THRIVE is a career mentoring scheme for those of you who are in their second year of your undergraduate degree or for postgraduate students in our select departments.  Getting involved provides you with a year of collaboration with a successful professional. Working with our mentors will enable you to create an environment where you can test out your aspirations and talk through any ideas you have about graduate life. You can see what past students have said about the programme by visiting our ‘What our students say’ page. 

Participating in THRIVE will provide you with the opportunity to broaden your understanding of the type of professional you would like to become and realise what attributes you hold which set you apart from other graduates in the labour market. We want you to feel confident and prepared when embarking on graduate life and our mentors are available to offer honest insights which make that possible. 

We often see the collaboration between mentor and mentee leading to unique opportunities in the workplace and beyond. Mentors may be able to offer; a workplace visit; introductions to fellow professionals and industry experts; bespoke guidance on CVs and interview technique and the opportunity to learn a lot about yourself as well. 

To find out more about the programme, please see our list of frequently asked questions below which students tend to ask us. 

Please note: Henley Business School students are not eligible for the scheme but have access to a separate mentoring programme - find out more.

Read our privacy notice.

Key things to know about THRIVE 

1. You don’t need to know what job you want to have a mentor. We say that any mentor is better than no mentor. Even if you’re not clear on career direction, any professional in the working world will be a benefit to you – for practical help with your CV and general questions about what it is like to work.
2. THRIVE isn’t a huge time commitment if you don’t want it to be. We ask that students commit 1-2 hours a month to the scheme, for 3-9 months in total. This can be split up over emailing, meeting with your mentor as well as practical work or research that you may do individually that contributes toward your mentoring
3. Your mentoring partnership doesn’t need to last the full 9 months if it naturally comes to an end. The reason we give a scale when it comes to how many months a student might be part of the scheme is because it may well be that you only have one or two career-related topics to discuss with your mentor and work through together. Once these have been discussed, you are welcome to bring your partnership to a close by letting both your mentor and the Mentoring Team know. We do provide resources to help support you through the whole length of the scheme, but it is not compulsory for you.

The THRIVE Timeline

Sign up on our website– Undergraduates will sign up after browsing our mentor database and selecting a professional career mentor. Our select departments of postgraduates are invited to sign up in January but see our Frequently Asked Questions for more postgraduate information

Mentee preparation session in the Autumn and Spring term - when you sign up, you will be invited to book into a preparation session via email. During each session, we will provide you with an overview of how THRIVE works, information about the support and resources available, and a chance to ask any questions you might have. You must attend a preparation session before being matched with a mentor and they are run on a weekly basis through September to February so there are plenty of opportunities.

Introduction to your Mentor – term is student dependent - Once you have attended a preparation session, you will be given your mentor’s email address and be expected to send them an introduction email within 10 working days.

• Mentoring is flexible for each partnership but generally runs from 4-6 months. Each month you will spend 1-2 hours communicating with your mentor.
• The THRIVE Mentoring Team is around to support you and provide you with resources to make the most of your partnership. Please do get in touch with us if you have any queries or concerns.

Scheme closes in Summer term - the THRIVE Scheme closes toward the end of the Summer term in late July but some mentoring partnerships may end earlier than this.