How Mentoring Works

ASCE s Mentoring Guide for Empioyers, Mentors, and Proteges (20M) can be downloaded 

The role of an employee s immediate supervisor cannot be underestimated, however. We ve found that one of the most important things is whether and how an employee s supervisor makes him or her feel important, Georgann Brannon, Director of Human Resources with Hall Foreman, Inc. It s really important to meet regularly to talk about career goals and aspirations, and how those goals are being met.  

Each employee s desires for career growth and the feasibility of his or her goals should be evaluated individually, with the overall objective of nurturing the talent and skills offered by minorities and females. Top-down and bottom-up reviews by more than one person will avoid anyone individual s making biased promotion decisions. 

Engineers need to feel confident in confiding their aspirations and interests to their mentors in an informal setting. Mentors should have enough seniority to help the person being mentored achieve his or her goals. The mentors also need to understand the individual s needs and to try to understand cultural differences. 

Mentors may be assigned, or can pair up with proteges more informally as work relationships develop. Or, mentors and proteges can fill out online questionnaires and then be matched by similar interests. There may be an evaluation process for a department head and human resources representative to monitor the relationship. 

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