Career mentoring – a mentor’s guide
The ICAS career-mentoring process is entirely member-initiated, with interested CAs expected to proactively reach out to potential mentors or mentees through CA Connect, our member-exclusive online community platform.
Getting started as a mentor
Here’s a brief summary of how the process works for mentors:
- CA Connect enables virtual relationships between ICAS members across the many countries in which they operate.
- Upon completing your CA Connect profile, use the relevant drop-down menu to indicate that you are available to act as a mentor. This status will then appear on your profile.
- Members seeking a mentor may then contact you via CA Connect in order to enquire as to your current mentoring availability.
- Alternatively, perform an Advanced search within the Members Address Book, for those with an ‘I'd like a mentor’ status.
- Open a chat within CA Connect to reach out to a prospective mentee and start your mentoring conversations.
- Whilst CA Connect tends to support online interactions between mentors and mentees, it can also be used to initiate face-to-face meetings.
Updating the mentoring status on your CA Connect profile:
Using the advanced search features to find a mentee on CA Connect:
Use our mentoring checklist and guidance resources
We’ve created career-mentoring guidance logbooks and checklists to support mentors and mentees through the process, both of which you can find in the Resources section at CA Connect.
Whilst their usage is not required, they’re intended as a handy ‘one stop shop’, to save either of you having to create your own documents, checklists, guidance or records, and to help your mentee get the most out of the process.
From the initial meeting onwards
Once you’ve have agreed to begin acting as a mentor, you and your mentee should meet, virtually or face-to-face, to explore and confirm the potential of the mentoring engagement.
Upon connecting, mentoring participants should expect:
- To always be treated, and to treat others, with respect.
- To challenge and support your mentee to achieve their goals, which may be direct and/or emergent, and could range from them becoming more self-aware to increasing their personal network.
Reach an agreement of mentoring
We recommend that you use the checklist to support the discussions that lead to reaching an agreement of mentoring, and we recommend that it’s referred to regularly throughout your mentoring engagement.
Participants rely upon clear communication from the outset, and in your first meeting you and your mentee should agree to the following:
- Your mentee’s goals and expectations – what they hope to achieve through the process.
- Confidentiality – should any third parties be informed, and if so, what can be discussed with them.
- Availability – how often you will be available.
- Duration of the relationship – e.g. three months, six months, one year.
- Meeting and communication format – will you meet online, by phone, face-to-face.
- Roles and responsibilities – who will set the agenda for meetings, etc.
- How feedback will be handled.
- Review and evaluation – of the relationship and your mentee’s progress.
You should make a point of jointly reviewing the terms of your mentoring engagement – especially your mentee’s goals – on a regular basis, to ensure that you are both still on track.