You have identified your target mentee population. How do you get these mentees to participate in your mentorship program? Depending on your program goals and population, Mentor Collective’s platform supports four participation models for mentees.
[Standard] Elective Participation
In the Standard Elective Participation Model, all invited mentees have the opportunity to participate in the mentorship program through the Mentor Collective recruitment process. In order to be matched in the program, mentees are required to register for the program and complete a matching survey.
This is the most common program design for mentees in Mentor Collective programs.
- Personalized mentorship pairs based on mentee and mentor matching surveys.
- Conservation of mentor capacity for the most interested and, likely, engaged mentees.
- More insight into your participants through self-reported data from matching surveys.
- Participation relies on self-selection.
- Naturally, this could result in a lower total number of mentorships created, as some mentees will not opt-in or complete all onboarding steps.
You are running a campus-wide mentorship program for first year students at your large institution. You will be inviting a considerable number of mentees to the program, with varying backgrounds, interests, and goals for their mentorship.
While you won’t be able to match all invited mentees due to limited mentorship resources and the number of mentors you expect, you still want to offer the option to participate in the program to everyone. You also want to ensure that the mentorships are paired based on common interests and preferences.
You decide to adopt the Standard Elective Participation Model.
Simplified Elective Participation
In the Simplified Elective Participation Model, all mentees will need to complete at least one of the two-step registration process, in order to be matched. There are two options for this model:
Option 1: Simplified Registration
In this option, mentees will be automatically registered for the program. They are then required to complete a matching survey.
- Reduced barriers to entry, without forcing mentee participation in the program.
- Personalized mentorship pairs based on mentee and mentor matching surveys.
- Conservation of mentor capacity for the most interested and, likely, *engaged mentees.
- More insight into your participants through self-reported data from matching surveys.
- Streamlined registration and account creation for programs using SSO.
*Worried about engagement? You shouldn’t be! Completing the matching survey alone is still a good indicator of future engagement.
- Participation relies on self-selection.
- Mentees' initial login to the Participant Dashboard will require a password reset, if the program is not using SSO. This may be confusing to some.
- Naturally, this could result in a lower total number of mentorships created, as some mentees will still not complete the matching survey.
Career Alumni Mentorship Program
Your institution offers a Career Mentorship Program, where upper division students are paired with recent alumni. You want to respect your alumni’s time and ensure they are matched with a mentee who chose to be a part of the program - and ideally you can match pairs based on similar career interests.
Your program requires SSO login for mentees, so you aren’t worried about participants registering or creating their own account.
You decide to adopt the Simplified Registration Model.
Option 2: Simplified Matching
In this option, mentees are required to register for the program. It is recommended, but not required to complete a matching survey.
- Reduced barriers to entry, without forcing mentee participation in the program.
- Flexibility where mentees most need it, as completing the matching survey is often where they get “stuck in the funnel”.
- Participation relies on self-selection.
- *Lack of matching survey data to match personalized mentorship pairs.
- **Lack of matching survey data to gain insight into your participants.
- Naturally, this could result in a lower total number of mentorships created, as some mentees will still not opt-in.
*However, you can supply institution-provided participant data and match by institution-provided transfer status and/or major.
**You can provide additional institution-provided participant data (i.e. demographics, affiliations, etc.) to further segment your program data in the Partner Dashboard.
Pharmacy Tech Mentorship Program
Each term, your institution offers mentorship to students in the Pharmacy Technician program. The goal is to support students in their academic progress and prepare them for the national certification. This year, you will offer the opportunity for students to be matched with one the 5 TAs for additional guidance.
You are not concerned about matching by specific interests outside of the students’ program, and all mentors went through the program themselves. In addition, since there are only 5 mentors, it is unlikely that you could match by other interests for all students. However, you do want to ensure that each student is truly interested in participating and will be engaged with your busy TA mentors.
You decide to adopt the Simplified Matching Model.
Default Participation
In the Default Participation Model, all mentees will have access to a mentor in the mentorship program. Mentees will be given the opportunity to decline participation (template messaging here), but will otherwise be automatically registered for the program. It is recommended, but not required to complete a matching survey.
- Ensured access to mentorship, without requiring anything from the mentee.
- Expanded data on the entire mentee population, rather than a subset.
- Ability to integrate mentorship into the “standard” student experience.
- Streamlined registration and account creation for programs using SSO.
- More passive and, potentially, unresponsive mentee participants.
- *Lack of matching survey data to match personalized mentorship pairs.
- **Lack of matching survey data to gain insight into your participants.
- Mentees' initial login to the Participant Dashboard will require a password reset, if the program is not using SSO. This may be confusing to some.
*However, you can supply institution-provided participant data and match by institution-provided transfer status and/or major.
**You can provide additional institution-provided participant data (i.e. demographics, affiliations, etc.) to further segment your program data in the Partner Dashboard.
College of Business, First Generation Mentorship Program
You are running a mentorship program in the College of Business for first year, first-generation students at your institution. You will be matching them with paid Ambassadors for the College of Business who can each support a large number of mentees.
You are concerned that some first generation students won’t understand the benefit of having a mentor or that they may have doubts about the program being meant for them. You want to remove all barriers that may prevent these students from participating.
You decide to adopt the Default Participation Model.
Mandatory Participation
In the Mandatory Participation Model, all mentees will be required to participate in the mentorship program. Mentees will be expected to register for the program and complete a matching survey.
- Ensured access to mentorship and 100% participation.
- Personalized mentorship pairs based on mentee and mentor matching surveys.
- More insight into your participants through self-reported data from matching surveys.
- *Requires clear communication and expectation setting for mentees.
*It is recommended to build any mandatory mentorship program into an existing class, organization, membership, program, etc. This provides the opportunity to integrate the mentoring experience into existing requirements and expectations.
Regents Scholars Mentorship Program
Your institution offers a Regents Scholarship for incoming first year students. In addition to receiving significant financial assistance, Regents Scholars are awarded special opportunities throughout their college journey, including having a mentor during their first year on campus.
There are clear expectations and requirements for the Regents Scholars, and you want the ability to monitor progress within each mentorship.
You decide to adopt the Mandatory Participation Model.
FAQ
❓Is it possible use more than one Mentee Participation Model in a single program?
- Yes, it is possible to use more than one model. However, this should be done very intentionally to avoid any participant confusion!
- There are two scenarios in which this may be beneficial to your program:
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As a Program Design Strategy
- For example, your program invites all first year students as mentees. You used the Standard Elective Participation Model. However, you specifically want to ensure international students have access to a mentor. You use the Default Participation Model specifically for international students.
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In Response to Program Performance
- For example, your program invites all first year students as mentees. You used the Standard Elective Participation Model. You were pleasantly surprised by the number of volunteer mentors and you now have the opportunity to support additional mentees You adjust to using the Simplified Elective Participation Model.
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As a Program Design Strategy
- Talk with your Mentor Collective representative about the best way to utilize multiple participation models for your program.
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