If you're wondering how to decide who to accept in your mentorship program, this resources is for you!
On a high level, here's our recommended criteria:
- Individuals who would benefit from the program goal and would drive the program goal
- Have references to be in the program
- Committed to the program duration
- Committed to the frequency of meetings and mentorship opportunities
Let's elaborate on the 4 key items.
1. Individuals who would benefit from the program goal and would drive the program goal:
If the mentorship program is for career guidance, we'll recommend to have mentees who have career aspirations and want to take their career to the next level.
On the other hand, the mentors should be a few levels above to be able to present options to the mentees, evaluate different career paths and to help the mentee make the best decision for themselves.
It's common to receive a letter or email on why the mentee wants to be in the mentorship program to ensure they're ready to pull information from their mentors.
2. Have references to be in the program:
The reference could come from different individuals - could be HR, could be leadership, could be manager. Sometimes 2.
The references ensure the suggested mentee or mentor have shown the requested drive and influence to impact the mentorship program positively to drive careers, skills and inclusion.
3. Committed to the program duration.
Mentorship programs are usually 12 months. 12 months is our recommended time as the relationship will need to have a foundation, develop then thrive.
Mentees and especially mentors should be committed to the duration of the program.
As a reminder, mentors are the ones that create the learning in mentorship programs. The more committed, aligned and communicated they are - the better experience the mentees will have.
From a mentee side, it's important for them to be committed when a mentor is volunteering for this mentorship program.
4. Committed to the frequency of meetings and mentorship opportunities
Mentorship programs should require at least 1, 1 hour meeting per month and 2 hours must be encourage (if more happens, the better).
The mentors need to have the bandwidth to take on this experience and be excited to help someone have opportunities for their career, skills and inclusion.