Being a mentor is an opportunity to share your knowledge and help someone else.  As Maya Angelou stated: “In order to be a mentor, and an effective one, one must care. You must care. You don’t have to know how many square miles are in Idaho, you don’t need to know what is the chemical makeup of chemistry, or of blood or water. Know what you know and care about the person, care about what you know and care about the person you’re sharing with.”

Thank you for your interest in becoming a mentor!

Building Up will match you with a mentee of similar background, interest and areas of expertise.  The mentorship program is really driven by the mentee.  Building Up coaches the mentee to identify their goal(s) for the mentorship.  They also know that it is them who are responsible for their success.

As a mentor, you are expected to attend all scheduled meetings in person or via the phone. We encourage at least the first meetings to be in person (COVID rules permitting). Meetings and interactions will be determined and agreed upon between mentor and mentee. We do stress that you meet or talk weekly; bi-weekly at the least.

We will make the best effort to pair you with a mentee in your field or similar field, near your home or work location and someone who has similar interests.

Here are the mentoring structures the mentee can choose.

Options:

• 1 month:
  • Immediate situation that needs attention & guidance.
• 3 months:
  • Support that’s not immediate but not long term. Examples: job search, support/guidance to help set up for promotion.
• 6 months or ongoing*:
  • Longer term guidance. If you have multiple areas where you’d like support, choose 6 months or ongoing. Sometimes, it’s nice to have a neutral person (not within your own company) as a sounding board. Having a resource to help you with project plans, support with co-workers, internal promotion, annual planning, team management, etc.

This is the expectation we set with the mentees:

Process:

• Define what support you want
• Define goals. Or work with your mentor to define goals based on your need.
• Come prepared to each mentor meeting with your agenda: your goals, what you’ve accomplished since the last time you met and identify where you need more guidance.

Mentors will be interviewed by a Building Up team member.

Mentors must have an annual membership and agree to the mentor terms.