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Soroptimist International of Las Cruces

Mentorship Program

Information for Mentees

Soroptimist International of Las Cruces is committed to supporting and engaging with our Live Your Dream Award (LYDA) recipients in meaningful ways beyond the presentation of initial cash awards. We want to help you navigate your journey as you pursue career training and entry into your chosen career field. When you participate in our LYDA mentorship program, you will gain the guidance and support of an experienced career woman who can help you set goals, navigate difficult situations, offer advice on how to handle challenges, provide a sounding board for ideas and strategies, and be a friend. They can also provide support during times of stress or uncertainty and help you develop the skills you need to succeed.

Pairing

When you opt to join our mentorship program, you will be paired with a mentor who shares your career field or has faced similar life experiences or challenges. Assignments will be made immediately after awards are presented in February/March for new awardees. Past awardees may opt into the program at any time.

Pairing will consider commonalities such as major, college, and career plans, but not exclusively. Often diversity and/or commonality in life experiences adds its own unique value to the conversations. Your mentor will listen to your concerns and do her best to guide you and provide advice or constructive criticism with the best of intentions. There is no fixed agenda for mentor-mentee interactions. It will be guided by your concerns.

How Often, Where, When

Mentor and mentee will be introduced by the SI/Las Cruces mentorship coordinator via email or text message. Once they are paired, they should try to meet as soon as possible. At that point, they may decide together if they can or want to meet monthly, quarterly, or at another agreed-upon interval. They can also determine the best way to meet. It needn’t be the same each time. Perhaps they will decide that texting is best if there is an urgent issue, but otherwise they will meet in person at a regular time. ZOOM or Facetime can also be an effective and convenient way to meet.

A paired assignment is a year (March – February). Mentors and mentees may provide feedback to SI/Las Cruces at any time, but are expected to evaluate their mentorship experiences after a year and provide feedback to SI/Las Cruces. (Evaluation forms will be provided). It can be valuable to continue over multiple years if the mentor-mentee relationship and availability allow. The depth of mentor/mentee conversations can grow even more valuable over time.

Life Happens

Life is replete with unforeseen changes that can affect the mentor-mentee relationship, such as time pressures, family responsibilities, or the need for a different mentorship type or perspective. The mentee may decide that she no longer needs this type of assistance. The mentor and the mentee should be honest with themselves and each other and let the SI/Las Cruces mentoring coordinator know if a different pairing or another type of support would be helpful or if the mentee no longer wishes to remain in the program.

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