Have clear cut guidelines for your mentors and their training requirements. Source: Freedigitalphotos.net

We’ve talked about the positive impact that an internal mentorship program can make for your company; however, in order to create a successful mentorship program for your company, you need to know how to recruit the right mentors and provide them with thorough training. Therefore, the Over My Shoulder Foundation wanted to share some helpful tips for training and supporting mentors. Outlined below are some steps that your company should take to recruit and train mentors for your mentorship program:

1. Recruitment: In order to attract the strongest mentors for your program, you should realistically portray the benefits and challenges that will be associated with the program. You should also outline the expectations of what your ideal mentor/mentee relationship will look like in this program. When recruiting, be sure to look for mentors that will fit in well with your program’s culture and the mentees that are enrolled in the program. The following should be considered for mentor applicants at a minimum: the written application, the time commitment, a face-to-face interview, a reference check, and a criminal background check.
2.  Training: At a minimum, you should offer two hours of in-person training to your program mentors, which will cover the program rules, expectation of the mentor/mentee relationship, ethical issues, and resources available to help strengthen the mentor/mentee relationship.
3. Ongoing Support: To ensure that the mentor/mentee relationship is successful from the start, it’s a good idea to reach out to the mentor and mentee twice individually during the first month of the relationship and once a month going forward. This allows for the relationship to be tweaked when necessary and additional support to be offered when needed.

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