Mentoring

Mentoring can provide structured career development to individuals. ScreenSkills runs an in-house mentoring programme as well as supporting other organisations wishing to offer mentoring. 

Please click below for more information on how to register as a mentor:

All of our mentors are volunteers. Typically, mentors will have recent industry experience and will be one or two career stages ahead of their mentee.

If you identify a mentor without the help of ScreenSkills, you can still receive structured mentoring support, optional training and resources by joining the programme. If you both agree to form a mentoring partnership and would like to join, please email mentoring@screenskills.com. You will need the prior agreement of your mentor in order to join.

Benefits of mentoring for both parties include:

• Seeing things from another’s perspective
• Increasing your network
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Developing communication skills
• Learning from the ideas and experiences of someone who is different to you
• Using your creativity
• Boosting your job satisfaction
• A deeper appreciation of diversity and inclusivity

E-learning modules and mentoring resources

ScreenSkills e-learning modules can support mentoring partnerships and can be accessed via the links below:

• Mentoring for mentors
• Mentoring for mentees

Below is some information for mentors and mentees. You will find a longer guide and a shorter briefing about what mentoring is all about, what to expect and what is expected of you. The ‘sessions flow’ document illustrates how you can structure the mentoring conversations. Use the session log template to record what was discussed and agreed in the session. Use the action plan template to formalise the actions the mentee will do between sessions. If as a mentor you ever feel you are not able to help your mentee, you may find the information in ‘great mentors do not need all the answers’ useful. More information and guidance for organisations is available through emailing mentoring@screenskills.com.

Join our mentoring community

Can your organisation give back to the industry whilst developing its own staff? Do you and your colleagues want to share your industry experience and boost your careers?

To assist organisations in setting up mentoring programmes, ScreenSkills can provide:

• Free information and support
• Free training and consultancy
• Advice on sourcing suitable mentees from within your organisation, external to your organisation or from the ScreenSkills Mentoring Programme (which is supported by the BFI with funds from the National Lottery under the BFI’s Future Film Skills Strategy)
• In some cases, financial support  

Follow these three steps to become one of ScreenSkills’ partner organisations and join the community of mentoring best practice:

1. Contact us to find out more about mentoring benefits and activities at mentoring@screenskills.com
2. We will provide free information and support to make sure your organisation has everything needed to start mentoring. This can include training, consultancy or funding to run your own mentoring programme.
3. Recruit mentors in your organisation to help professionals across the UK develop and progress in their careers.

ScreenSkills Mentoring Working Group

Our work is informed by a group of industry professionals from the following organisations:

• A mentee from BBC and Leonard Cheshire mentoring programmes
• CAVE Academy
• Directors UK
• Ffilm Cymru
• Sara Putt Associates
• Screen Yorkshire
• Talking Point
• The Film & TV Charity
• WFTV