Partner Dashboard: Matching Tool

The Matching tool is where the magic happens: you can prepare, review, and create matches directly from the Partner Dashboard. 

Match Waiting Participants Data

You’ll immediately see high-level data points to help you prepare for matching:

• Mentee Queue - The number of mentees waiting to be matched or rematched
• Mentor Pool - The number of mentors with available capacity
• Open Capacity - The total number of mentees that the entire mentor pool can support  
  • Mentors report individual capacity when completing the matching survey.
• Pending Matches - The number of matches saved either by you or the Mentor Collective team. They are not matched yet.

How To Match Participants

After clicking “Match” under the Mentee Queue, you will be shown the first mentee in the list. The queue is ordered by when mentees registered, and those with the earliest registration date will appear first. 

For each mentee, you will be able to review their matching survey responses and all potential mentors, with the strongest matches at the top. You can review each suggested mentor, using the table provided to guide your choice.

• Score - This is our proprietary algorithm at work, after evaluating the matching criteria set for your program. The higher the score, the stronger the match! 
• Shared Characteristics - You will see a list of what the mentee and mentor have in common, drawing from their matching survey responses. The criteria that the mentee reported as most important to have in common is encompassed in green.  

• Open Capacity – Shows how many more mentees a mentor can be matched with, out of their total capacity. The first number is the number of remaining openings, and the second number is the mentor's total capacity.

  For example:

  • 3 / 4 = 3 openings remaining (1 of 4 spots is filled)
  • 2 / 2 = 2 openings remaining (0 of 2 spots are filled)

Note: Only mentors with at least one opening remaining are shown.

You can also use the Search and Filter Mentors tools to quickly find the right mentor. The Filter Mentors option narrows the list to mentors who share specific criteria with the selected mentee (such as major or career interests). If you're looking for a specific mentor, simply search for them by name.

If none of the available mentors are a good fit, you can move to the next mentee by using the < and > arrows above the mentee's profile picture.

If you have decided to match a specific pair, click Match and this will save that pair as a Pending Match. Skip to the next section to learn how to create the mentorship and immediately notify participants. 

Review Pending Matches

By navigating to the Matching Page and selecting “Review” under Pending Matches, you will be routed to a list of all potential matches saved by you, your team, or Mentor Collective.

From this page, you can quickly review all pending matches and their mentorship score. If you click “View Details,” you will also see their shared characteristics. This allows you to confirm or delete matches in bulk, by selecting the checkbox for relevant matches, or at an individual level. 

After reviewing, you will have two options to select from:

• Unmatch - If you decide a match isn’t the right fit, you can click “Unmatch” and it will remove the pending match from the list. Both the mentee and mentor will go back into the waiting pool. Remember, this match was never truly created, so participants will not need to be notified.
• Create Mentorship - For pairs you are ready to confirm, this will officially match your pair(s)! The mentee and mentor will be immediately notified via email and SMS and can get started with their first conversation.

FAQs

• What happens when I skip matching a mentee?
  • Selecting the right or left arrows on the selected mentee moves you to the next mentee in the queue without creating a Pending Match or changing the skipped mentee's status. Because the Mentee Queue is organized chronologically by registration date, skipped mentees remain in the queue and may appear again when the queue is reloaded or reviewed.
• Can we customize or schedule automated matching email and SMS messages?
  • When you click Create Mentorship, automated introduction emails and SMS notifications are sent to both participants immediately. Some partners have the option to customize their matching email and SMS introduction messages. Contact your Mentor Collective representative to learn more about available customization options.
• Can administrators manually adjust or override a mentor's capacity?
  • A mentor's open capacity is calculated based on the maximum number of mentees they indicated they are comfortable supporting in their matching survey. If you need to update or override a mentor's stated capacity, contact the Partner Support team. You can submit a request by selecting Contact Us from the Help button in the bottom-right corner of your Partner Dashboard or by emailing partnersupport@mentorcollective.org.
• The potential matches seem "bad" to me (only 1 out of 5 circles). Does that mean I shouldn't match them?

  • Not necessarily! The match indicator is designed to help you compare potential matches based on the information participants chose to share in their matching surveys. While a higher score indicates more areas of alignment, a 1 out of 5 match can still absolutely lead to a meaningful and successful mentoring relationship. 

    Keep in mind that the match indicator reflects only the survey responses—it can't account for the many other personal qualities that contribute to a great mentorship, such as communication style, motivation, availability, or willingness to support others. As you review potential matches, consider the match indicator alongside the mentor's profile and any knowledge of the participants to make the best decision.