What are the responsibilities and job description for the Volunteer Company Advisor (Mentor) position at Washington Business Week?
Mentor the Leaders of Tomorrow — Be a Company Advisor.
Company Advisors (CAs) volunteer to spend a week mentoring teams of 8 – 12 high school students, sharing their real world experience.
As long as you’re over 21, have at least 3 years of professional experience, and are excited to support students, you’ve got what it takes to be a CA.
Opportunities
- Overnight Program at Northwest University - Seattle Area • Jul 12 – Jul 18
- Overnight Program at Eastern Washington University - Spokane Area • Jul 21 – Aug 1
- Day Program at Renton Technical College - Seattle Area • Aug 17 – Aug 22
Skills, friends, opportunities. You’ll be surprised how much you gain giving back.
Washington Business Week (WBW) places professionals with high school students in a dynamic workplace simulation where students role play as industry professionals, launch a company, and solve real-world challenges.
As a Company Advisor (CA), you will be the team’s guide. This unique opportunity to educate and empower students also develops your leadership skills firsthand. Share your expertise in your team’s “workplace”, engage them in critical thinking exercises, and provide feedback on mission and vision.
Behind the scenes, you and other volunteer professionals from around the world will network, gain practical management insights from our program staff, and learn from each others’ experiences to inspire your team to victory.
Company Advisors often call WBW one of their favorite weeks of the year, as the week brings them deep fulfillment while also helping them grow as people and as leaders. You’ll be surprised the lifelong connections you make with students and deep friendships and community you forge with other CAs.
CAs identify coaching/mentoring, adaptability, influencing, presenting information, delegating and team-building as some of the competencies they sharpened.
Requirements
You don’t need to an expert to be a company advisor. You simply need to have some work experience and an excitement to support the next generation. Washington Business Week will help you gain the skills to support high school students through our program.
Ideally, a Company Advisor candidate will:
- Possesses a sincere desire to mentor young adults and ignite their potential.
- Can commit 6 - 7 entire days to the volunteer oppourtunity.
- Is over 21 years old with 3 years of professional work experience.
- Understands the fundamentals of the business or industry they work in.
- Is excited to network, meet new people, and have fun.
Benefits of Being A Company Advisor
- Give Back - Being a Company Advisor is a great way to use the skills you’ve developed in your career to support the next generation. This skills-based volunteering opportunity offers a second-to-none way to impart lessons you fought hard to learn to students.
- Develop Your Skills - As a Company Advisor, you’ll hear from all the incredible speakers and presenters Washington Business Week brings to students oversee a university level business simulation, while also developing your skills as a leader and a facilitator, through WBW’s CA specific training.
- Create an Impact - Students remember their Company Advisors (CA) decades later. You can help shape a student’s story. Inspiring them to achieve or teaching them a lesson they’ll never forget. Being a CA means you can be a lasting part of someone’s life.
- Make Change - Most Business Week students come from groups underrepresented in corporate leadership today. You’ll help students make connections and learn lessons that will get them far ahead in their careers and play a role in changing the face of tomorrow’s board room.
- Make Friends - Working closely with a team of other Company Advisors, you’ll be surprised how quickly you make deep friendships and lasting friendships with other professionals.
“By Friday, when I was reflecting on the best moments of the week, I started crying because not only did I see the impact I made on [my students], but they truly made an impact on me.” - Jade Yee, 2024 Company Advisor
“Some of the best friends I’ve made as an adult have been through being a Company Advisor.” – Darby Vigus, Longtime Company Advisor