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Suggestions and Resources for Recruiting Mentors
To help you to recruit mentors, we have compiled some suggested recruiting strategies, based upon the practice of our corporate, government and professional society representatives. Feel free to use and adapt the methods to suit your organization's infrastructure and culture.
To help recruit faculty mentors, view materials targeted for academic mentoring.
The Top 3 Ways to Recruit Mentors
Additional Ideas
The Top 3 Ways to Recruit Mentors
Our corporate, government, and professional society
representatives tell us these are their three most effective recruiting
strategies. We recommend using two or more of these, along with at least one or
two of the other strategies described below.
- Write a message of your own, modify this message from Texas Instruments, or use or modify the Call for Mentors. These email messages could be organization-wide, and/or could include targeted groups such as women's groups, volunteer, and/or diversity networks, or within particular fields. General announcements are often effective, especially in technology-based organizations.
- Enlist the support of a recognized senior executive within the company or organization, especially a female executive, and have the announcement sent out under his or her email address.
- Send out an email request to previous mentors in your organization, or talk to them personally about spreading the word. According to our survey of mentors from 2000-01, 94% of mentors would recommend MentorNet to a colleague. Make this good will work for you!
- Representatives from our corporate, government and professional society sponsors may contact MentorNet staff to find the names of previous mentors and contact information.
- Send out an email request to managers/leaders, or talk to them personally. Hearing about MentorNet from a respected manager or organization leader motivates employees/members to find out more.
Additional Ideas
Here are some other effective ways to recruit mentors in your organization. Many of these methods take just a few minutes, and work well in conjunction with the strategies listed above.
- Include the Call for Mentors, or write a feature on one of your employees or members who participated in MentorNet. The newsletter could be electronic, paper, or both.
- Use portions of the Call for Mentors, or create a short announcement of your own. Here is a great example from Bechtel. Don't forget to include our URL: www.MentorNet.net.
Place MentorNet posters or flyers wherever engineering, scientific and technical employees, or interested members of your organization, are likely to see them. These places could include your cubicle/office, break rooms, women's restrooms, notice boards and near water coolers. Download flyers ; there are two versions to choose from, each one in both PDF (recommended) and Microsoft Word format. If you do not have Adobe
Acrobat read to read the PDF version, click here
Flyer 1: PDF | Microsoft Word
Flyer 2: PDF | Microsoft Word
Use this order form to order posters free of charge. Please note that you will have to sign in to the MentorNet Partners Resource Center to access this form.
- Distribute MentorNet's small, trifold brochures at internal conferences and meetings and in break rooms. Hand them out to interested employees or members of the organization. Use this order form to order brochures free of charge. Please note that you will have to sign in to the MentorNet Partners Resource Center to access this form.
- Consider holding a brown-bag lunch to introduce MentorNet. If possible, ask a mentor to discuss his or her experience — it makes a powerful impression. Depending upon your location, MentorNet staff may occasionally be available to provide a presentation.
- Give them flyers and Call for Mentors announcements to distribute. Or ask them to write email messages describing their positive experiences and explaining how to sign up for this year's program.
Use one of the MentorNet Badges or download MentorNet's logo to help promote MentorNet on your web site.
Put together a PowerPoint Presentation to show during a brown bag or information session. Please email the MentorNet Program if you would like to see a sample MentorNet powerpoint presentation.
that you may alter it to fit your organization. Recall that data specific to your organization may be found in the Partners Resource Center under "Participants."
If you have any comments, suggestions or additional recruiting ideas, please let us know and we'll add them to the list.
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