Mentees and Mentors
Mentoring is a collaborative at-will relationship in which one person—a mentor—shares their knowledge, skills, and experience with another person, a mentee, who is typically not as knowledgeable or experienced and benefits from the mentor’s guidance and perspective. Mentoring is considered a highly effective talent development measure that can yield especially positive results in gifted students. Through this support, mentees can gain knowledge in their field of interest, learn specific skills, and receive valuable advice on their career plans and advancement.
Outstanding Mentees and Mentors in STEMM
Building on these principles, Global Talent Mentoring connects students who are outstanding in one or more STEMM areas as mentees with distinguished STEMM experts as mentors.
Committed Engagement
Mentees and mentors at Global Talent Mentoring make a commitment to themselves and fellow members of our community to follow through on their shared mentoring journey. As part of this commitment, we ask that all participants commit to proactive, frequent, long-term, respectful engagement with one another.
Proactive
We want our community to be a lively, dynamic one. Have a question about black holes? Ask in Forums! Want to learn more about robotics with others? Start a study group! Our community is full of potential and a place where great ideas are born—but this can only happen when mentees and mentors commit to actively engaging with one another. In particular, we expect each mentee to proactively seek out their mentor’s help. All mentors participate on a voluntary basis. It is therefore the responsibility of each mentee to show initiative when reaching out to their mentor. Proactive engagement also means that participants keep in touch with their program representative, who is there to help ensure that each participant has a positive mentoring experience.
Consistent
One important aspect of committed engagement is frequent, consistent participation. Regular interaction between mentee and mentor is a critical factor of a successful mentoring relationship. Weekly mentee–mentor interactions are ideal. However, the actual frequency of interaction in a given mentoring pair (i.e., a dyad) can be adjusted to the needs of the mentee and mentor. It is important that mentee–mentor interactions are regular and consistent—be they on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis.
Mentees are expected to devote a minimum of 30 minutes per week to their Global Talent Mentoring experience. In addition to proactively interacting with their mentors, the mentees should spend time preparing for their next interactions with their mentors, following up with tasks after meetings (e.g., working on activities suggested by a mentor), and participating in forum discussions in the community area. Research shows that regular meetings between mentees and mentors lead to stronger mentoring relationships and better mentoring outcomes.
Long-Term
One unique aspect of Global Talent Mentoring is its long-term focus. Mentees start in the program at about age 16 and can participate for around a decade (i.e., up to early-career milestones such as completing a PhD). We therefore look for mentees and mentors who are serious about making a participation commitment that ideally lasts for several years.
We ask all mentees to commit to long-term participation and mentors to consider long-term volunteering (e.g., starting with one year).
Mentees and mentors have the chance to evaluate their experience and their dyad partner. Sometimes a change in partner may be deemed necessary. This can happen for a variety of reasons. In such cases, the participant will be carefully rematched with a suitable dyad partner.
Respectful
Global Talent Mentoring stands for diversity in STEMM. Participants come from many countries all over the world and reflect various cultures, religions, languages, and outlooks. Respectful interactions are expected of all participants, and discrimination of any kind is not tolerated.