All Your Mentor Questions Answered

At this stage it’s probably fair to say you’ve heard of our B!G Mentors (because we love to shout about them!) and you might be thinking you’d like to get involved but are not sure how to do so? Well you’re in the right place! We’ll walk you through the steps for signing up which hopefully will answer some of the questions you might have. You’ll see that it’s so easy you’ll be able to go ahead and sign up straight away!!

People generally wonder if they are the right person for the job at hand and being a B!G Mentor is no different apart from the fact that the answer is a simple one: YES! A B!G Mentor is simply someone with professional experience in creative or critical thinking and problem solving who wants to support and empower students to develop these real world skills. So you see, already it’s a YES!

Our B!G Mentors provide a direct link between our students and industry. To show how creative thinking is vital in all roles, we actively seek out Mentors from a range of sectors and industries, from ALL levels within a company. We are all about diversity and inclusivity, so the more diverse our B!G Mentors are, the better!

We believe that EVERY student should have equal access to vital creative skills for life. The only realistic way to achieve this is to keep our programme completely FREE for all participants. This is a B!G challenge and the only way we can do this is to find people like you to help us make Ireland the most creative, innovative country in the world.

For this reason, we are looking for creative innovators who want to join our B!G Community and pledge €200 to support our students. This allows us to make this creative educational programme FREE to EVERY student in the country. How amazing is that? Essentially, B!G Mentors directly fund two students with a place on the programme, equipping them with creative skills for life and opening up endless opportunities.

So now you’ve established that you would make a great B!G Mentor but no doubt are going straight to thinking about time commitments. Most of us don’t have enough time in the day to tie our shoelaces so you are probably thinking ‘this sounds great but I don’t have enough time’. Again, this is an easy one. As a B!G Mentor, the level of time commitment you give is completely up to you. We offer flexibility and choice and our Mentors choose to be involved as little or as much as they like throughout the programme. The whole process is entirely flexible, fully digital and really wonderful!

We ask you to commit to just 2-3 hours of your time and this will have a lasting and direct impact on our students. In February, you will support student teams online with feedback and advice on 3-5 projects, all through our bespoke online Mentor platform, giving you the flexibility to be involved from anywhere.

In May, you can see how our students have used your words of wisdom! We will send you a number of projects to review and grade on your dashboard, making it as simple as possible for you. You can even select a potential B!G winner and leave some nuggets for our students as they graduate from the B!G Idea programme in our B!G Showcase, the grand finale!

And the final most frequently-asked question: What will I get out of being a B!G Mentor? This is mentoring like no other. As a Mentor, you will get the opportunity to collaborate, connect and learn with like-minded peers at exclusive events and have endless networking opportunities with a growing community of other Mentors. Help yourself and help our students, it’s a win-win!

We’re on a B!G mission to create a better world through creative innovation. Sign up to become a Mentor today and join our growing community of over 400 Mentors in 2023. The first two years of The B!G Idea were a huge success and we need even more B!G Mentors to support 4,000 students on our programme next year! What are you waiting for? Apply below to become a B!G Mentor today and support the next generation of creative problem solvers. We can’t wait to have you on-board.

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