Mentorship program

Purpose

The PSHRA NC Mentorship Program creates a process by which experienced and credentialed public sector human resources professionals are paired with individuals new to public sector human resources in order to ease and assist with the transition. The ultimate goal of the PSHRA NC Mentorship Program is to create a positive experience that is encouraging to new entrants into public sector human resources and increases the likelihood that those individuals remain in public sector human resources for the remainder of their careers.

Mentor Qualifications

Mentee Qualifications

How the Mentorship Program Works

The Mentorship Program was launched at the PSHRA NC annual conference in May 2022. The Mentorship Committee began gathering mentor applications in order to create a pool of mentors. The Mentorship Committee reviews and approves, by a majority vote, completed mentorship applications based on the criteria listed under Mentor Qualifications and satisfactory answers to mentor application questions. A committee member notifies each mentor applicant regarding the approval or denial of the application. If, for any reason, a mentor application is denied, a Mentorship Committee member contacts the applicant.

PSHRA NC members wishing to engage a mentor will complete a Request a Mentor application. Mentorship Committee members match mentors and mentees based primarily on the needs of the mentee. In addition, proximity of the mentor and mentee is considered so that in-person meetings are possible. A Mentorship Committee member notifies the mentor and mentee of their pairing and provides contact information to both parties.

The initial mentor/mentee relationship is 12 months. Mentees are paired with mentors as requests for mentors are received. The 12 months begins once the mentor and mentee are paired and notified by a Mentorship Committee member. Ideally, each mentor should have only one mentee. If there are more requests for mentors than there are available mentors, a committee member will ask for mentor volunteers to accept multiple mentees. The goal is to never reject a mentor request due to having more requests than mentors.

Once the Mentorship Committee member introduces the mentor to the mentee via email and provides contact information to both parties, the mentor and mentee should establish and discuss expectations of the relationship and the program. Best practices include establishing short, routine (weekly) check-ins via telephone or email and longer monthly or quarterly in-person or virtual meetings, as schedules permit. The expectation is that the mentor and mentee should meet no less than quarterly (four meetings in 12 months).

At the conclusion of the 12-month formal program, mentees will be required to complete a brief mentor/program evaluation, and mentors will be required to complete a brief mentee/program evaluation. Mentor/program and mentee/program evaluations are available on PSHRA NC’s website at www.nc-ipma.org under the Mentorship Program heading. Click on either the Mentor/Program Evaluation or the Mentee/Program Evaluation link or select the appropriate evaluation from the dropdown menu under the Mentorship Program heading on the homepage. Complete the online evaluations and click submit or download and email the completed evaluations to one of the Mentorship Committee members.

Evaluations will be reviewed by all Mentorship Committee members. Evaluations will be used to determine the effectiveness of mentors and the mentorship program. In addition, the Mentorship Committee will determine whether mentees are taking full advantage of the mentorship program. The Mentorship Program is subject to change based on input received from evaluations and a majority vote of mentorship committee members.

For more information on the Mentorship Program, please contact one of the members of the Mentorship Committee below: