Since 9 July, we are in the SEED 2008-2009 Mentor Matching Cycle.
That is, the 85 Engineering mentoring program Participants (Mentees)
have created and prioritized their 15-name Mentor Wish Lists and I am
in the process of sequentially contacting
the highest priority potentially available mentor for each of them.
In this first ten days, 50 or 59% have been matched so far.
There are two terms being matched at the same time:
- September 2008 – September 2009 Recent Hire Term
which already has 16 out of 23 matched - September 2008 – March 2009 Established Staff Term
which already has 34 out of 63 matched
At one level, I am matching interesting and accomplished individuals,
some of whom I have known for many years and others I am just getting
to know. At another level, I am working a mentor matching system.
I have a running tally with notes on it for each SEED mentee:
- mentorname #3 – contacted 17 July
mentorname #1 – no response by 17 July - mentorname #1 – Confirmed 13 July (#1 on list)
- mentorname #4 – Confirmed 18 July (#4 on list)
mentorname #1 – no response by 17 July - mentorname #2 – 19 July interested – may take a while to decide
mentorname #1 – declined – works in her org. 14 July - mentorname #1 – Contacted 7/9, out of the office until 21 July
- mentorname #5 – contacted 15 July
mentorname #4 – declined 15 July
mentorname #1 – declined 14 July - mentorname #1 – Confirmed 10 July (#1 on list)
The Participant is not kept informed of each step in the match process. They do not know which potential mentor from the “Wish List” is contacted. Potential mentors need to have space and time to consider the possibilities of a mentoring partnership without risk of offending the potential mentee or interfering with future communications with them or their manager.
More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program
is available at
http://research.sun.com/SEED/
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