The Mentor/Mentee Programme

The professional relationship between mentor and mentee rests on core values of respect, trust, empathy, and con­fi­den­ti­a­lity.

The mentoring programme is coordinated by Danish Shipping’s Maritime Internship Office with support from maritime education institutions. The role as mentor is voluntary unpaid work.

The aim of the mentoring programme is to support young seafarers in their learning needs. A gap might manifest between young seafarers and the labour market upon encountering labour market structures, workplace culture and new tasks. In the initial encounter with a new workplace or internship, young seafarers all share learning needs requiring them to be integrated and taught new practices. Such learning needs might be cultural, social or technical in nature and, as a mentor, you must be ready to work alongside the young mentee, even if the learning needs have nothing to do with work.

Whenever a mentee's learning needs are tied to the vocational community, a mentor is typically tasked with assisting the young seafarer in becoming integrated in the community. An important question to note as a mentor is the mentee’s learning needs. This applies to both more general topics as well as specific ones.

Stages of mentoring

Mentoring typically comes in three stages: the beginning, middle, and end phases. In the beginning, mentor and mentee form a relationship. In addition, an agreement must be drawn up, detailing expectations as to the purpose of the mentoring as well as the learning needs of the mentee in question.
The middle phase is where the actual mentoring takes place and learning brings about change. In the end phase, mentor and mentee evaluate on the targets set in the beginning. What have they achieved? What should the mentee be aware of going forward? Have new challenges arisen? What methods proved useful?

It is crucial to conclude the mentoring process to achieve clarity concerning the relationship and potential expectations for the future.

Typically, the mentoring process covers the entire education as well as the first three months in active employment, giving the mentee opportunities for support. As a result, the mentee is able to enjoy support throughout the entire education and the first few months into his or her career.

The mentoring process is regarded as a private relationship between mentor and mentee, arranged by Danish Shipping and supported by maritime educational institutions.
 
The mentor role

Assuming the role as mentor means assuming the role as confidant and a crucial professional friend to the mentee. As part of the mentor role, you draw on your personal experiences from your work life while balancing how you use your experiences as a mentor. As a mentor, you strive to build a relationship based on trust and mutual respect. In this way, you have a much greater success rate when it comes to establishing a learning environment. The role as a mentor is inherently tied to the mentor’s areas of responsibility, tasks, and methods.
 
Tasks and re­spon­si­bi­li­ties as a mentor

Throughout the mentoring process, you are responsible for focusing on the mentee’s learning needs. This entails aligning your expectations with the mentee, ensuring that both of you understand the nature of the relationship and the learning needs. Prior to assuming the role, you must become familiar what the mentor role involves and what it requires in terms of time and resources.

Things to note as a mentor for a young seafarer
Young people making the choice to start a career at sea must, as is the case for all other young people, feel comfortable during their first encounter with the workplace and the industry. From the very first encounter, it is crucial that a young worker to learn the ropes of the vocational community, which sets the stage for initial learning in practical service. When preparing for a life at sea, the mentee will require help from the mentor.

When this vocational community is placed on a vessel far from home, the young seafarer does not have the same option as young people employed at land to simply withdraw. This is part of what makes the encounter with the workplace and the industry unique to other educations.
 
Matching mentor and mentee

The mentoring programme is coordinated by the Maritime Internship Office under Danish Shipping and supported by the maritime educational institutions. All mentee applications are anonymized, after which an open coordination takes place with mentors who will read the mentee applications. In the end, the match is made by the Maritime Internship Office after taking mentor wishes into account to the greatest extent possible. Afterwards, the Maritime Internship Office oversees the exchange of contact information between mentor and mentee.
 
Should complications arise

Any mentoring process can result in periods requiring more work on the relationship between the mentor and mentee than in others. Sometimes, however, a match might also not work out even after having actively worked on making the relationship work. In such cases, it is important to come to a mutual agreement that terminating the mentoring is best for all parties involved. For the process to conclude ahead of schedule, a notice must be sent to the Maritime Internship Office, which will coordinate a new match for both mentor and mentee.
 
Meetings for mentors 

When you make a choice to assume the mentor role and accept the responsibility of becoming a positive influence on a young person, you will automatically invest a part of yourself in another human being. Such an investment involves setting off time and sharing your life experiences. Danish Shipping organizes both kick-off meetings and information meetings two to three times a year.

Con­fi­den­ti­a­lity and trust are key in mentoring processes, as a result of which the mentoring meetings revolve around sharing experiences and inspiration with one another as part of a mentoring role.

Do you want to be a mentor?

You can register as a mentor to one of the young seafarers by using the registration form below. After signing up, you will receive information by email about the mentoring scheme and when future mentors will meet for the first time for an information meeting.

Do you want to become a mentee?

If you wish to register as a mentee in the mentoring scheme for young seafarers, you can register via the link below. Shortly after signing up, you will receive information by email about when you will be assigned a mentor and how the course starts. We strive to provide you with a mentor as soon as possible.