Overview

A Mentor is a guide. A friend. A resource who paves the way to success, and derives satisfaction from helping others succeed. Your role as Mentor is to inspire, encourage, and support your Mentees, and to contribute to their professional and personal development.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What am I expected to do? Mentors are expected to provide their Mentees with about two hours of small-group support and interaction per month. This interaction may take place via email and other web-related tools (for example, instant messaging) or face-to-face, as appropriate. Mentors should work with their Mentees to determine what kind of support will be most useful—specific feedback related to finding jobs, general career advice, information on higher studies, technical information, personal encouragement, and so on.
• How long will the commitment be? We ask our Mentors to make commitments in six month increments in order to ensure that the Mentees are able to fully benefit from the relationship. If a Mentor must leave the relationship early, we request at least one month's notice in order to search for a replacement Mentor with similar background.
• Are there any potential risks to me or my company? No. It is not appropriate for Mentors to engage in any business transactions with their Mentees; instead, the relationship should only involve the flow of general information and advice.
• Relationship is not going well or I am concerned about mentorship, what to do? We encourage letting the Mentee know about the situation and contact the Admin immediately. We will provide our full support to resolve the situation in a positive and satisfactory manner.

Mentor DO's

1. COMMIT AT LEAST TWO INTERACTIONS/HOURS OF SUPPORT per month.
2. Take responsibility to initiate the relationship.
3. Set aside time for the mentoring process and honor all appointments.
4. Invite the Mentees to meetings or activities, as appropriate. Schedule meetings with planned topics.
5. Be flexible on meeting times and places.
6. Arrange frequent contacts through telephone, email, face-to-face, etc., as appropriate
7. Respond to emails from your Mentees within 5 days of receipt.
8. Keep information that your Mentees have shared with you confidential. If something concerning the Mentee needs to be discussed with others, it should first be discussed within the mentoring relationship.
9. Establish open and honest communication and a forum for idea exchange.
10. Foster creativity and independence. Help build self-confidence and offer encouragement.
11. Provide honest and timely feedback to your Mentee.
12. Provide opportunities for the Mentee to talk about concerns and ask questions.
13. Above all, LISTEN.

Mentor DON'Ts

1. Try to give advice on everything.
2. Encourage Mentees to be totally dependent upon you.
3. Provide your personal history, problems, animosities, successes, failures, etc. unless they are constructive contributions.
4. Be too busy when the Mentees need your support. If you do not have time, give the Mentees a head- up, so  they know when they can reach you.
5. Criticize.