Firsthand
Firsthand supports students (mentees) in achieving their unique short- and long-term professional development goals by allowing them to meet with alumni mentors within their current academic pursuits or career goals.
Firsthand automates the mentor matching process and is available 24/7 for access by mentees and mentors to meet virtually within Firsthand. After alumni mentors set up their availability and choose what topics they are willing to meet on, mentees can request to meet with mentors for a 30-minute session based on this availability.
For additional support, schedule an appointment with your school or college career center or Syracuse University Career Services.
Firsthand Highlights
- Free for students.
- Industry insights, professional development content and events.
- Mentor matching and networking opportunities without leaving Firsthand.
Using Firsthand
- Choose Mentee/Staff Sign-in to log into Firsthand with your Syracuse University email and password.
- Complete the prompted questions to access the dashboard and to begin matching with an available mentor.
For New Mentors
- Choose Mentor Sign-in.
- Choose No Account Yet? Register as a mentor.
- Provide an email and password of your choosing. If you are an alum who has access to their Syracuse email, it is recommended to utilize this email, but is not required.
- For more information on activating an alumni email account, please see our internal Email (SUMail) support site.
- Complete the prompted questions to access the dashboard and to begin matching with a mentee.
For Existing Mentors
- Choose Mentor Sign-in.
- Log in using the email and password you chose when signing up.
Registering Your Staff Account:
- To request an Admin (general or Universitywide) or Program Manager (school or college specific) Staff account, please email Syracuse University Career Services.
- Once added, claim your Staff account by following the instructions found in the automated email sent to your Syracuse University email.
Log in to Your Staff account:
- Choose Mentee/Staff Sign-in to log in to Firsthand with your Syracuse University email and password.
Access Your Admin Dashboard:
- Navigate to your name at top right corner and select Admin Dashboard from the drop-down menu.
For more support, visit visit Answers or email Syracuse University Career Services.
All Syracuse University students have access to Firsthand. However, to support a dedicated mentor matching experience to suit your needs, students should first meet with their school or college career center to discuss the best mentor matching resources to support their unique professional goals.
To engage with Firsthand Mentor Matching:
- Choose Mentee/Staff Sign-in to log into Firsthand with your Syracuse University email and password.
- Choose Mentors on the left navigation pane.
As alumni join Firsthand and make themselves available to meet with you, this section will continually update based on the mentor matching settings provided by your School or College Career Center.
For more support on finding dedicated alumni to suit your mentor matching needs, please contact your school or college career center or Syracuse University Career Services.
Firsthand offers the opportunity to match mentors with mentees using an automated algorithm set up by Syracuse University Career Services and in collaboration with each applicable School or College Career Center. This algorithm utilizes the information found in your profile to best match mentors with mentees. It is highly recommended you fill out your profile in its entirety to ensure mentors and mentees find their best match.
- Choose Mentor Sign-in.
- Log in using the email and password you chose when signing up.
- Navigate to Your Profile from the top right corner of your dashboard to view a preview of your Firsthand profile.
- Select Edit My Profile.
- Complete your Personal Info, About Me, Education, Work Experience, and Career Goals for the best match recommendations.
- Make sure to save your changes on each page.
Firsthand offers the opportunity to match mentors with mentees using an automated algorithm set up by Syracuse University Career Services and in collaboration with each applicable School or College Career Center. This algorithm utilizes the information found in your profile to best match mentors with mentees. It is highly recommended you fill out your profile in its entirety to ensure mentors and mentees find their best match.
- Choose Mentor Sign-in.
- Log in using the email and password you chose when signing up.
- Navigate to Your Profile from the top right corner of your dashboard to view a preview of your Firsthand profile.
- Select Edit My Profile.
- Complete your Personal Info, About Me, Education, Work Experience, and Career Goals for the best match recommendations.
- Make sure to save your changes on each page.
- Choose Mentor Sign-in.
- Log in using the email and password you chose when signing up.
- Navigate to Meetings from the top right corner of your dashboard.
- On the consultations/meetings page, navigate to the top right corner of your dashboard once more, and select “Availability“.
- Select your preferences for
- (Required) Exposure (Meetings/Month) for institutions you are affiliated with;
- (Required) Preferred Times (Day/Time);
- (Optional) Calendar Sync and;
- (Optional) Program meeting preference.
- Make sure to save your changes on each page.
- Choose Mentor Sign-in.
- Log in using the email and password you chose when signing up.
- Navigate to Meetings from the top right corner of your dashboard.
- On the consultations/meetings page, navigate to the top right corner of your dashboard once more, and select “How I can help“.
- (Required) Select your preferences for the topics that mentees can ask you for advice.
- Select “Save Advice”.
- Log in to Firsthand with your Syracuse University email and password.
- From the menu to the left of the dashboard select “The Library.”
- Explore content topics surrounding exploring careers, getting a job, thriving at work, guidelines and more.
- Log in to Firsthand with your Syracuse University email and password.
- From the menu to the left of the dashboard select “Careers.”
- Dive into career and industry insights surrounding rankings, companies, practice areas, professions, internships and more.
- How far in advance do I have to request a meeting with a mentor? mentors are given 72 hours to review and confirm meeting requests.
- How should I prepare for meeting with a Mentor? For professional development questions, schedule an appointment with your school or college career center or Syracuse University Career Services.
For technical support: Please visit the Firsthand Support webpage or submit a Firsthand Support Request.
How many requests am I allowed to have with mentees per month?
Currently, there is a monthly meeting request limit of eight per month per mentee.
How should I prepare for meeting with a mentee?
For guidance on interacting with mentees, you have a few options for support on preparing:
- The school or college career center you were affiliated with when attending Syracuse University (recent alumni).
- Email Syracuse University Career Services (recent alumni).
- Visit Syracuse University Alumni Association.
For technical support: Please visit the Firsthand Support webpage or submit a Firsthand Support Request.