IEEE Mentoring Program

Mentoring partnerships are particularly beneficial in building strong connections between individuals who share professional interests. IEEE offers a program that is specifically tailored to suit the international community. 

IEEE encourages and empowers members to help grow through this program. Mentoring is a powerful way to give back to the IEEE community as it makes a meaningful contribution to developing members. Potential mentors are encouraged to update their profiles on IEEE Collabratec and take this opportunity to inspire future contributors to IEEE and the global technology community. 

Benefits for mentees:

• Supports career development

• Helps you to further develop a specific skill set or competency

• Expands your professional network

• Provides an opportunity to share knowledge and experiences

• Allows participants to see things from another person's perspective

• Enhances your brand

To take advantage of the Mentoring Program, perform the following:

1. Sign on to IEEE Collabratec. 
   
2. Complete your profile. Filling in critical elements of your profile such as technical interests, biography, and expertise will help the Mentor or Mentee determine a good fit. Education (including degrees), Volunteer positions, and other data will be auto-populated from your IEEE account. The user has full control of what profile elements are displayed to others via the visibility settings. There is an option available to set the visibility to “IEEE Members only” for use by the Mentoring program.
3. Access your Career Services Page. The page is accessible by selecting the “Career Services” button on the Member Console, available on the left rail from the Home or Dashboard page.
   

Follow the 3 steps below for the respective Mentor or Mentee.

1. Activate your Mentor status.

Select checkbox. Make sure that critical elements of your profile such as technical interests, biography, and expertise are filled in and visible (via settings) to assist a potential Mentee in their research.

2. Select Mentee preferences.

When the checkbox is checked a dropdown appears displaying preference options for a potential mentee. Select "Save" after choices have been selected.

3. Review and accept request from Mentee.

When a mentee has chosen you as a prospective Mentor you will receive a notification that will appear in the Pending Actions of your Dashboard (an email is sent as well). The request message is also available from the mentor status console on the Career Services page. Review the request and "accept." You also have the option to "save for later" (subject to 30 days expiration) or "decline."

1.   Activate your Mentee status.

Select checkbox. When the checkbox is checked a button appears, select "Access Mentor List."

2. Search for Mentors*.

When selecting the "Access Mentor List" button, you will be taken to the Mentor List in the People section. Use available filters to narrow your search. Review the profile summaries of the respective Mentors. By clicking on a Mentor name, a popup will appear with most of their key profile information. You can send a message to alert or learn more about the prospective mentor.

3. Select "Mentor Request" tab.

Select the "Mentor Request" tab. Fill out the requested information such as areas of guidance and term length. Then select "Send."  Wait for the Mentor to accept your request. Allow 7-10 days. You may send a message as a reminder. The request is available for review on your mentor status console (on the Career Services page). Mentor Requests expire after 30 days if no action is taken.

*Considerations when searching for a Mentor:

• What goals are you trying to achieve by having a mentor?

• Does the prospective mentor align with your technical interest and goals?

•  How much time can you allot to this mentorship?

• How often will you meet?

• Are your schedules compatible (will there be time zone differences?)

• What form of communications will be used to conduct meetings?

When the mentor accepts the request, the partnership becomes active. The mentor and mentee can navigate to the Career Services page and see the partnership listed as active.

A private workspace is automatically created to provide a space for the mentor and mentee to share content, collaborate, communicate (post, comment, replies, message), upload documents for review, and create a project management plan (via Project Tracker). The workspace is directly accessible from the Mentoring Console (by selecting the "Workspace" button). The workspace can be "favorited" so it is added to the Dashboard as well.

The Mentoring system of IEEE Collabratec recently had a major upgrade with following:

• Mentoring Status Console, which displays pending, active, and ended partnerships
  

• System-tracked partnership term lengths (3, 6, 9, and 12 months)

• Mentor request message is now structured for improved clarity and is now persistent for review at any time

• New and persistent evaluation feedback link has been added

• Partnerships can be terminated early if the goals have been met

• Easy access to auto-created workspace

• Older partnerships now labeled as "legacy" for improved tracking

When the Mentor accepts the ‘Mentor Request’  from the Mentee, the Mentor and Mentee enter into a mutual agreement of commitment to devote the necessary time and effort to work toward achieving the goals of the requested areas of guidance. Understanding of the roles and responsibilities should be reviewed and discussed at the start. It is up to the Mentor and Mentee to come with a mutually agreed action plan that defines the goals and outlines the expectations. Respect of each other’s time should be adhered to throughout the partnership See Mentoring Guidelines.

To get answers to your questions regarding the Mentoring Program, please go to IEEE Collabratec and submit them in the IEEE Mentoring Program and Career Forum workspace.