The Mentoring Officer runs ALSA's mentoring programme from start to finish. You recruit and onboard mentors, match them with mentees, and keep the programme running across the full semester. The goal is for every participant to finish with a relationship that actually meant something.
- Recruit mentors from the law school community and, where possible, the practitioner network. The quality of the programme depends on who is in it. Prioritise mentors who will show up and commit across the full semester.
- Design and run the application and matching process for mentees at the start of semester. The process needs to be clear and easy to navigate. A confusing application is the first signal to a mentee that the programme is not worth their time.
- Match mentors with mentees based on study year, goals, and area of interest. A thoughtful match takes twenty minutes. A poor match wastes a semester for two people.
- Run at least one group event to bring mentoring pairs together during the semester. Group settings give pairs a shared reference point and surface connections they would not find in one-on-one meetings alone.
- Conduct mid-semester check-ins with participants and support any pairs that are struggling. Most pairs who fall silent do not reach out for help. Check in proactively rather than waiting to be flagged.
- Direct the Operations Intern on logistics and admin tasks throughout the programme. Brief them at the start of semester with a clear picture of what they own across the full semester. Good delegation frees you to focus on the programme itself.
- Keep the Operations Director informed on how the programme is tracking throughout the semester. Flag issues when there is still time to act on them, not at the end. At semester close, submit a summary covering participation numbers, what worked, and what the next Mentoring Officer should do differently.
- Update the comprehensive handover document at the end of semester. Document the matching process, event formats, and key contacts so the programme can run again without starting from scratch.
- Write a brief monthly update for the ALSA newsletter. Summarise where the mentoring programme is at and any upcoming events. It gives the programme visibility with members who are not yet involved.
- Time commitment: Roughly 8–10 hours per week; expect more in event weeks
- Meetings: Attend the weekly operations team meeting and the monthly all-team session. Once a month, the portfolio meeting is replaced by a full-team session where every portfolio and cabinet come together.
- Recruitment: Mentor cohort confirmed and all pairs matched within the first four weeks
- Programme event: At least one group event or mixer for mentoring pairs during the semester
- Check-ins: Mid-semester participant check-in completed and summary shared with cabinet
- Reporting: End-of-semester summary submitted within two weeks of the last day of semester
Mentees finish the semester with a clearer sense of how to navigate the transition into legal practice: not just information, but genuine guidance from someone who has been through it. Mentors leave with a positive impression of ALSA as an organisation worth engaging with. And the programme is documented well enough that the next Mentoring Officer can run it again without starting from scratch.
Before anything else, read the executive standards. They cover what we expect from everyone on the team. In the first two weeks, you will review any materials from prior mentoring cohorts, confirm the recruitment approach for mentors, and open the mentee application window so matching can begin in week three.
Throughout the two weeks, send brief, regular updates to your director: what you worked on, what is next, and anything you are stuck on. These updates are how you demonstrate you can operate without being managed.
Good fit
- You are organised and comfortable following up with people across a whole semester, not just at the start
- You care about building genuine relationships within the law school community
- You can design a simple process and then actually stick to it
Not the right role
- You prefer short-cycle, one-off projects to long-running programmes
- Pastoral or community-building work is not what you are looking for
Mentoring Officer positions for Semester Two 2026 are not open for applications at this time.
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