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How One-on-One E-Mentoring Delivers
MAKING THE MATCH
MentorNet protégés are generally satisfied with their e-mentoring experience.
- More than 75% of protégés are satisfied with their mentors.2
- Approximately 70% believe that their mentor was a good match.3
- More than 65% feel that the MentorNet experience was well worth their time.4
- One year after participating, 66% of protégés agreed that MentorNet was a good use of their time.5
- Three years after participating, almost 50% of protégés believed that MentorNet was a valuable experience.6
- More than 60% characterize their mentoring relationship as “highly successful or successful.”7
- As a result, about 60% of protégés have recommended MentorNet to a friend.8
| Do female protégés benefit from male mentors?
Findings about the effectiveness of male mentors versus female mentors for female protégés are mixed. In some years of evaluation, male mentors seemed to be just as successful in helping protégés as were female mentors. In these evaluations, mentors and protégés report similar frequency of email exchanges, comparable satisfaction with the overall quality of their matches, and similar ratings of outcome measures. In other years, female protégés with female mentors had significantly higher satisfaction with the MentorNet program. MentorNet plans further research to investigate these findings more thoroughly.
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Does a mentor’s race matter?
Because there are fewer mentors of color, most students of color have mentors of a different race. Nevertheless, protégés in a cross-race mentoring pair are just as satisfied as protégés in a same-race pair.9 In fact, higher proportions of African/African American (76%) and Hispanic (79%) protégés were satisfied overall with their one-on-one MentorNet relationships, as compared with Asian/Asian American (69%) or White (72%) protégés.10 These high levels of satisfaction suggest that mentors of a different race can effectively mentor students of color, particularly when using an e-mentoring program.
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PROTÉGÉ CONFIDENCE AND MOTIVATION
The MentorNet experience increases the confidence and motivation of protégés.
- About 60-70% of protégés believe that their mentors make them feel that, “Yes, I can do this,” helping protégés understand that struggling is not the same as failure.11
- Because of MentorNet, between 55-65% of protégés are more confident that they can succeed in their chosen field.12
- One year later, 57% believe that MentorNet enhanced their confidence to succeed.13
- More than 50% of protégés indicate they are more motivated to succeed in their field because of their MentorNet experience.14
VALUABLE KNOWLEDGE
MentorNet protégés gain valuable knowledge that contributes to success.
- About 60-70% of protégés believe that their mentors give them a realistic picture of potential jobs in their fields.15
- More than 65% receive ideas for balancing personal and professional lives.16
| Benefits of Email Communication
Although email offers a different kind of mentoring than face-to-face mentoring, it provides a number of benefits that make it useful in building mentoring relationships. It’s easy, convenient, affordable, asynchronous (fitting in with tightly packed schedules), and transcends distance and time zones. In addition, there are some less obvious advantages:
- Status differences are lessened, easing communication between mentors and protégés and reducing bias based on appearances.
- Protégés learn valuable online collaborative workplace skills.
- Writing provides opportunities for reflective learning and a written record of the communications for repeated reference.
- Email provides the opportunity for review (before being sent), which may be particularly useful for a participant whose first language is not English.
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PROTÉGÉ RETENTION
The vast majority of MentorNet protégés remain in STEM fields.
- In their year-end evaluation surveys, more than 85% of protégés indicate that they plan to remain in STEM fields.17
- In fact, 95% of 1998-99 protégés remained in STEM fields one year after their MentorNet participation.18
- Significantly, 91% of 1998-99 protégés remained in STEM fields three years after MentorNet.19
- Virtually all protégés in the academic career e-mentoring (ACE) program reported that they would continue on an academic track in STEM fields.20
POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES
MentorNet is a rich venue for potential employees.
- More than 50% of protégés who were planning to start a full-time job within the next year considered, applied for, or accepted a job at their mentor’s employer. 21
- 30% of 2000-01 protégés applied to and/or interviewed with at least one MentorNet-sponsoring company.22
| Regular Communication is Key
Mentors and protégés are expected to communicate via email approximately once a week. In annual evaluations, mentoring pairs report that they usually exchange emails two or three times a month. However, the amount of time spent reading and writing emails varies considerably among mentoring pairs—from 5-10 minutes a week to 20-30 minutes a week.23 The mentoring relationships are designed to last eight months, a period of time which evaluation findings have determined is long enough to build a working relationship, and an appropriate amount of time for the relationship to be reviewed and renewed, be redefined, or come to an end. Although no further communication is required, 77% of protégés indicate they anticipate continuing to communicate informally with their mentors after their relationship comes to an end.24
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“This has been one of the most rewarding experiences that I have undertaken in my professional career.” MentorNet mentor
MENTOR SATISFACTION
MentorNet mentors are generally satisfied with the e-mentoring experience.
- More than 90% feel that e-mentoring was a convenient way to volunteer.25
- More than 70% believe that they had helped the next generation of professionals.26
- More than 70% have recommended MentorNet to a colleague.27
- Most importantly, about 70% believe that MentorNet is filling an unmet need for women and minorities in STEM fields.28
- More than 65% of mentors feel that the MentorNet experience was well worth their time.29
BENEFITS FOR SPONSORS
For sponsoring organizations, many benefits accrue:
- More than 70% of protégés believe that sponsoring MentorNet demonstrates that their organization cares about supporting women and minorities.30
- More than 70% of mentors are very pleased that their employers are involved with MentorNet.31
- About 75% of mentors feel they received great advice on how to be a good mentor.32
- About 60% of mentors believe they will be more effective mentors at work.33
“I feel honored to have a part in advancing the cause of women scientists of tomorrow.” MentorNet mentor
2 2003-2007 data
3 2003-2007 data
4 2002-2007 data
5 MentorNet Long Term Evaluation Spring 2002: 2000-01 Protégés Look Back
6 MentorNet Year 3 Survey Report on 1998-99 Protégés
7 2003-2007 data
8 2002-2007 data
9 2002-2003 Program Evaluation
10 E-Mentoring for Women of Color Report
11 2002-2007 data
12 2003-2007 data
13 MentorNet Long Term Evaluation Spring 2002: 2000-01 Protégés Look Back
14 2003-2007 data
15 2003-2007 data
16 2003-2007 data
17 2002-2003 Program Evaluation; 2003-2007 data
18 MentorNet Long-Term Evaluation: 1998-99 Protégés Reflect – One Year Later
19 These data are based on a small sample from the MentorNet Year 3 Survey Report on 1998-99 Protégés
20 Academic Career E-Mentoring Program Evaluation; Final Report
21 2003-07 data
22 MentorNet Long Term Evaluation Spring 2002: 2000-01 Protégés Look Back
23 2002-2003 Program Evaluation
24 2001-02 Program Evaluation
25 2002-2007 data
26 2002-2007 data
27 2002-2003 Program Evaluation; 2003-2007 data
28 2002-2007 data
29 2002-2007 data
30 2003-2007 data
31 2002-2003 Program Evaluation; 2003-2007 data
32 2002-2003 Program Evaluation; 2003-2007 data
33 2003-2007 data
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