Source: Women’s Engineering Society (WES)
Image Source: Women’s Engineering Society (WES)
Cover image: Shutterstock
MentorSET is a mentoring scheme run by WES for women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Unlike many mentoring schemes, MentorSET offers cross-sector independent mentors from around the UK and is open to both men and women.
Use WES’ specialist software to search for a mentor who has the experience and skills to enable you to reach your milestones. Keep track of goals, schedule meetings and communicate with each other over your twelve month partnership.
There is an additional fee for WES Members and non-Members to join MentorSET. There is no charge to join as a mentor.
Fee for Members: £48
Fee for Non-Members: £120
Why Mentoring?
- The mentee feels supported and has a mechanism for working through any problems that exist as a result of being in a minority
- Mentoring includes training, support, encouragement, advice and guidance from people who have both ‘done it before’ and are usually independent of the mentee’s current organisation
- Both the mentees and mentors gain confidence and leadership skills
- Mentees report the benefits of a different perspective
- Mentees are more likely to plan and apply for promotions
- Mentors and mentees can gain insights into best business practices in other companies
- The process allows mentors and mentees to make useful networking connections, and have access to role models
MentorSET is a cross-sector mentoring scheme, enabling you to connect with a mentoring partner outside of your place of work. We offer networking opportunities in our forums enabling mentors to connect with other mentors, and individuals the opportunity to connect with others who share common goal or challenge.
Why MentorSET?
MentorSET is open to both men and women, but in particular prides itself on the support it provides to women working in STEM and men and women returning after a career break.
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Being a mentee
Discover the perfect resource for your career growth here.
Mentoring allows you to focus on how you can forward your career and overcome work related issues. A mentor can provide guidance, support and space for you to think. Women in STEM face many issues and you may need a mentor with particular expertise or experience rather than one who has followed exactly the same career path. MentorSET can help.
A MentorSET mentor can help you with:
- Career planning and progression
- Links to reduce isolation in a male-dominated professional environment
- Information about returning after a career break and advice about obtaining a work/life balance
- Networking
- Support if you are coping with health problems or disabilities alongside a professional career
- Development of new skills such as leadership or public speaking
Mentoring partnerships usually last one or two years, but if you are looking for a quick boost or help with learning a specific skill. MentorSET can help there too.
We encourage women who are mid-career to apply to be both a mentor and a mentee. You do not need to be at the top of your profession to be a MentorSET mentor and you will gain more by being both a mentor and a mentee.
Share your expertise with those willing and eager to learn.
Being a mentor
A mentor is a guide. A friend. A resource who paves the way to success, and derives satisfaction from helping others succeed. Your role as mentor is to inspire, encourage, and support your mentee, and to contribute to their professional and personal development.
Mentoring provides development opportunities for mentors as well as great personal satisfaction. Being a mentor can improve your leadership skills and enable you to learn from alternative approaches and different ways of thinking. It can be challenging, inspiring and enlightening.
We welcome both male and female mentors. No prior mentoring experience is necessary and you don’t have to be at the top of your profession to be a MentorSET mentor. Mentors should have a degree or equivalent and at least a couple of years working experience in the Science, Engineering or Technical sectors. We would also be delighted to hear from would-be mentors with leadership experience in the science/engineering/technology sector or with coaching backgrounds.
Benefits for employers
Your corporate diversity targets are likely to focus on the below key areas, Below we have indicated how MentorSET can help towards these targets.
Recruitment of more women into engineering:
- A mentoring scheme is a recruitment attraction for potential employees
- MentorSET training will enable women to practice and excel at the recruitment assessment criteria that can be unfamiliar to them
- Access to mentoring will increase their confidence and performance, and make them more successful at seeking and securing promotions
- Your staff who mentor students will be encouraging more younger women to consider your company as a great place to work, and hopefully encourage them to pursue an engineering qualification
- Using your employees as mentors puts you in touch with prospective future talent
Support of Women Engineers
- Women will feel supported through access to mentoring which will allow them to share and work through issues and problems
- Mentoring will identify training needs in the employee which can then be met
- Career progression planning will give a sense of purpose and structure to employees
- Mentors will network with one another and gain vital business opportunities and career benefits
- Problems are able to be identified and solved before they lead to resignations
Retention of Women Engineers
- Women who continue to be mentored through their maternity break stand more chance of returning afterwards
- Women who are supported, trained, paid fairly and promoted fairly will be happier and more productive, and consequently more likely to stay with a company
Employ More Senior Women
- Mentoring capability to senior management and board positions will increase the talent pool of women suitable for these positions
- Cross sector nature of MentorSET will enable mentees to be mentored by senior women from other companies
- Women mentors develop important leadership and coaching skills
Other Business Benefits
- Reverse mentoring will allow senior staff (often male) to see the company through the eyes of a minority group, and this will lead to an improved working environment, better mutual understanding and a more embracing company culture
- Senior women will be seen as role models to other women, and their visibility across the engineering sectors will increase.
- Cross company relationships can lead to business opportunities
The mentoring scheme could be used to run your mentoring scheme externally, or support an internal mentoring scheme where you provide the mentors and mentees. To find out more, and see how MentorSET can be adapted to support your organisation’s needs, contact Beatrice Pryor at beatrice.pryor@wes.org.uk
To join MentorSET
Mentees
The first step in your mentoring journey is to make your payment.
Fee for Members: £48
Fee for Non-Members: £120
Click here to pay online. Not a member of WES yet? Find out more about being a WES Member here. Join WES online here.
Upon receipt of your payment, the MentorSET Progamme Co-ordinator will email you with a link to the platform and invite you to register. Full guidance will be given on how to find a mentoring partner and get the most out of your mentoring experience.
Once you have been accepted onto the programme you can sign back into your account using here: https://app.mentorloop.co.uk/
Joining as part of a corporate scheme? Please speak to your sponsoring company for information about how to join, or contact mentorset@wes.org.uk.
Any questions? Contact Tristan Holland at mentorset@wes.org.uk
Mentors
MentorSET is free to join for Mentors. Register here Please note that mentors cannot be guaranteed a mentee.
Additional support is given to mentors who are part of a corporate scheme to help them get matched with a mentee.
