Mentoring Program
A strong college store industry is built by people who are willing to share
what they know, ask questions, and invest in one another.
The NACS Foundation Mentoring Program connects emerging and developing campus store professionals with experienced industry leaders who can offer guidance, perspective, encouragement, and a place to talk through the challenges and opportunities that come with a career in collegiate retail.
Whether you are looking for someone to help you navigate a new role, think through your next career step, better understand the industry, or simply have someone in your corner, the NACS Foundation Mentoring Program is designed to help you grow.
About the Program
The NACS Foundation Mentoring Program is a structured opportunity for campus store professionals to build meaningful relationships with experienced leaders in the industry.
The program is designed around learning, connection, and professional growth. Mentors share their experience and perspective, while mentees take an active role in identifying the areas where they want to learn and grow.
This is an opportunity to have someone who can:
- Share experiences and lessons learned throughout their career
- Help you think through challenges and opportunities
- Provide a different perspective on your work
- Help you identify areas for professional growth
- Encourage you as you navigate your career
- Help you build confidence as a leader
- Connect you with people, resources, and ideas that can expand your understanding of the industry
The program also helps strengthen the campus store industry as a whole by creating connections between experienced professionals and those who are building their careers.
What to Expect
Start with your goals.
Before you are matched with a mentor, you'll have an opportunity to think about what you want from the experience.
Maybe you're:
- New to the college store industry
- Taking on a new leadership role
- Looking for guidance as you navigate a career transition
- Interested in developing specific skills or knowledge
- Thinking about your long-term career path
- Looking for someone who can challenge your thinking and offer a different perspective
There doesn't have to be one specific answer.
The most important thing is being willing to learn and actively participate.
Build a relationship.
Once you are matched with a mentor, you'll work together to establish goals and determine how you want to connect.
Mentees take an active role in the relationship by setting the agenda for conversations, bringing questions and challenges to the table, and following through on the goals they establish.
Mentors provide experience, perspective, encouragement, and honest feedback.
Learn from the industry.
Participants who actively engage leave the experience with new knowledge, stronger connections, greater confidence, and a clearer sense of where you want to go next.
Who Should Apply?
The NACS Foundation Mentoring Program is designed for college store professionals who are ready to invest in their own professional growth.
You may be a great fit if you are:
- Early in your career - You are building your experience and want to learn from someone who has already navigated some of the challenges you're facing.
- Growing into leadership - You have recently stepped into a supervisory or leadership role, or you're preparing for your next one, and want someone to help you think through the transition.
- Looking for a new perspective - You have experience in the industry but want to learn from someone outside your immediate organization or expand your understanding of the profession.
- Exploring your next step - You're thinking about where your career could take you and would benefit from talking with someone who has taken a different path.
- Ready to invest in yourself - You don't need to have everything figured out. You simply need to be willing to ask questions, participate, and put what you learn into action.
What Makes a Great Mentee?
The best mentoring relationships are two-way relationships.
You don't need to know exactly what you want your career to look like five years from now.
But you should be willing to:
- Show up and participate
- Take responsibility for your own growth
- Come prepared for conversations
- Ask questions
- Be open to feedback and new ideas
- Set goals and work toward them
- Communicate honestly with your mentor
- Respect your mentor's time and experience
- Follow through on commitments
Your mentor can't do the work for you, but they can help you see possibilities you may not have considered.
How to Apply
Applying to the NACS Foundation Mentoring Program begins with
thinking about what you hope to gain from the experience.
The application will ask you to share information about your professional
experience, your goals, and what you hope to accomplish through mentoring.
1
Complete the application.
Tell us about yourself, your experience, and what you hope to gain from participating.
2
Tell us what you want to learn.
Think about the areas where you would value another professional's experience, perspective, or guidance.
3
We review applications and identify potential matches.
The Foundation considers the information provided by both mentors and mentees when developing mentoring matches.
4
Get matched.
If selected, you'll receive information about your mentor and the next steps for getting started.
5
Begin your mentoring journey.
You'll work with your mentor to establish goals and create a rhythm for your conversations and connection.
Application Deadline XX/XX/XX
Become a Mentor
You have experience. Share it.
At some point in every career, someone takes the time to answer a question, share a hard-earned lesson, make an introduction, or simply say, “I've been there. Here's what I learned.”
That's the power of mentoring.
The NACS Foundation is looking for experienced campus store professionals who are willing to invest their time and knowledge in the next generation of industry leaders.
You don't have to have all the answers.
You just need to be willing to listen, share your experience, ask good questions, and help someone else think through their next step.
Why become a mentor?
Mentoring is an opportunity to:
- Give back to the profession you care about
- Share knowledge you've gained throughout your career
- Help develop future college store leaders
- Connect with professionals outside your own organization
- Gain a fresh perspective from someone at a different stage of their career
- Strengthen the industry by investing in its future
And mentoring doesn't just benefit the mentee.
Talking with someone who sees the industry from a different perspective can challenge your own thinking, introduce you to new ideas, and remind you why the work we do matters.
What We Ask of Mentors
We ask mentors to:
- Commit to participating for the duration of the program
- Make time for regular conversations with their mentee
- Listen before offering advice
- Share experiences honestly and thoughtfully
- Provide encouragement and constructive feedback
- Help their mentee identify opportunities for growth
- Respect confidentiality within the mentoring relationship
- Encourage their mentee to take ownership of their goals
- Be willing to learn, too
Your willingness to share it is what makes the difference.
