TİKAV Career Workshop's Mentee-Mentor Program aims to create a learning partnership between 4th grade students and Akfen Holding employees and executives to raise awareness on social responsibility issues in their professional and daily lives. With a mission to contribute in the development of university students and prepare them to professional life as leaders, Turkish Human Resources Education and Health Foundation (TİKAV) comes first among Akfen Holding’s social responsibility projects. Launched for the first time in January 2013 by collecting mentor applications coming from Akfen Holding employees and executives, Career Workshop’s Mentee-Mentor Program aims to bring together 4th grade TİKAV scholars or mentees with their mentors. TİKAV seeks to promote social responsibility in business circles and open the doors of professional life to those students who are trained to become “future leaders” through its Individual Development Program. Within this framework mentors give 4th grade TİKAV scholars a “Mentee Skills Training” in which they address topics like mentoring process and stages, benefits, expectations and variations of mentoring, learning styles and modes of behavior. Within the scope of the topics covered by the program every week, mentors and mentees keep in touch via internet, telephone or mail. According to TİKAV Chair Sultan Yılmaz the process not only helps mentees develop their abilities but also creates a learning partnership. The program touches upon issues like finding areas that are open to improvement, determining goals, developing awareness, analyzing professional preferences and resources and preparing for job applications to enable mentees to have a better knowledge about themselves and make their career plans. A FIRST IN TURKEY Supporting personal and social developments of university students especially from East and South East Anatolia regions, TİKAV’s “Individual Development Program” stands out as a first of its kind in Turkey. TİKAV Chair Sultan Yılmaz defines their mission as “Creating social benefit by carrying out training programs, national and overseas development programs and developing social responsibility projects to raise individuals that are able to adapt themselves to contemporary needs by internalizing the changing understanding of accumulation of knowledge, who are responsible and respectful to social and universal norms and sensitive to environment.” INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Individual Development Program has been supported by Akfen Holding since 1999. The program aims to enrich students’ knowledge and skills by participating in a number of seminars, trainings, interviews, projects, internships and school trips that will encompass their entire 4 years at the university starting from the first grade. TİKAV Chair Sultan Yılmaz tells that the Individual Development program was first implemented at Elazığ Fırat University in 1999. After a 4 years pilot scheme the program was extended to Van Yüzüncü Yıl University in 2003. The coverage of the Individual Development Program further expanded in 2006 with the participation of students from Middle Eastern Technical University, Hacettepe University, Ankara University and Eskişehir Osmangazi University. TİKAV continues to carry out the program in five universities; namely Şanlıurfa Harran University, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Erzurum Ataturk University, Van Yüzüncüyıl Üniversity and Elazığ Fırat University. The pilot implementation of TİKAV Career Workshop’s Mentee-Mentor Program will continue until June 2013.