You have identified your target mentor population. How do you get these mentors to participate in your mentorship program? Depending on your program goals and population, Mentor Collective’s platform supports multiple participation models for mentors.
[Standard] Elective Participation
In the Standard Elective Participation Model, all invited mentors have the opportunity to participate in the mentorship program through the Mentor Collective recruitment process. In order to be matched in the program, mentors are required to register for the program, complete a matching survey, and complete mentor training.
This is the most common program design for mentors in Mentor Collective programs.
- Personalized mentorship pairs based on mentee and mentor matching surveys.
- Prioritize pairing mentees with the most interested and, likely, engaged mentors.
- Trained mentor population, comfortable with their role and the Participant Dashboard.
- Participation relies on self-selection.
- Naturally, this could result in a lower total number of mentors, as some mentors will not opt-in or complete all onboarding steps.
Campus-Wide First Year Peer Mentorship Program
You are running a campus-wide mentorship program for first year students at your large institution. You plan to match them with upper division students as peer, volunteer mentors. You want to ensure that all eligible mentors have the option to volunteer, if they choose to, and that they will be provided sufficient training to support their mentees. In addition, it’s important to you that mentors and mentees 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, mentors have the opportunity to participate in the mentorship program through the Mentor Collective recruitment process. In order to be matched in the program, mentors are required to register for the program and complete a matching survey. It is possible, but not required to complete mentor training.
Note: By default, returning mentors do not have to complete training again, regardless of participation model.
- Personalized mentorship pairs based on mentee and mentor matching surveys.
- Reduced barriers to entry, without forcing mentor participation in the program.
- Increased number of matchable mentors to support additional mentees.
Worried about engagement? You shouldn’t be! Mentors in this model are equally as engaged as those in Standard Elective Participation.
- Participation relies on self-selection.
- Lack of mentor training may result in mentors feeling unfamiliar with the Dashboard.
Institution-Specific Training
The College of Business offers a mentorship program for first year students paired with graduate student mentors. In the past, you conducted your own mentor training and you want to continue to do so - there are very specific program and mentor expectations that don’t consistently align with Mentor Collective’s standard training, and it’s an opportunity for you to meet all mentors. You also want to protect your volunteer mentors time, and don’t want to require them to complete multiple training sessions.
You decide to adopt the Simplified Elective Participation Model.
Continual Participation
In the Continual Participation Model, mentor participation will vary depending on if they are a new or returning mentor.
New mentors can participate in the program through any other model of your choosing.
Returning mentors (i.e. onboarded mentors in the previous program cycle) will be given the opportunity to decline continued participation, but will otherwise be automatically registered for the new program. It is possible, but not required to complete a new matching survey or complete mentor training again.
- Ensured sufficient support for all interested mentees.
- Utilize already onboarded and trained mentors to quickly support more mentees.
- Reduced barriers to entry for returning mentors to continue participation.
- Potentially some passive and unresponsive mentor participants.
- *Lack of updated matching survey data to match personalized pairs.
- *Lack of updated matching survey data to gain insight into your participants.
*Data provided in previous program cycles will still be incorporated into the matching process and in your Partner Dashboard data. It just may be a little outdated, if any responses have since changed for the mentor.
Alumni Mentorship Program
Your Career Office offers career mentorship to upper division students, matching them with alumni mentors. Alumni in the previous year’s program will still be eligible to participate this year, and you want to streamline the process to continue volunteering in the program.
You decide to adopt the Continual Participation Model for returning mentors.
Mandatory Participation
In the Mandatory Participation Model, mentors will be required to participate in the mentorship program. Mentors will be expected to register for the program, complete a matching survey, and complete mentor training.
- Ensured sufficient support for all interested mentees.
- Personalized mentorship pairs based on mentee and mentor matching surveys.
- Ability to set and enforce high expectations for engagement in the program.
- *Requires clear communication and expectation setting for mentors.
- This model may require some form of payment, or other incentives.
*It is recommended to build any mandatory mentorship program into an existing job, position, program, etc. This provides the opportunity to integrate the mentoring experience into existing requirements and expectations.
Existing Student Employees as Mentors
The Enrollment & Student Success offices are offering peer mentorship to students who have deposited at your institution, as they make their transition to college and throughout their first year on campus. Rather than utilize volunteer mentors, you choose to add mentoring to the Student Ambassadors’ job responsibilities.
You decide to adopt the Mandatory Participation Model.
FAQ
❓Is it possible use more than one Mentor 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 upper division students as mentors. You used the Standard Elective Participation Model. However, you also have a few paid, student Ambassadors that will serve as lead mentors. You use the Mandatory Participation Model specifically for your student Ambassadors.
- In addition, the Continual Participation Model is inherently using multiple models at once.
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In Response to Program Performance
- For example, your program invites all upper division students as mentors. You used the Standard Elective Participation Model. You were pleasantly surprised by the number of mentees signing up, but now don’t have enough mentor capacity to support all interested 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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