Best Practices for Being a Peer Mentor

Serving as a Peer Mentor means leading with empathy, encouragement, and consistency. Your role is to support your mentee’s growth by sharing your own student experiences and guiding them through the milestone pathway. While every mentoring relationship is different, the following best practices will help you succeed:

• Be approachable and open. Share your own experiences honestly, including challenges you’ve faced as a student.
• Stay consistent with milestones. Use the milestone checklist (Coffee on Campus, club/organization involvement, career event, LinkedIn/resume update, etc.) as touchpoints to keep the relationship moving forward.
• Encourage involvement. Suggest events, organizations, or campus resources that helped you succeed.
• Balance advice with listening. Ask open-ended questions to help your mentee reflect on their goals and make their own decisions.
• Be reliable. Show up when you say you will, respond in a timely manner, and model professionalism.
• Celebrate progress. Recognize your mentee’s achievements, big or small, and encourage them to keep going.
• Keep growing yourself. Use this experience to build your own leadership, communication, and coaching skills.