Freelance mentor for university applicants (online)

About Causeway Education

We are a charity committed to helping disadvantaged young people to overcome barriers to higher education with practical, high-quality guidance and support. We are a friendly, supportive and inclusive team dedicated to ensuring progression is not determined by privilege.

About the role

Mentors make a huge difference to students’ experiences of applying to university and their chances of success. Applying to university is a particularly daunting task for those young people who face socio-economic barriers and whose schools are often not given the training and resources to provide the necessary level of support to compete with privately educated peers. Check out these mentee stories for some examples of the difference mentors make: https://causeway.education/mentee-stories-202122.

Mentors are matched with students who are part of our Application Mentoring programme. Mentoring takes place on our online platform, OSCAR. Students use the platform to plan and draft their personal statement and mentors provide ongoing feedback and support. Whilst this is the primary purpose of the role, mentors also provide general support in relation to their university application progress through OSCAR's messaging function. This may include, but not be limited to, providing examples of own experiences as well as advice related to university and course choices. There are no video calls, phone calls or face-to-face contact.

Training is provided and you can contact Causeway’s programme management team for support and guidance.

We aim to pair mentors with students who are applying for subjects that are similar to the mentor’s area of expertise (academic and professional). The number of students we pair you with will depend on the number of applicants we receive overall, the subjects they intend on applying for and your own capacity.

There are no set hours for the role as it is dependent upon the number of mentees assigned and the level of support they require. Mentors and mentees are encouraged to maintain regular contact and there is the expectation that students receive a response from their mentor within 2 days, even if this is just to acknowledge receipt and provide an estimated time within which they will receive a full response.

Who we're looking for

This is an altruistic, freelance role that could be taken on alongside other commitments.

We would love to hear from applicants who:

• Are educated to degree level or above.
• Have experience of or interest in working with young people, ideally aged 16-18.
• Are interested in promoting fair access to educational opportunities.

We would particularly welcome applicants who:

• Have expertise and/or experience with: Accountancy, Architecture, Business, Computer Science, Dentistry, Economics, Engineering, Finance, Law, Management, Maths, Physics
• Have knowledge or experience of applying to Oxford and/or Cambridge

Application process and timeline

• Applicants will be invited to an introductory call with one of our team.
• Applicants will participate in one two-hour training session on a date of their choice across March and April.
• Applicants will complete a follow-up task and receive feedback from our team.
• Applicants will provide 2 references and DBS details, or we will arrange for a DBS check to be conducted.

The expected start date is due to be early July. The role runs through to the end of January 2024.

Pay

You will claim one payment for each student you are assigned. The rate of pay is either £40 or £85 per student (depending on the progress they have made over the course of the programme). Mentors are generally assigned between 8-15 students, but there is flexibility on this in either direction and we cannot guarantee any specific number.

If you have questions about the role, please contact us via email and we’ll get back to you: mentoring-at-causeway.education.

Job Types: Part-time, Freelance

Salary: £40.00-£1,700.00 per year

Benefits:

• Work from home

Education:

• Bachelor's (preferred)

Licence/Certification:

• enhanced DBS certificate (preferred)

Work Location: Remote

Application deadline: 13/02/2023
Expected start date: 01/07/2023