questions.
● Work with your mentee to set realistic goals that will help them progress. 

● Stand back from the issues your mentee raises but work together on them; you’re there to provide insightful but objective feedback.

Be clear about expectations and boundaries 

● You are not expected to find your mentee a job or to edit her copy (though looking over a job application or CV can be helpful). You are there as a sounding board, to offer suggestions and guidance based on your experiences.
● Be honest about the struggles that you have faced in your career – your insight is invaluable.
● It’s important your mentee can trust and confide in you about difficulties they may be facing with colleagues - please be discreet and don’t share this information with anyone else.

Share contacts, opportunities, and successes
● Please be generous with your contacts if you know someone who might be able to help, and keep your mentee informed of opportunities you hear about.
● Take an interest in their progress and watch their career in between meetings – send encouraging emails or comment on their social media to celebrate any successes.

The mentoring team is here to help, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you want to discuss anything. 

Good luck!

Hilly Janes, WiJ head of mentoring