Career Mentorship for Secondary School Students in Hong Kong: Perspectives From Industry Mentors and Mentees

Abstract

Secondary school students need guidance in making informed choices about career decisions. An industry-based mentorship programme was designed for senior secondary school students enrolled in the course ‘Multimedia Storytelling’. Altogether, 60 creative industries mentors and 232 mentees participated between 2022 and 2025. Qualitative interviews and online surveys were conducted among mentors, and an online survey was conducted among mentees to evaluate the mentorship programme. Mentees reported gaining industry knowledge and confidence. Qualitative interviews with mentors indicated that they perceived mentorship benefited the industry and themselves. The study informs the continuous improvements to the mentorship activities in an education pathway programme based on participants’ feedback.

Introduction

Not all youth have opportunities to properly incorporate their personal vocational interests into their career choices, vocational goals and career commitments (Gottfredson, 2005). For youth with fewer connections and resources, their limited access to career information, networks and opportunities affects their career awareness and interests, which in turn affects their career development and formation of vocational identities. Awareness of the working world and career paths is foundational to career development processes (Turner & Lapan, 2013). Youth will seek information about their career interests from sources they are aware of (Porfeli & Lee, 2012). During adolescents’ transition to adulthood, assisting their transition from exploration of their occupational identity to implementation of occupational identity is among the most critical tasks (Skorikov & Vondracek, 2011). Students who believe they can engage in the career exploration process are more likely to do so, reporting more developed vocational identity and confidence in career exploration tasks (Gushue et al., 2006). Therefore, providing students with opportunities to explore vocational interests and developing confidence in making career decisions are very important to their successful career development.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government has emphasized the importance of promoting cultural and creative industries, and the city's role in serving as an East-meets-West hub for arts and cultural exchange (Chief Executive's Office, 2024). The cultural and creative industries contributed 4.6% of the city's GDP and 6.1 percent of Hong Kong's total employment in 2023 (Census and Statistics Department, 2025). Thus, developing talent for these industries is vitally important for the city's development goals and meeting manpower demands. Employability is facilitated by many factors, including an individual's access to different forms of capital. Social capital can be understood as one's network and relationships that aid an individual's access to employment opportunities (Tomlinson, 2017). An individual's access to economic capital, the material and economic resources and assets available to them (Bourdieu, 1986), plays a role in early career development (Mao & Shen, 2020). However, those disadvantaged with less social and economic capital find it difficult to overcome systemic barriers to creative industries, such as income instability stemming from short-term project-based production models, reliance on hiring through referrals, low pay for entry-level positions and lack of access to affordable skills training (Eikhof & Warhurst, 2013). Social inequalities, such as unequal access to social and economic capital, compromise an individual's ability to enter and maintain a career in creative industries (Eikhof & Warhurst, 2013). Furthermore, access to these creative occupations was found to be strongly associated with class status (Brook et al., 2022). Mentoring programmes have the potential to serve as a bridge to improve diversity and widen participation in the creative industries (Cateridge et al., 2024).

Research in Vietnam on students at this stage of education highlighted factors such as income instability in professions and family financial constraints as influences over students’ career choice anxiety (Nguyen et al., 2024). Nguyen and colleagues (2024) suggested the provision of tailored guidance and mentorship could relieve concerns and facilitate career navigation. However, implementing such approaches in Hong Kong faces challenges due to the demanding schedules of both industry professionals and students. Furthermore, in Hong Kong, secondary school students are those in forms 1 to 6 (ages 12–18), for whom regulations on interactions between adults and students under 18 require schoolteacher supervision. These conditions render traditional mentoring approaches unfeasible. Therefore, exploring multi-mentor, wider-exposure mentoring programmes in contrast to traditional one-to-one mentoring can reveal how these activities enhance students’ employability, vocational identity and career decision self-efficacy in creative industries.

This study investigates the experiences and perceptions of mentors and mentees involved in the required mentorship activities in the CLAP-TECH Pathway's Applied Learning (ApL) course ‘Multimedia Storytelling’, to gain insight into how the mentorship programme, designed in the context of interaction constraints, can benefit students. Applied learning courses are elective components available in the mainstream Hong Kong senior secondary school curriculum. They aim to equip students with basic knowledge and skills relevant to specific professional and vocational industries (Education Bureau, 2025). The Education Bureau-accredited ‘Multimedia Storytelling’ is part of the CLAP-TECH Pathway's structured 3 + 2 year Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET) pathway comprising 3 years of Applied Learning (ApL) course curriculum beginning at the senior secondary school level (i.e., Secondary Form 4–6, typically 15–18 years old), and an optional study path to a two-year university-level higher diploma, ‘Higher Diploma in Art Tech Design’, offered by Hong Kong Baptist University. Most of the students who took ‘Multimedia Storytelling’ are from secondary schools in low- to middle-class socioeconomic communities. This is because many schools in middle- and higher-socioeconomic communities focus their resources on traditional academic subjects and do not offer ApL courses. Altogether 41% of students enrolled in ‘Multimedia Storytelling’ course resided in public rental housing, compared to 30% of the general population (Housing Bureau, 2024).

The ‘Multimedia Storytelling’ course within the CLAP-TECH Pathway comprises 180 contact hours and is complemented by co-curricular activities including company visits, skill-based bootcamps and overseas study tours finacially supported by the programme funder. The required mentorship activities are an important component in the curriculum and provide students with access to industry mentors from various creative media sectors through multiple engagement opportunities. This approach differs from more traditional mentoring relationships, which typically involve repeated contact with a single mentor. Instead, ‘Multimedia Storytelling’ features group mentoring sessions held at schools or companies to maximize the variety of industry exposure, expanding students’ career/industry knowledge, which informs their career considerations. This design affords exposure while balancing logistics constraints and adhering to supervision requirements. It is therefore important to understand how to further optimize the career mentorship programme for students entering these occupations.

Literature Review

Definition of Mentorship

Traditional concepts of mentors in organizational settings view them as guides, teachers and sponsors (Levinson et al., 1978). Mentoring functions include career development functions, which aid career advancement, and psychological support functions, which help with personal development (Kram, 1983). The most developmentally crucial function of mentors, according to Levinson and colleagues (1978), is to support and facilitate the ‘realization of the Dream’. The ‘Dream’ can be understood as achieving the kind of life they want to lead as adults. During the transition to adulthood, young people have the task of giving their ‘Dream’ definition and finding ways to live their ‘Dream’. Mentors facilitate a mentee's ‘Dream’ through affirming and helping mentees define and work towards a life structure that contains it (Levinson et al., 1978). Over the years, the format of mentorship has evolved from one-on-one and face-to-face dyadic mentoring relationships to include various forms such as peer mentoring, group mentoring, developmental network mentoring and e-mentoring (Scandura & Pellegrini, 2007; Tong & Kram, 2013).

Benefits to Mentees

In literature, individuals benefit from mentoring through career and psychological support (Eby & Lockwood, 2005; Liu et al., 2021). They may experience progress in their career advancement, including promotions, higher income and faster progression through their organization's hierarchy (Koberg et al., 1994). Mentees benefit from better organizational socialization and higher work-related satisfaction (Chao et al.,1992; Deng et al., 2022), while mentoring can increase mentees’ organizational exposure and visibility (Eby & Lockwood, 2005). Mentorship also offers mentees networking opportunities (Eby & Lockwood, 2005). Through their mentors, mentees benefit from access to valuable opportunities and connections that they would otherwise not have (Gaddis, 2012).

Furthermore, mentorship can enhance mentees’ sense of competence and identity through role modelling, emotional support, career planning advice and counselling (Eby & Lockwood, 2005; Kram, 1988). Mentoring of youth can also help develop a sense of purpose and self-esteem in mentees (Liang et al., 2016; White et al., 2021). Rhodes and DuBois (2008) found that mentoring relationships promote identity development through the involvement of mentors in shaping mentees’ self-concepts about their current and potential identities. Mentors can support identity formation by helping mentees shape their identities with their valuable insights, support and guidance (Zhang & Qin, 2023). Mentoring relationships provide youth support to form their identities through activities, resources and opportunities (Darling et al., 2002). They can help broaden awareness of types of work, job tasks and requirements for success in occupations (Turner & Lapan, 2013).

Benefits to Mentors

The experience of mentoring helps individuals find new meaning in their work through guiding and helping others (Kram, 1983,1988; Levinson et al., 1978) and to experience personal gratification (Eby & Lockwood, 2005). Mentors also view mentoring in mentorship programmes as an opportunity to give back to a new generation (Mendez et al., 2017). Studies on mentors have shown that they benefit from improved managerial skills (Eby & Lockwood, 2005), technical knowledge (Mullen & Noe, 1999), improved job performance and satisfaction (Kram, 1988; Ragins & Scandura, 1999). The benefits of mentorship also extend to promotions (Bozionelos, 2004), organizational recognition and support from mentees (Kram, 1988; Ragins & Scandura, 1999). In the same way that mentees gain access to mentors’ social networks, mentors are also able to expand their social networks through mentoring (Liu et al., 2021). Developing personal relationships with mentees is a common benefit that mentors report (Eby & Lockwood, 2005).

Empowerment Through Mentorship

Effective mentoring relationships are characterized by a myriad of good practices and properties. Clear objectives based on targeted demographics, mentoring goals and available resources can benefit mentoring programme outcomes by informing programme design, proper mentor selection, formats, methods and mentor–mentee matching criteria (Luo & Stoeger, 2023). Additionally, the quality of matching compatibility between mentor and mentee impacts the quality and potential of a mentoring relationship (Luo & Stoeger, 2023).

Matching compatibility can exhibit in multiple areas. Illies and Reiter-Palmon (2018) surveyed 146 mentees and found that those who perceived they had similar values as their mentor reported receiving more psychosocial and career support, as well as satisfaction in their mentoring relationship. Perceived similarities between mentor and mentee are significantly related to mentorship quality (Allen & Eby, 2003). The capacity for a mentor's knowledge and skills to meet the mentees’ developmental needs, along with similarity between mentors and mentees, was found to be positively related to their individual perceptions of relationship quality (Alonso et al., 2024). Mentors and mentees who perceived that they had input into the matching process reported higher satisfaction with the relationship (Allen et al., 2006). Matching mentorship arrangements to mentees’ needs helps them feel respected and supports the development of the mentoring relationship (Comfort, 2024a). Alignment of expectations of both mentors and mentees regarding the logistics of mentoring (Luo & Stoeger, 2023) and the benefits from mentoring (Strapp et al., 2014) is vital to the success of the relationship. Research on reasons for mentorship failure has highlighted unfulfilled expectations as a cause for mentoring relationships to fall apart (Spencer, 2007).

The frequency of interaction has been studied in the literature, where benefits from higher interaction intensity are highlighted (DiRenzo et al., 2010; DuBois et al., 2002; Spencer, 2006; White et al., 2021). Frequent and regular interactions provide opportunities for engagement and collaboration between mentor and mentee to develop skills and other forms of support (Spencer, 2006). While there is ample support for the benefits of high interaction frequency in mentoring relationships, career exposure events such as Norris and Herrewynen's (2023) mentorship-based career conference model demonstrate how industry mentors sharing their personal career insights and opportunities to interact with industry professionals may enhance students’ beliefs about their career readiness through discovering career paths, identifying career relevant skills, developing confidence in networking and connecting students with industry professionals (Norris & Herrewynen, 2023).

Mentorship programmes have been shown to improve mentees’ academic performance and overall well-being. Harrison and colleagues (2019) conducted a school-based mentoring programme in Hong Kong. They found that over time, students’ perceptions about mentoring improved from initial negative perceptions, and students benefited from both academic and emotional support (Harrison et al., 2019). Zeng and Ma (2025) found that career courses among high-school students in China boosted self-efficacy. Adding group counselling enhanced informed career decisions (Zeng & Ma, 2025). McClain and colleagues’ (2021) research on the long-term impact of youth mentoring experiences found that college students who had been mentored in their youth reported higher self-efficacy.

Theoretical Foundations

Vocational identity is an individual's self-concept regarding their career, occupational, job, and work identities (Crocetti et al., 2025). The development of vocational identity is the product of three identity processes of career exploration, commitment, and commitment reconsideration (Porfeli & Lee, 2012). A clear vocational identity clarifies one's career goals and informs career development (Turner & Lapan, 2013). Individuals build their vocational identity through exploration of themselves and the world of work as they prepare to commit to their choices (Porfeli et al., 2011). By sharing advice based on their personal career experiences, mentors can help mentees explore their goals and career plans (Mendez et al., 2017). Mentors’ psychosocial support assists the development of a self-sense of competence among mentees (Kram, 1988), and in turn helps develop their vocational identity and encourages career exploratory behaviours (Gushue et al., 2006). A study of 300 Romanian teenagers found that obtaining information about professions and the self, goal setting and career planning were correlated with stronger identification with a career commitment (Turda, 2024). In relation to the current research, facilitating access to resources such as industry mentors and professional insights is an opportunity to bolster mentees’ self-efficacy beliefs about their career paths, equip students with industry knowledge to foster career interests and enable career goal development.

Access to resources is also a path to develop various forms of employability capital, which students may need to pursue careers in the creative industry. Tomlinson's (2017) graduate capital model highlights the importance of human, psychological, social, cultural and identity capital for employability. Human capital is understood as the knowledge and skills applicable in employment. Psychological capital is the resources that enable individuals to endure and persevere through challenges. Social capital refers to connections and networks that facilitate employment and capitalization of work opportunities. Cultural capital refers to the valued cultural knowledge and behaviours aligned with an organization that demonstrate suitability. Finally, identity capital is related to the level of personal investment made towards developing a career and employability (Tomlinson, 2017).

In the CLAP-TECH context, the mentorship programme provides secondary students access to social capital in the form of access to industry mentors as well as cultural capital from the organizationally valued knowledge and insights mentors share. It also develops students’ identity capital through providing information about future careers and encouraging students to engage in career exploration. Development of employability capital through mentorship has the potential to enhance students’ future entry into careers in the creative industry.

Research Gap

Most of the mentorship studies were conducted in Anglo-Saxon cultures (Bozionelos & Wang, 2006) and among adults in specific professions. Career-oriented mentorship in the context of Hong Kong and among secondary school students is a topic seldom studied. Previous research consistently points to the benefits of higher interaction frequency (Comfort, 2024b; DiRenzo et al., 2010; DuBois et al., 2002; Spencer, 2006; White et al., 2021), participant input on mentor–mentee matching (Allen et al., 2006), the role of trust (Liang et al., 2008) and relationship closeness (Parra et al., 2002; White et al., 2021) in effective mentorship relationships. How mentees can benefit from arranged mentoring relationships in mentoring programmes where access to mentors and close relationships are limited remains underexplored. Additionally, how mentors react and adapt to the programme design's limitations regarding their personal motivations for mentoring (Mendez et al., 2017; Strapp et al., 2014), and their perceptions of the mentoring relationship quality within this context requires investigations.

Study Purpose

The present study investigates how mentors perceive their roles in the mentorship programme, including reasons for programme participation, expectations for the mentorship, experiences and how they felt they helped mentees through mentorship. It also investigates how mentees perceive mentorship experiences and what they gain from the programme. Specifically, it examines the mentorship programme's capacity to enhance mentees’ knowledge about the creative media industry and facilitate vocational identity formation by enabling better-informed career choices. Feedback from both mentors and mentees will inform programme organizers on areas for improvement in the mentoring programme design and execution.

Methodology

The study used a sample of career mentors and mentees from the CLAP-TECH Pathway, an educational programme aimed at cultivating talents for the creative industry in Hong Kong. Research ethics approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of Hong Kong Baptist University. Written consents from the participants were collected before they participated in the mentoring sessions and post-session surveys, and verbal consents were collected again when they participated in the interviews. Consent and approval from parents or guardians were collected for students under 18 years old. All participating mentors and mentees were informed of the purpose and procedures of this study. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the mentors through an independent market research company that reported compliance with privacy and data protection laws, regulations, and rules in Hong Kong. Data from the mentees was collected by the CLAP-TECH Centre.

Altogether, 232 mentees enrolled in the first two cohorts of the Multimedia Storytelling course. Additionally, 60 career mentors participated in 27 meetings, with a total mentor attendance of 75. These mentors were industry practitioners working in the creative industry for at least three years. In the first 23 meetings, career mentors travelled to the mentees’ high schools and met with mentees in groups. For the remaining four meetings, the sessions were conducted at the mentors’ companies. The total mentee attendance was 367. On average, each mentee participated in 1.6 mentorship meetings during their three years of study. The mentor–mentee matching process was flexible, enabling each mentee to meet different career mentors and gain exposure to a wider range of companies and job natures.

Data regarding experiences and reflections were collected from both mentors and mentees to evaluate the mentorship programme's operations and beneficial impact. Five mentors among the 60 mentors from different professions in the creative industries and 12 mentees were selected through purposive sampling. The interviews were conducted on Zoom and lasted between 65 and 70 min in 2024. The list of questions for mentors is shown in Appendix 1. These questions were developed to understand the motives and perceptions of the mentors, as well as the experiences related to the mentorship programme of the mentors. Online survey questionnaires were administered to collect data on the mentors’ and mentees’ evaluations of the mentorship experience. All mentors were invited to fill in an online survey questionnaire with four statements about their mentoring experiences. Altogether 54 responses were collected from 75 mentoring sessions, representing a response rate of 72%. All mentees were invited to fill in an online survey at the end of each mentor–mentee meeting. Mentees indicated their agreement with four statements about their mentorship meeting experiences. Altogether, 288 survey responses were collected, representing a response rate of 79%. Qualitative feedback from mentees was collected through two open-ended questions, including ‘Do you have any comments on your mentor or the mentorship programme?’ and ‘Please identify the areas that need improvement in this activity’. Altogether, 46 responses to the first question and 61 responses to the second question were collected.

Data Analysis

All the interviews were transcribed. Two authors went through the transcription and coded it independently. Authors followed the procedures of reading the transcription several times, paying attention to repeated concepts, the use of metaphors, motives, agents, strong emotions and rare actions suggested by Belk and colleagues (2013). Recurring concepts from the interviews of mentors and the feedback from the mentees formed the themes. For example, in the interview transcript of mentors, interviewees mentioned, ‘I want to give them the right direction’, and ‘In terms of creative work, maybe s/he really wants to create things’ were coded as ‘Mentors want to guide mentees to make an informed decision about career choices’. Where authors had coded transcripts differently, they reached a consensus for determining the final themes through discussion. Representative quotes were identified and translated from Cantonese into English.

Findings

Mentors’ Perspective

Analysis of mentor interviews and transcripts yielded four themes: (1) Mentors wanted to guide mentees to make an informed decision about career choices; (2) Mentors focused on providing career support in the form of industry reality; (3) Mentors perceived that mentorship benefited the industry and themselves; and (4) Mentors identified rooms for improvement.

Theme 1: Mentors Wanted to Guide Mentees to Make an Informed Decision About Career Choices

All mentors wanted to help mentees make an informed choice about their career in the creative industries. They perceived that mentees were at a critical developmental stage of decision-making about future careers. Mentors stressed that mentees should explore what they really want to do for work. Mentors perceived that mentees did not have a clear understanding of the working culture and reality of the creative media industry. Mentors hoped that through mentoring, they would be able to choose careers that fit their interests, strengths, and the market needs. They wanted to prevent mentees from wasting time and effort pursuing a path that might not be suitable for them. Here are two representative quotes:

At this critical time, young people are faced with a critical transition in their development. They need to make decisions. I want to give them the right direction. (#1)

In terms of creative work, maybe s/he really wants to create things, and I do too. For example, I draw or do design work, but I’m not the strongest at it. However, I’m really good at being a producer, it's also a creative industry job. So they need to figure out which area suits them. Even if they enjoy creating, it might not be the right fit. But actually, s/he really enjoys account work, or perhaps s/he prefers structured tasks. You need to figure out. It's not that you're bad at it, but rather it's just not the right fit. (#5)

Theme 2: Mentors Focused on Providing Career Support in the Form of Industry Reality

Interviewees felt that they could offer insight into the nature of the industry, the working environment, and the talent requirements of the creative industry to their mentees. One interviewee mentioned that the opportunity to reach mentees from communities with fewer resources and expose them to industry expertise and knowledge was an impactful experience for them. Such information was often not available through schools or even misunderstood. Only one of the five interviewed explicitly addressed how s/he provided psychological support for mentees. This mentor said s/he provided affirmation and encouragement and advised mentees not to fear failure. A mentor also noted that the programme design limited their capacity to provide more involved support for mentees, and how she adapted her mentoring focus to informing mentees about the industry. Several mentors expressed their desire to build long-term supportive relationships with mentees. However, they felt that the current practice was insufficient to facilitate such a relationship. This point will be articulated in Theme 4. Here are three representative quotes:

I think another thing about creative jobs is that their schedule is inherently unstable. S/he might finish early one day with little to do but will rarely follow a strict 8-to-5 routine. The nature of creative jobs is if there's an urgent deadline tomorrow or something needs to be sent out suddenly, then s/he will work overtime those days. (#5)

We don’t have a space to build with them … If I had to describe it, I’d say essentially a platform hasn’t been built within this structure. Maybe it's my misunderstanding, but I feel my temporary involvement is just a single point … Therefore, I adjusted my approach. I wanted the kids to understand and grasp what I see in this creative media industry. I hoped they would get some of it, along with the underlying concepts like strength-finders and orientation. (#4)

I prefer to encourage them through personal experience … You will always encounter difficulties; they are the stepping stones to growth. It'll be fine. I'll support them with positive words. (#1)

Theme 3: Mentors Perceived That Mentorship Benefited the Industry and Themselves

Interviewees described their motivations to participate in the programme and the benefits they experienced or hoped to gain. They perceived that the programme could benefit both the industry and individual mentors. One mentor emphasized that companies and industries need programmes like this to combat the severe talent shortage they have been facing. Another mentor described how they wanted to pass on their knowledge and the industry to a new generation who would make further improvements. Mentors also mentioned personal motivations, such as the desire to contribute to society, playing a part in mentees’ growth, personal satisfaction, and self-development. Several mentors described how the opportunity to interact with young people and access their perspectives and ideas benefited them and their companies. Below are two representative quotes:

It goes both ways, mentees get access to the industry, and we get to learn about what young people are thinking. We learn how to get along with them. It helps us too. (#2)

I hope that the industry can be passed on to the next generation. That it will grow. I hope that people will make it even better, and the industry will flourish. (#1)

It showed that mentors who participated in the programme are more likely to be more far-sighted and forward-looking in talent development in the industry and aspire to social responsibility.

Theme 4: Mentors Identified Rooms for Improvement

Overall, mentors appreciated the initiatives and how the mentorship programme was administered. However, they identified ways in which the programme could be improved. Several issues were brought up that caused less satisfying mentor–mentee interactions, including insufficient briefing for mentors and mentees, limited interaction sessions, too much time spent on administering unnecessary student aptitude tests during mentoring sessions to measure student self-perceived strengths, mentees not reciprocating their attempts to connect, and a lack of clear objectives for the mentorship programme. Several mentors attributed the programme's lack of platforms and opportunities to engage with students outside of mentor sessions as the cause for the deficiencies in developing long-term, deep, and meaningful relationships. One mentor criticized the programme for being insufficient in encouraging active engagement, leaving the development of relationships to chance.

Mentors suggested that more information on mentees’ learning progress and background would help them provide a better experience for the mentees. Some mentors recommended improving engagement by including more co-creation activities and better session preparation. One interviewee commented that the programme did not capitalize on the valuable expertise of experienced professionals. Mentors shared accounts of the low visibility of the CLAP-TECH programme. Mentors suggested better publicizing the programme through events and social media. Below are two representative quotes:

Because of the way the programme is run, it feels like a hit-and-run. We show up, give our speech, and whether we exchange contacts is left up to fate. I feel that the impact is small. (#3)

How about they tell me more about teaching materials? What are the topics? That way, I know what the mentees are learning. My first time participating, I was pretending I knew what was going on. (#4)

Online Survey: Mentors

The online survey among mentors received 54 responses. Table 1 summarizes mentors’ evaluation of the mentorship programme. Results indicated that mentors were satisfied with the mentorship programme. All four statements achieved mean values of 3.9 to 4.0 on a 5-point Likert scale. Mentors reported that they had the confidence to help mentees develop workplace soft skills and a clear career pathway. They perceived that they empowered mentees’ confidence and motivation.

Table 1.

Industry Mentors' Evaluation of the Mentorship Programme (n = 54 Responses).

Statement	Mean	SD
I have confidence in helping the mentees improve their workplace soft skills in the future.	3.89	0.61
I have confidence in helping the mentees clarify their interest and career pathway.	3.91	0.56
I can help in raising the mentees’ confidence and motivation.	3.94	0.60
Overall, I am satisfied with the mentorship programme.	4.06	0.53

Note. The same mentor can attend more than one mentorship meeting; 5-point Likert scale (1 = disagree strongly; 5 = agree strongly)

Mentees’ Perspective

Most responses to both mentorship feedback questions were brief expressions of thanks without elaboration. From the more detailed responses, themes of learning about working in the industry, mentors sharing inspiring stories, mentees wanting more engagement and mentees’ appreciation of mentor efforts were observed. Below are three representative quotes:

Thank you for sharing your work experience and process. I learned that creating quality work requires teamwork rather than individual effort, which may prove valuable in my future career. (S5, ApL student)

I'm deeply grateful for the mentor's insights. Hearing about the challenges and experiences across various professions, along with many fascinating stories, was truly enlightening. (S5, ApL student)

Thank you for broadening my understanding of the industry. It's eye-opening to realize how much creative media surrounds us in daily life—like at subway stations and bus stops. (S5, ApL student)

Multiple mentee responses indicated the desire to learn about the industry and job skills from mentors. Mentors’ sharing also inspired mentees: ‘Thank you for sharing your experience, it's really inspired me’. A few mentees wanted more engagement with mentors. Four expressed wanting more interaction opportunities with mentors: ‘I hope there will be more opportunities to communicate with the mentor’, while another one wanted more time for discussion. Another theme of the mentee responses was that they appreciated mentors’ efforts and the time committed to mentoring them. Examples are: ‘Thank you for being so serious about helping us’, and ‘Thank you for making time to come’.

Table 2 summarizes mentees’ evaluation of the mentorship programme. The questions surveyed students’ impressions of how the degree mentorship improved workplace knowledge, industry knowledge, confidence, motivation, inspiration for finding solutions to challenges, and their overall satisfaction with the mentorship programme. Results indicated that mentees were satisfied with the mentorship programme. All four statements achieved mean values of 4.0 on a 5-point Likert scale. They reported that mentors’ sharing provided them with knowledge of the workplace and inspired them on how to face adversity. They felt they were more confident and motivated.

Table 2.

Mentees' Evaluation of the Mentorship Programme (n = 288 Responses).

Statement	Mean	SD
I have gained more knowledge regarding the workplace and industry insights through the sharing of my mentor.	3.97	0.80
My mentor has helped me to be more confident and motivated.	3.95	0.79
My mentor's personal sharing has inspired me to research different resources and solutions when challenged by adversity.	3.93	0.79
Overall, I am satisfied with the mentorship programme.	4.03	0.81

Note. The same mentee can attend more than one mentorship meeting;

5-point Likert scale (1 = disagree strongly; 5 = agree strongly)

Discussion

Overall, participants of the mentoring sessions reported positive evaluations of the mentorship programme. Takeaways from the mentorship programme among mentees include greater confidence in career decision-making and inspiration in facing challenges. This positive outcome of greater confidence in career decision-making is consistent with the literature on the correlation between career decision-making self-efficacy and individuals’ access to information about professions (Turda, 2024). The improved confidence in career decision-making also demonstrates how providing knowledge through mentors’ experience-sharing informs career path consideration and commitment, benefiting the vocational identity formation process (Porfeli et al., 2011). Students’ greater confidence in career decision-making reflects the development of identity capital (Tomlinson, 2017), as their greater confidence derived from new knowledge and encouragement from mentors provides more insight, which informs self-perceptions related to future work and how they may invest their time preparing for future careers as they form work identities.

Mentees’ learning about creative industries and workplace insights demonstrates how mentorship benefits their development of other resources. Through mentors sharing about the industry and workplace, students become aware of organizational culture, organizationally valued knowledge, and what behaviours are aligned with companies. This exposure allows students to develop cultural capital (Tomlinson, 2017) as they can align their behaviours closely to the expectations of organizations based on their new knowledge. The mentorship programme's benefit to student development of social capital (Tomlinson, 2017) can be observed in providing access to industry mentors through mentorship sessions that students would otherwise be unlikely to have access to, helping expand mentees’ networks and awareness of opportunities and career paths. Mentees’ reports of increased confidence and inspiration to face challenges throughout the mentorship also highlight students’ development of psychological capital (Tomlinson, 2017), and how functions of career and psychosocial support can improve mentees’ self-efficacy and resilience gained from mentors’ experiences, advice, and feedback regarding future challenges.

Mentees’ satisfaction with the experience may also be influenced by environmental factors such as their limited workplace exposure and social networking with creative media professionals before the meetups. Mentees’ overall satisfaction also indicates that mentees felt they received satisfactory career and psychosocial support from their mentors in the mentoring relationship (Allen et al., 1997) and that the interactions were in line with mentees’ expectations for the mentoring relationship (Spencer, 2007).

The results of the quantitative responses from mentors and mentees suggest that both parties appreciated the value and the possible outcomes brought by the mentorship programme. However, mentors articulated views on how the mentorship programme could be better structured and implemented. Mentors appeared to hold higher expectations for the programme outcomes in the qualitative interviews.

A criticism of the programme was that it did not facilitate long-term or deep relationships. Contrasting the mentees’ satisfaction with the relationship, some mentors expected a more involved relationship where they would be more engaged. This motivation for mentoring and expectation of a closer relationship is consistent with mentor motivations in the literature (Eby and Lockwood, 2005; Kantola & Penttilä, 2023; Spencer, 2007). As mentors may perceive that they can make the greatest impact on mentees’ career development through coaching and the provision of advice (Mendez et al., 2017), they may feel that limited mentoring sessions should be focused on sharing industry knowledge that industry mentors can uniquely provide to inform goal setting and encourage career exploration. While some mentors focused on career support, others reflected how they felt the programme design limited their capacity to mentor students. Those psychological support functions of mentorship that require repeated interactions may be difficult to provide given the environmental factors in the Hong Kong education setting.

Mentees were extremely busy with their schoolwork and other commitments, adding to the difficulties in scheduling mentoring sessions. Literature on mentorship relationships and mentor efficacy points to unfulfilled expectations negatively impacting mentoring relationship quality and mentor efficacy (Hamilton & Hamilton, 1992; Spencer, 2007; Strapp et al., 2014). Our findings indicated that there is a need to align mentors’ expectations with the programme's objectives. To maintain healthy and sustainable relationships, these expectations and priorities need to be adjusted in the onboarding briefing. Later in the programme, these ‘mentors’ were retitled as ‘career mentors’ to emphasize a more well-defined role of mentorship. Within the constraints of the mentorship programme, organizers should encourage mentors to be empathetic, give assurance and foster students’ sense of competence and agency.

Mentors also expressed frustration about mentees not opening up or being engaged in the mentoring sessions. Some frustrations stemmed from the limitations of the mentoring session design and its short duration. As the mentoring session was a required part of the curriculum, some mentees who joined the session might not want to interact, which limits the benefits of active participation in the mentoring process (Comfort, 2024b). This frustration may also reflect the need for participants’ input in the matching process (Allen et al., 2006), as some mentees’ lack of initiative to engage with mentors may be due to mismatches of interests and expectations. In view of this, the CLAP-TECH team tackled the situation by (1) preparing a training video in 2024 to support mentors in how to invite and engage in meaningful conversations with youths who were not ready or willing to interact with the mentors; and (2) assigning small tasks to mentees to encourage participation. Mentors suggested building trust and familiarity with mentees through some fun and collaborative activities.

While mentors had described their desire to guide students, it is also worthwhile to consider their perspectives and intentions. For instance, one mentor highlighted their desire to guide mentees on the ‘right path’. Another mentor discussed encouraging exploration of other jobs within the industry better suited to their strengths over personal interests. This well-intentioned desire may produce a problematic dynamic where an authoritative figure projects their perceived ‘right’ direction onto mentees. As this projection may influence students’ career decisions and pursuit of personal goals, such an outcome may deviate from a mentor's role in helping mentees define and work towards a mentee's ‘Dream’ (Levinson et al., 1978). Thus, programme organizers should ensure that future mentors are briefed on how to support mentees without projecting their subjective ‘right path’ and communicate the importance of being sensitive to mentees’ personal goals.

Limitations

The study has several limitations. First, qualitative feedback from mentees was based on written text from the quantitative surveys and not derived from interviews. Second, both mentors and mentees had varied participation in the programme. Third, mentees’ responses were collected immediately after the mentoring meetings. These responses may not capture the long-term impact that occurs after the mentoring meetings.

Conclusions and Practical Implications

To conclude, despite the programme not being designed to facilitate long-term relationships traditionally associated with mentoring, the career-related support provided to mentees through sharing career insights and life experiences within the programme's limitations is valuable and impactful to mentees. Affirming the value of their contributions is an important task for mentorship programmes to retain current mentors. The findings of this study demonstrate the need to communicate to mentors the importance of the emotional support they can provide, in addition to career support, within the programme constraints, as demonstrated through students’ appreciation of how mentors committed time and effort to interact with and support them.

To address the frustrations faced by mentors in the programme, mentorship programmes should communicate with current and prospective mentors about the limitations and types of impact that they have on mentees to properly adjust expectations. Given the requirement for schoolteachers’ supervision of all mentor–mentee interactions for mentees aged below 18, if the programme aims to provide further engagement opportunities, extra manpower from schoolteachers is required. Given these constraints, opportunities for longer-term relationships between mentors and mentees are difficult to create at scale in the Hong Kong context.