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Suggestions and Resources for Recruiting Protégés and Alumni/ae
Below is a list of suggestions for recruiting protégés compiled from past
campus representatives. We also have information below to help you recruit alumni/ae as mentors. We hope you will find these suggestions helpful. Please let us know if
you have additional ideas!
Although the tips and materials below will work for recruiting protégés looking for mentors from industry and academia, we also offer specialized, targeted materials to recruit faculty and protégés interested in academic mentoring.
You also have access to a host of quick downloadable materials to help get you started.
Top 4 Strategies
Additional Ideas
Ideas for Recruiting Alumni/ae as Mentors
Top 4 Strategies
Our campus representatives tell us these are their four most effective recruiting strategies. We recommend using two or more of these, along with at least one or two of the other strategies described below.
Our research shows that most students find out about MentorNet through faculty, so contacting faculty is the most important strategy for recruiting students.
- Use email distribution lists to notify chairs, advisors, and faculty. We've created a sample email message for you to use if you wish. To use, open the Message to Faculty text file, copy it to your email text, modify the text, and send it out to the appropriate people.
- Place student recruiting flyers in faculty mailboxes. Include a cover letter (which could be a modification of the Message to Faculty) introducing MentorNet and your involvement.
- Get MentorNet's assistance in contacting Assistant Campus Recruiting Representatives. If you are short on resources, you can use our online contact form to send us the names and email addresses of up to 10 faculty and staff members you think would be interested in helping to recruit students for MentorNet. We will email them instructions and recruiting materials. To access the form, sign in to the Partners Resource Center and then click on the Profile link. Click on the Representatives tab.
- Use campus mail to reach protégés living on campus.
- Obtain their addresses from the admissions office, if your campus allows this information to be distributed.
- Revise, print out, and copy our Call for protégés message, include a flyer if you wish, and send to the protégés by campus mail. There is also a specialized Call for protégés for the MentorNet Academic E-Mentoring Program.
- Send a welcome letter or packet to first-year women protégés.
- Mention MentorNet in your welcome letter, and describe the program. Personalize the invitation with a phrase like, "You have been chosen..."
- Sign the letter, and, if possible, ask the dean to sign also.
- Include a MentorNet flyer and/or brochure in the welcome packet. Use this order form to order brochures free of charge. Note that you will have to sign in to access the form.
- Send an email message on a distribution list for students in engineering or science. We've posted a Call for Protégés message for you to use as a sample. To use, open the Call for Protégés text file, copy it to your email text, modify the text, and send it out to all of the potential protégés. There is also a specialized version for the MentorNet Academic E-Mentoring Program.
- Post the Call for Protégés on listservs for campus organizations for women and minorities in engineering and science.
- Follow up by emailing or posting several reminders:
- Tell students they should sign up as early as possible to have the best chance of being paired with a mentor whose interests closely match theirs.
MentorNet is especially interested in reaching out to protégés of color and international protégés in engineering and science. We encourage you to send the Call for Protégés (specialized version for the MentorNet Academic E-Mentoring Program) email to the following groups and individuals:
- Student groups
- National Society of Black Engineers
- American Indians in Science and Engineering
- Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
- International Students Web
- Programs
- Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA)
- Minority Engineering Program (MEP)
- Equal Opportunity Programs (EOP)
- Services for International Students
- Centers and individuals
- Vice President for Minority Affairs
- Vice President of Graduate School
- Office for Multicultural Development
- El Centro Chicano
- Native American Cultural Center
- International House or International Center
- Faculty and staff
Additional Ideas
Here are some other effective ways to recruit students on your campus. Many of these strategies take just a few minutes, and work well in conjunction with the methods listed above.
- Place brochures in your office or hand them out in class.
- Place a recruiting poster or flyer in strategic places. Some ideas for placement:
- on message boards
- on stairways
- on women's bathroom walls in engineering and science buildings
- in the career planning and placement center
Flyer 1: PDF | Microsoft Word
Flyer 2: PDF | Microsoft Word
- Visit meetings of the Society for Women in Engineering (SWE), the Association for Women in Science (AWIS), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISE), and others.
- Ask a former protégé to join you at the meeting to describe her/his experience with MentorNet.
- Place a short article introducing MentorNet and explaining how to sign up in newsletters for women's/diversity programs or groups.
- Sit at a table at the fall activities fair. Consider having treats to give out, along with flyers and brochures.
- Hold a welcome dinner or lunch for women students and use the opportunity to introduce MentorNet.
- Hold an information session about MentorNet in your department.
- Invite a former protégé to come and share her experiences at any of these events.
- Give them flyers and Call for Protégés announcements to distribute. Or ask them to write email messages describing their positive experiences and explaining how to sign up for this year's program.
- Put together a PowerPoint Presentation to show in classes or display in public areas. Using this example from the University of Texas,
Arlington, alter it to fit your college or university. Recall that data specific to your campus may be found in the Partners Resource Center under "Participants."
Ideas for Recruiting Alumni/ae as Mentors
Alumni/ae can make especially dedicated and enthusiastic mentors. They are often looking for ways to give something back to their alma mater. MentorNet also offers campuses an opportunity to build alumni/ae involvement.
Consider recruiting alumni/ae as mentors through the alumni association, or through individuals you know personally.
- Open the Alumni/ae Call For Mentors text file, copy it to your email text, modify the text, and send it out to all of the potential mentors.
- Consider placing mentor recruiting flyers in the alumni/ae building and other places where alumni/ae are likely to see it. You can access the flyer in one of two ways:
Flyer 1: PDF | Microsoft Word
Flyer 2: PDF | Microsoft Word
- The AggieMentor alumni letter may serve as a model for leveraging your own alumni network as mentors for your school's prospective protégés.
If you have any comments, suggestions or additional recruiting ideas, please let us know and we'll add them to the list.
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