Welcome from Brittany
Coffee and Careers to showcase/spotlight different programs to help with career advancement. Focus today is IT Mentoring program.
Any questions:
- What's the purpose of the mentoring program from a Stanford POV?
- get support where needed
- build network
- get support and advice
- build the community of IT professionals
- Why was the question asked?
- Has friends in other places and once they've finished the program, asked how did the program benefit them?
- What sparked wanting to start a mentoring program?
- UIT had a mentoring program for a long time
- Expanding it across the IT Community was intended to bring the whole IT community together, learn from others' experiences, have a sounding board
- Personal experience shared by a former mentee
- CIO shared the perspective of wanting to retain talent developed at Stanford in any way possible (also IT EDP, ITCC, etc.)
IT Career Lab is a one-stop shop for everything related to career development
True or False: Mentoring Edition:
- 75% of execs say mentoring played a key role in career development - TRUE
- Mentees for promoted 5x more often than those w/o mentors and earn higher salaries over time: TRUE
- 80% of mentors reported personal grouowth and satisfaction from their mentoring relationships: FALSE (85%)
Benefits of being a mentor:
- develop leadership skills
- paying it forward, pass on wisdom
- expand connections, build network
- expand your way of thinking through dialog
- help someone else navigate the Stanford landscape
- You can share your expertise in your own story with others, even if you feel like you're not ready or are experiencing imposter syndrome
Benefits of being a mentee:
- grow skill sets
- develop skills beyond current role that will help advance career
- advice, assistances
- confidence
- understanding of the workplace, culture, etc.
- increase visibility, network and grow connection
Testimonial from someone who has been both a mentor and a mentee
Eligibility requirements:
- Stanford employees, not students or contractors (clarification needed on whether Hospital/Clinic employees are eligible)
- have conversation with manager, but don't necessarily need approval
Pairing:
- Task team from across IT Community assembled each year
- hand pairing after reading through applications
- strive for cross-community alignment
- accommodate specific requests
- prioritize new mentee applicants
- never leave a mentee applicant unpaired
- no more than two mentees to a mentor
https://itcommunity.stanford.edu/itmentoring is the link to apply as mentor or mentee. Dec 20 is the deadline to apply for the next cycle.
Program Timeline shared
- Pairs announced in February
- midpoint check-in about 3 month into the program
- two different wrap up meetings because Year Up cohort ends before the end of the full cycle
Guidelines:
- meet at least 6 times during the mentorship cycle
Mentoring Year Up interns:
- make a positive lasting impact
- make the difference between a good and a great internship
- great way to get your feet wet with mentoring
- two cohorts starting in Jan and in Jul
Flash Mentoring:
- Good for people who can't commit to the full cycle, but has availability or need for one-time guidance/support
- Over 25 Flash Mentors currently signed up
- Can also supplement regular mentoring
Resources are shared on the Program website (linked above):
Additional Questions:
- Is there a need for one more than the other? - Always need more mentors.
- Is Steve (Gallagher) a mentor? - He has been in the past.
- How many pairings in a cohort - 80-90 pairs
- personal testimonials from mentors and mentees in the room
- It would be good to have a metric on how many people have gotten their next job through the mentoring program
- Connection of the dots between Mentoring, IDEAL IT, ITLP and STLP and IT EDP as all being parts of the IT Career Lab
Plug for IT EDP as a formalized job shadowing opportunity
Next Coffee and Careers event will be on ITLP and STLP in March 2025, date TBD
Contact Brittany to complete a survey and get an IT Career Lab coffee mug
