Undergraduate: FOCUS Mentor

FOCUS Mentor, The Career Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The FOCUS Mentor position is a part time, student employment position within The Career Center. The Career Center is a unit of Student Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. FOCUS Mentors serve as peer mentors to first generation students seeking to advance their professional and career development through the FOCUS Scholars program, an intensive semester-long program created to increase exposure to occupations and careers, foster development of critical career readiness competencies, and cultivate a professional network of mentors and advocates.

Mentors serve in their position for a preferred duration of one academic year with a possibility of extension beyond that time.

• Participate in Mentor Training and Orientation at the start of the Fall and Spring semester.
• Assist in the facilitation of FOCUS Scholar workshops.
• Provide 1:1 peer mentoring to 6-8 participants.
• Create a sense of community amongst assigned participants.
• Track the progress of FOCUS scholars through program requirements.
• Participate in FOCUS workshops and review meetings for the program.
• Mentors are expected to be available to deliver the ICD workshops Monday-Thursday from 5:00-7:00 pm. [a total of 2-3 workshops in the entire semester]
• Assist with campus-wide career development programs/events.
• Help publicize FOCUS scholar and community programs.

• Experience working with diverse groups of students or knowledge and appreciation of cultural differences is preferred but not required.
• Must be currently enrolled as an undergraduate student and have completed sophomore year.
• Must be a first-generation college student.
• Must be available to commit to 5 hours of engagement with the FOCUS program per week.
• Must be able to attend all training sessions, the interview process, and all FOCUS program sessions.

Focus Mentors will be compensated at the rate of $15.00 per hour for 5 hours per week during the duration of the FOCUS program between September – November and February - April. This time includes FOCUS Mentor training as well as the FOCUS program sessions and time dedicated to other responsibilities as assigned.

Applications are now open from April 20 to May 31, 2026 and must be submitted through this application form link .

Grace Yun