Approaching Common Recruitment Challenges

Mentor Collective’s platform enables you to facilitate and manage a robust mentor and mentee recruitment process, but there may be some blockers in achieving the optimal recruitment performance. There are three primary recruitment challenges:

1. Not Providing Invite Lists to Mentor Collective
2. Invite Lists are Smaller than Expected
3. Participant Signup Rates are Lower than Expected

Mentor Collective is here to help guide you on how to approach each situation, if they should present themselves in your program.

Not Providing Invite Lists to Mentor Collective 

The first step in the recruitment process is for the institution to provide participant directory information for all eligible participants. However, you may have trouble attaining or providing this information.

You Do Not Know How to Access Directory Information

You will need to connect with the office or department that owns participant directory information. For technical support, contact the Director of IT or you IT Help Desk; and/or connect with your Registrar's Office. If you need additional support in identifying the correct stakeholders to involve, please contact your Mentor Collective representative. 

Your Institution Has Concerns Providing Some or All Directory Information

Review and/or share this information about why and how Mentor Collective uses participant direct information, per your contract agreement. Mentor Collective is FERPA compliant. Please reach out to your Mentor Collective representative with any additional concerns not addressed in the above documentation.

Your Institution Will Not or Cannot Provide Directory Information

Mentor Collective does not recommend this approach, and it relies entirely on your institution to recruit all participants. However, if this is the only option, we encourage institutions to take advantage of all recruitment and promotional opportunities. Please talk with your Mentor Collective as early as possible to begin strategizing a recruitment approach. 

Invite Lists are Smaller than Expected

While your institution may be able to provide participant directory information for all eligible participants, the total number of eligible participants may be lower than expected. Fewer eligible participants likely results in fewer mentorship created for your program. 

Your Institution Does Not Have the Full List of Eligible Participants Yet

This is relatively normal! In this case, the best approach may be a “rolling” or “staggered” recruitment process. You can invite participants on a regular basis, as your institution gets additional participant information. 

The Number of Eligible Participants was Overestimated

During program planning and design, your institution may not have yet known the exact number of eligible participants - and you made an educated guess. Those estimates aren’t always right, and that’s okay! In this case, you may wish to expand your eligible participants to include other populations. For example, if your program’s mentor population was meant to be upper division students, you may decide to open up the opportunity to recent alumni.

Participant Signup Rates are Lower than Expected

Let’s say you did everything “right.” Your program has implemented every step in the standard recruitment process, including Mentor Collective’s ongoing, automated participant messaging. However, participation rates are lower than expected. 

Program Expectations May Be Too High

While we wish all eligible participants would sign up for mentorship, we know that is not a realistic expectation. Mentor Collective continually collects benchmark data - please reach out to your Mentor Collective representative to learn how similar institutions’ mentorship programs are performing for an informed comparison. 

There Were Programmatic Changes

If your participation rates have looked significantly different in previous programs, consider  what changes may have led to this effect, such as launch timeline, program design, and/or external factors. Understanding what drives your participants and what might be blockers to their participation are both key to making sure we have the best program design in place for your institution’s needs. 

Participation Rates Are Imbalanced 

Does your program have mentees signing up at an expected or accelerated rate, but you don’t have enough mentors signing up? Or vice versa? In this case, additional recruitment efforts should be targeted towards where it is most needed - and perhaps paused where it is not needed. 

Program Needs Additional Interventions  

While Mentor Collective’s standard recruitment process is often sufficient in programs achieving their participant goals, that isn’t always the case. If your program is not progressing at the rate we would expect, Mentor Collective has strategies and interventions ready to help. Hear additional recruitment ideas in our webinar, Boost Mentorship Recruitment Through Orientation. Review and discuss the best intervention options for your program with your Mentor Collective representative.

Reminder: There is More Than Recruitment 

Mentor Collective’s platform allows you to facilitate a robust recruitment process, and provides intervention opportunities to boost recruitment. However, it is important to acknowledge: recruitment is only the first step in the entire mentorship journey. While we always want to provide mentorship to as many individuals as possible, it is equally important to ensure that current participants are engaging and enjoying their experience. 

In addition to focusing on recruitment efforts, be sure to take advantage of the plethora of engagement, flag, and assessment data in the Partner Dashboard, to gain insights and provide immediate support to your participants.