What It's Like to Mentor a Ukrainian Professional

You’re not going to run a training program. You’re not going to design a curriculum. You’re not even going to prepare lesson plans.

You’re going to have a conversation.

That’s it. That’s mentoring.

What Actually Happens

Here’s a real example. Iryna is a project manager from Kyiv. She managed software teams for eight years before the war disrupted everything. Now she’s trying to break into the European job market.

She doesn’t need someone to teach her project management. She knows project management. What she needs is someone who understands how hiring actually works in Western companies.

So you get on a video call for 45 minutes. She asks questions. You answer them.

“Should I include my Ukrainian certifications on my CV, or will European recruiters not recognize them?”

“When they ask about salary expectations, do I give a number first or wait for them to say something?”

“I have a gap in my employment history because of the war. How do I explain that in an interview?”

You know the answers to these questions because you’ve been on the other side. You’ve hired people. You’ve reviewed CVs. You’ve sat through interviews where candidates fumbled the salary question.

This isn’t specialized knowledge. It’s just experience that you have and she doesn’t.

The Objections You’re Thinking Right Now

“I’m not qualified to be a mentor.”

If you have a job and understand how hiring works in your industry, you’re qualified. You don’t need credentials. You need experience, and you have it.

“I don’t have time.”

One session per month. 30-60 minutes. You control your calendar. Some mentors do more, but nobody requires it.

“I wouldn’t know what to say.”

You don’t prepare speeches. You answer questions. The mentee drives the conversation with what they actually need to know.

“What if I can’t help with their specific question?”

Then you say “I don’t know, but here’s what I’d do to find out.” That’s still valuable. You’re modeling how to navigate uncertainty, which is half of career development anyway.

Who You’ll Actually Meet

The 2,000+ Ukrainians in Mentors for Ukraine aren’t a monolithic group. They’re professionals across every industry and career stage.

Mid-career professionals like Iryna who managed teams and ran projects, now adapting their experience for international employers.

Engineers and developers with strong technical skills who need help understanding Western workplace culture and communication norms.

Entrepreneurs who built businesses in Ukraine and are trying to start over or pivot in a new market.

Recent graduates who finished university during the war and have never had a normal job search.

Women re-entering the workforce after years of caregiving, trying to update their skills and rebuild confidence.

The common thread isn’t their profession. It’s their situation: capable people who know their field but don’t know your market.

What Mentors Actually Do

Real sessions from real mentors. These are the kinds of conversations that happen:

CV reviews. “Your achievements are buried in the third paragraph. Lead with the numbers. ‘40% reduction in delivery time’ should be the first thing they read.”

Interview preparation. “When they ask ‘Tell me about yourself,’ they don’t want your life story. They want a 90-second pitch that explains why you’re perfect for this specific job.”

Industry orientation. “In tech, nobody cares about your degree after your first job. Your GitHub profile and project portfolio matter more than your diploma.”

Job search strategy. “Don’t apply to 100 companies with the same generic cover letter. Apply to 20 companies with customized applications that show you’ve researched them.”

Culture translation. “In Western companies, disagreeing with your manager in a meeting isn’t disrespectful. It’s expected. But there’s a specific way to frame it that sounds collaborative rather than confrontational.”

How It Works

The platform handles the logistics. Here’s the process:

1. Sign up with your profile: industry, expertise, languages, availability.
2. Get matched with mentees who need what you know.
3. Schedule sessions at times that work for you.
4. Meet on video for 30-60 minutes.
5. Repeat as often as you want.

No training required. No ongoing commitments. No reporting requirements.

You can mentor one person for six months or ten people for one session each. The platform adapts to however you want to contribute.

The Math

Here’s the situation: 2,000+ Ukrainian professionals are on the platform looking for guidance. 400+ mentors are currently active. The demand exceeds the supply.

That means every new mentor directly increases how many people get help. There’s no theoretical benefit here. You sign up, you get matched, someone who needed guidance gets guidance.

The bottleneck isn’t funding. It isn’t technology. It isn’t awareness among Ukrainian professionals.

The bottleneck is mentors.

One More Story

Dmytro was a senior engineer at a Ukrainian company that collapsed when the war started. Eight years of experience, strong technical skills, no idea how to present himself to Western employers.

His first mentor was a software architect from the Netherlands. They talked for 45 minutes about how Dutch tech companies evaluate candidates. What the interview process looks like. Which skills are in demand. How salary negotiations work.

Dmytro didn’t need that mentor to teach him engineering. He needed someone who understood the market he was trying to enter.

Three months later, he had a job at a German tech company.

This isn’t a heartwarming story about charity. It’s a practical story about information transfer. Dmytro had skills. His mentor had context. The conversation connected them.

That’s what mentoring is.

The Educational Equality Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free education to underserved communities worldwide. Learn more at theeducationalequalityinstitute.org.