How Often Should Mentors and Mentees Meet?

Teachers teach their subjects daily. Coaches train athletes daily. So, how often should mentors and mentees meet?

The answer lies in 2 words: availability and need. Depending on your mentee’s needs, you can set the frequency of your mentorship sessions. How often you meet also depends on the availability of both parties because both have work commitments and family and personal responsibilities to look after.

Setting up appointments with your mentee can be something you look forward to for gauging their progress and yours as a successful mentor. Psst… Use these tips to measure your mentoring success. 🙂

But how often is too often to meet your mentee? Where should you meet them (answer: Career Navig8r, that’s where)? And importantly, how long should your mentor meetings last?

How Often Should a Mentor and Mentee Meet?

When you work with a mentee, determining the frequency of your sessions is essential. This helps you find the rhythm that supports their growth without overwhelming them or you. Because neither can you fill ‘a cup that’s full’ nor pour from ‘a jug that’s empty’.

The goals of mentoring, the availability of both you and your mentee, and their needs determine how often you meet. You can use these questions to figure out your mentoring schedule:

• What does success from your mentoring look like for the mentee?
• Is there a timescale by which they want to learn a skill?
• How often are you and your mentee available to meet?

You can start mentoring with weekly sessions to build a foundation and relationship with your mentee. It’s important to understand what they’re looking for in the initial stages.

As your mentee gains more confidence and makes strides, spacing out your sessions can be beneficial. It gives them time to implement your insights and advice. You could meet fortnightly or monthly to guide your mentee and hold them accountable for their progress.

Say your mentee wants to improve their soft skills for a job interview in 3 weeks and can devote the weekends to prepare. In this case, you can meet every weekend to help them build their skill set.

A tip: Maintain open communication about the frequency and ensure it aligns with your mentee’s evolving needs and goals. They’re paying for the sessions – they don’t want them to go on forever, right?

Why Are Hour-Long Sessions Best?

To keep overwhelm in check and encourage growth.

Timing your mentor meetings lends focus and discipline to your meetings. It gives you and your mentee a sense of urgency and instils responsibility. Here are 4 reasons why hour-long sessions are the best:

1. Human Attention Span:

You might have heard that human attention span is declining (find out more in this research from the University of California, Irvine). This is why Career Navig8r recommends an hour of meaningful, goal-oriented discussions and strategising. Doing so keeps mental fatigue in check and encourages lively conversations. It also makes space for different learning styles – not everyone can learn and comprehend a lot in a short time.

2. Life & Family Commitments:

Yes, regular mentor meetings are crucial, but it’s equally important to be flexible. Life and work commitments vary, and sometimes, you or your mentee may be unavailable and have to reschedule a meeting. Your mentee may have recently become a parent and have limited time to meet with you. Understanding and accommodating them helps you find a natural cadence that flows instead of imposing.

3. Structured & Focused Approach:

A fixed time for mentoring prompts you and your mentee to prioritise topics, set agendas, and use time efficiently. It keeps your conversations purposeful, and you get the most value from each meeting. You stay on track and set realistic goals while measuring the success of your mentoring from your last session.

4. Trust & Connection:

Spending an hour discussing your mentee’s goals and how they can achieve them builds a connection. It also helps your mentee trust you and open up about their challenges in their current role and industry. Share your own experiences and how you navigated challenges – your mentee will feel seen and heard and understand your perspective better.

Where Should Mentors & Mentees Meet?

On Career Navig8r, simple.

Sometimes, mentors and mentees like to meet in person to build trust and form a connection. The human touch and a change of environment help people open up and share. But this can only happen when you and your mentee are available to meet.

While some mentors prefer meeting face-to-face, the ease and convenience of online platforms make them a popular choice.

With online mentoring schedules, geographical barriers are removed. As long as you have an internet connection, you get a broader pool of matches and can mentor from anywhere in the world. You might be around to meet after dinner, while your mentee might just have arrived home after their morning run.

Because online sessions can be arranged around your life and your mentee’s, they remove stressors and establish boundaries, and free up time for the mentee to listen and implement the strategies you discussed.

But how will you talk with the mentee? Do you need to sign up for a new tech to video call them? We’ve got you covered – at Career Navig8r, we take care of all the tech and payment systems while you take care of your mentee’s goals and progress. 

Start Mentoring Today 

Teaching someone what you know and seeing their metamorphosis is an unparalleled joy. It’s a proud feeling when you begin noticing improvements in your mentee. Your mentee may land a new job or a promotion, be more confident, improve soft skills, or lead a work project successfully because you were by their side and helped them along the way.

To start mentoring today, sign up as a mentor with Career Navig8r and use your life experience to help someone make a difference in theirs. Your knowledge is invaluable – and your mentee will benefit from it.