Established in 1996, ELBA’s Mentoring Works programme matches Year 10 and Sixth Form students to volunteer business mentors working in the City of London and Canary Wharf.  Mentoring Works supports mentees to develop the knowledge and skills needed for future education, training or careers. 

Students travel to their mentor’s place of work for a one-hour session every other week, over the course of 10-months. Mentors are encouraged to become a professional adult friend and guide their student in making their own discoveries and decisions. The Mentoring Works team work closely with all participants, schools and companies throughout the year to ensure relationships are working effectively.

Across the Year 10 and Sixth Form programmes we work with hundreds of young people and mentors each year. Our geographic focus has been on those areas that are positioned high on the Indices of Deprivation, with the belief that students from these areas will benefit from being connected to opportunities and contacts that they might not otherwise access.

Objectives of Mentoring Works:

• Introduce young people to the world of work
• Raise aspirations
• Enable young people to identify career goals
• Increase employability through the development of key skills and competencies; including use of the Skills Builder Framework.

Mentoring Works has adopted the national Skills Builder Universal Framework, developed to show how to build essential skills at every stage of life. Mentors and mentees will explore the Skills Builder skills and some additional competencies throughout sessions. These include: Listening, Speaking, Problem Solving, Creativity, Staying Positive, Aiming High, Leadership, Teamwork, Business Awareness and Confidence.

Read more about the Mentoring Works in the Skills Builder Impact Directory. The programme has achieved the Impact Level 4 for its continuing progress in essential skills.

Check out ELBA’s Mentoring Works programme on the Skills Builder website here.

If your school or company is interested in our Mentoring Works programme, please email the Mentoring Works team on:
mentoringworks@elba-1.org.uk.

“Mentoring Works has been the best experience ever and we couldn’t have asked for a better mentor. We have grown so much in confidence, grown as people and flowered. It has been fun and amazing. We now know what employers are looking for, how to present ourselves and how to find a job. We have tapped into a deeper meaning, discovered who we are and built a firm foundation for wherever we wish to go from here. We are very grateful and now have a better chance of a better future.”
Mentee, Mentoring Works

“Mentoring provided a wonderful opportunity for me to help with the next generation of bright young things. It’s been really great to help her on that journey and to keep my eyes open to the community and the world around us.”
Mentor, Mentoring Works

“The most positive benefit for our students was building their confidence. It assists students with aspects of their life not linked to academic work and acts as a support system.”
School Coordinator, Mentoring Works

“The programme allows volunteers of any background to use their skills and experiences and to develop those skills in new and meaningful ways. It also allows us to reach a good number of students but in a really high impact and bespoke way, meaning they get a lot more out of it.”
Company Coordinator, Mentoring Works