Recruiting Participating Students—Your Mentees

Your best advertisement for your mentoring program will eventually be those who have participated as mentors or mentees. Until the word-of-mouth buzz starts, however, you’ll need to be actively involved in the recruiting process. The following recruitment plan has worked well for the Women in Technology mentoring program at Moraine Valley Community College.

  1. Email all instructors in appropriate departments about the program and have them introduce the program to female students in their classes:
    • Include link to program website
    • Provide a brief program description
    • Attach recruitment form
  2. Provide brochures to all instructors:
    • Distribute via inter-college mail
    • Send as email attachment
    • Place in classrooms and common areas
  3. Hang posters on bulletin boards in common areas and classrooms.

When marketing the mentoring experience to young women, you will want to convey a sense of exploration and of fun. Under the Marketing tab at left, you’ll find customizable print materials and a free graphic the Collaborative has designed for your use at the local level.

Don’t be shy about one-on-one recruiting—a personal invitation to participate is very effective. You will probably want to create a recruitment packet to hand out to prospective mentees. The packet could include a fact sheet on your program, a description of program activities in which mentees will participate, a list of the benefits of being mentored, an application, (Download Sample Application) and a parent permission form (if the prospective mentee is a minor).