Recruiting and Screening Mentors

Targeted recruitment—recruitment that is focused on particular attributes—guarantees not only that your program will hit its benchmarks, but that the types of individuals you recruit will also be up to the task. And while many programs use a formal screening process to weed out unsuitable volunteers, they can also save staff time and program resources by being intentional about who gets recruited in the first place. While no definitive scientific study has been made of the best ways to recruit mentors, a number of key points have emerged from the research that can affect how your program goes about recruitment.

Mentors (and all volunteers) get involved for a variety of reasons. This means that mentoring programs will have to employ a variety of approaches in their recruitment efforts. The programs that are most successful are those that identify their potential volunteers’ motivations and beliefs and speak to them directly during recruitment messages.
Word-of-mouth and television coverage are key strategies. This finding comes from research done on effective Big Brothers Big Sisters recruitment strategies. By television coverage we mean free public service announcements about the program and need for mentors in general, and specially developed local news segments that periodically feature youth on the program’s waiting list.
Mentors respond best to a direct appeal. The majority of mentors in a 2002 AOL Time Warner survey indicated they had gotten involved because they were directly asked to, or because of their association with an organization involved with a program. This is consistent with research into broader volunteer trends, which suggest a direct appeal for help, especially from within a peer or social group, might be the best way to approach volunteers such as mentors.
Little research exists on how to best present the concepts of mentoring during recruitment. Some programs present mentoring as something fun, simple, and relatively easy. Other programs use an empathy-based appeal that motivates volunteers to take up the cause. The key to targeted recruitment is to tailor how mentoring is presented to the particular groups you approach. One group may be more responsive to the “fun” part, while others may be more motivated by the impact they can have on problems in their community.
Race and gender are important, but social networks are what impact recruitment. Some research indicates that minorities may be motivated to volunteer in agencies that have minority staff members involved in recruitment. Broader evidence suggests that volunteers may be motivated by opportunities that impact what they perceive to be needs in their own racial/ethnic community. Gender comes into play around societal and cultural expectations associated with mentoring. Women tend to volunteer more than men do, especially for tasks that are viewed as nurturing or educational. Programs can best address race and gender issues in recruitment by tapping into the smaller community-based social networks and organizations to which these individuals might belong. So while race, culture, ethnicity, and gender all are factors in targeted recruitment, it’s really the access to the groups themselves (and the social motivations for volunteering those groups provide) that is important.
Mentor recruitment is challenging. In the AOL survey mentioned previously, 11 percent of the respondents reported volunteering in a formal mentor program, and 42 percent of those who were not mentoring said they would be willing to do so in the future. But getting that group to actually take the plunge can be a challenge. The Big Brothers/Big Sisters study found that only 43 percent of those who inquired about becoming a mentor went on to apply formally (filling out an application and beginning the screening process). Of that subgroup of formal applicants, less than half actually made it into a match. In light of this research, programs should recognize that mentor recruitment is not easy. But it can be very successful if your efforts are organized and you are prepared for the challenge.¹

Recruitment Planning

For best results, you should develop a written recruitment plan employing multiple strategies. As a starting place, answer the following questions:

How many mentors do you hope to recruit?
What qualifications and characteristics do you seek in mentors?
Write a brief job description for a mentor in your program.
Where are you most likely to find appropriate volunteers for your program?
What local groups would be receptive to having you conduct a mentoring awareness and information session for their members?
How might you tailor your recruitment message to target specific audiences?
How might you tailor your recruitment strategies to target specific audiences?
What role will each of your program’s stakeholder groups play in mentor recruitment?
What role(s) could your advisory group play?

The Mentor Application

After successfully recruiting potential mentors, invite them to complete your program’s written application form. The form should request:

A statement of the applicant’s expectations (in response to the mentor job description)
Preferred days/times for participation
Experience related to your program’s focus
Personal references (not family members)
Employment and academic history

You may also wish to have applicants sign an agreement that commits them to:

Attending training sessions
Engaging in the mentoring relationship with an open mind
Being on time for scheduled meetings
Respecting students’ rights to confidentiality
Asking for help when needed
Accepting guidance from program staff
Notifying staff if they are having difficulty in their mentoring relationship
Notifying the program coordinator if they need to miss a session
Notifying the program coordinator of any changes in their employment, address and telephone number
Refraining from contacting or seeing the mentee outside of the established parameters and supervised sites where the program takes place.²

As part of the written application, you should include a release statement that indicates the applicant agrees to a background check. This aspect of the screening process may seem unnecessary when working with a pool of known applicants, but it is an important part of the risk management process. Every mentoring program has a responsibility to exercise reasonable care (sometimes called “due diligence”) when faced with the chance that harm could result from its activities. Screening is part of the larger risk management effort that helps your program meet this responsibility. The best approach is to determine practical and feasible steps you can take to minimize the chance of any unintended, negative outcomes.³ Download a sample Mentor Application.

Your school, district, or partner organization may already have a system in place for performing criminal background checks. If they do not, SafetyNet—a collaborative effort of the FBI and the National Mentoring Partnership—will run fingerprint-based background checks for $18 per applicant. For more details, visit this website: http://apps.mentoring.org/safetynet/factsheet.adp.

The Interview

The final stage of the application process involves a face-to-face interview. You will want to develop a standard list of questions that you ask all applicants. Keep written records of all potential mentor interviews in your program files. Suggested questions might include:

What words would you use to describe yourself? What words would your family and friends use to describe you?
Who has been a role model or mentor in your life?
Why do you want to be a mentor?
What special skills and interests do you have?
What do you like about working with ___________________? (description of program students)
What benefits do you expect to receive from your participation as a mentor?
How much time do you have to devote to the program?
What expectations do you have of the students with whom you may be working?
Who or what do you think has the most influence on young women’s career decisions?⁴

^1. Effective Mentor Recruitment: Getting Organized, Getting Results. Developed by the Mentoring Resource Center for the U.S. Dept. of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, 2006.

^2. How to Build A Successful Mentoring Program Using the Elements of Effective Practice, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, 2005.

^3. Guide to Screening and Background Checks. Developed by the Mentoring Resource Center for the U.S. Dept. of Education Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, 2006.

^4. Adapted from Yes, You Can: Establishing Mentoring Programs to Prepare Youth for College. U.S. Dept. of Education Partnership for Family Involvement in Education, 1998; and Chapter 22, Section 2, The Community Toolbox, KU Workgroup for Community Health and Development, 2007.