The Innovation Hubs

This Saturday, Sept. 26, the Digital Innovation Hub at Toronto Reference Library is partnering with Career Skills Incubator, creators of the Menteer online mentor matching program, to host a Speed Mentorship Hangout.

At the free event, participants can meet and network with industry professionals for 10-minute one-on-one conversations and ask questions and get information and advice about the technology and digital media industry.

In this Q+A, Career Skills Incubator's Managing Director Jim Wielgosz talks about why mentorship is important and valuable, how mentorship has changed in the online age, and what he's looking forward to at the inaugural speed mentorship hangout.

Please tell us about the mentorship program that you offer at Career Skills Incubator.

Career Skills Incubator offers customized mentorship for people at every stage of their career development. People can choose to receive mentoring based upon different mentorship models – from traditional mentor-mentee relationships to less structured co-mentoring arrangements. Our most exciting project in the mentorship space is our recently-launched Menteer.ca online mentor matching tool, which is open source and free to use. Over 700 unique users have signed up since the website launched in January, with new mentor-mentee matches happening every week. 

Why is mentorship so important and valuable?

Job seekers – especially those who are recent post-secondary grads or in career transition – often aren't plugged into networks where they can access advice and resources. I think we've all made mistakes early into our career paths that, looking back, could have been avoided if we had somebody to ask for guidance.  

In a nutshell, mentorship is a way for people who are looking to start and/or advance their careers to tap the wisdom of somebody who's already got some skills and experience under their belts. Mentorship isn't a one-way street, though; in our experience, both the mentor and mentee grow and learn as a result of the mentoring relationship that's formed.

What has been your favourite mentorship-related anecdote that you’ve seen or heard about through your work at CSI?

Probably my favourite mentorship-related story comes from our executive director, Victoria. She'd recently been matched with a mentee through Menteer.ca and was having a heck of a time setting up a meeting time. Her mentee was available at odd hours of the night, and it really didn't make much sense. That is, until Victoria realized that her mentee lived in Africa! I love this anecdote because it really speaks to the power of technology to break down traditional barriers and connect us in unique ways. The fact two people can have a meaningful mentoring relationship with (quite literally) an ocean separating them is truly amazing to me.

The Menteer online platform provides an interesting twist on mentorship. How has that program been going?

Menteer continues to be such a great learning experience for our organization. Unlike our old-school mentoring program that required somebody at Career Skills Incubator to manually match mentors and mentees, Menteer automates the matching process based on an algorithm that weighs users' preferences in areas such as mentorship style, industry, and the skills the person is looking to develop.

While this saves a ton of administrative headaches on our end, it also poses new challenges with respect to engaging our membership base and figuring out how to improve the user experience.

Despite these issues, I'd say Menteer has been a big success in raising awareness of Career Skills Incubator and mentorship in general.

What are you looking most forward to at the inaugural Speed Mentorship Hangout at the library?

In my view, face-to-face interactions are the bread and butter of any successful relationship. Technology such as Google Hangouts and Skype are getting close to simulating that experience, but nothing beats sitting across the table from a person and having a meaningful conversation.

That's what excites me most about the Speed Mentorship Hangout – the opportunity for mentors and mentees to meet in-person and potentially form enduring mentoring relationships. I'm also looking forward to potentially seeing a broader range of participants than we've had in the past, due to the library's excellent location and community contacts. It's definitely going to be a fun time!