Starting Internship and Mentoring Programs from Scratch
(This came to me from Britney Ratcliff, Director of HR - Steve)
I am seeking guidance on building internship and mentor programs from scratch. We don't have these currently and I'm hoping to use these across multiple departments (HR, Marketing, Production, Records, etc.)
I'd love to hear from others who have built these types of programs successfully.
Thanks - Britney
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Any assistance with this would be much appreciated!! 🙂
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Britney ,
Here's my advice, based on designing internship/rotational development and mentor programs in the past.
* Be sure to have senior leader sponsorship and involvement. Senior leader buy-in is key to ongoing support - financial support, communications support and sr. leader visibility to your program participants.
* Have clearly defined roles and resources for all parties involved. Just because someone has served as a mentor in the past doesn't mean they are skilled at it. Review expectations with all mentors and get their buy-in. Do the same with mentees. Provide resources that help support effective discussions between the 2 parties.
* Check-in informally on a consistent basis and solicit formal feedback from all parties involved at least once/year. Share the feedback you collect with sr. leaders - they can help remove barriers where needed and share positive feedback with others, which may expand interest in your program.
I'm happy to discuss further if that would be helpful.
Good luck,
Christine Render
