IBS Mentoring Program FAQs - Mentee

The IBS Mentoring Program is a unique opportunity to connect people who are not only in different stages of their careers but also across the world. Our program is designed with the overall goal of connection. We aim to pair an experienced professional with someone who is new to their career or thinking of branching out. In addition, you will have access to a variety of resources designed to help you in your career path.  These include links to useful online articles and other resources and recorded interviews with our members talking about their own career paths.

The IBS Mentoring Program is a benefit of membership and is available only to members. There is no extra charge to use this resource.

Members must first enroll as a Mentor, Mentee, or both. During the enrollment process, members will select preferences for various demographics to establish their personal criteria.

A registered Mentee will visit the “Find a Mentor” page and fill in their search criteria to search for possible Mentors. The Mentee will click the names of the potential Mentors to view their profiles. Once the Mentee has decided on a Mentor, they will click on the Mentor option to request that person as their Mentor. An e-mail will be sent to the Mentor alerting them that they have been requested to be a Mentor. The Mentor will be able to accept or decline the request. At this stage, it is now up to the paired mentor/mentee to initiate and build the relationship.

A registered Mentor will visit the “Find a Mentee” page and fill in their search criteria to search for possible Mentees. The Mentor will click the names of the potential Mentees to view their profiles. Once the Mentor has decided on a Mentee, they will click on the Mentee option to request that person as their Mentee. An e-mail will be sent to the Mentee alerting them that they have been requested to be a Mentee. The Mentee will be able to accept or decline the request. At this stage, it is now up to the paired mentor/mentee to initiate and build the relationship.

1. Be an International Biometric Society member
2. Complete your online IBS Profile and complete your IBS Mentoring Program profile. Make sure your contact information is up to date, add a recent professional profile picture, expand on your bio and import your education and job history information from LinkedIn. Having a complete and accurate profile is crucial to the success of selection and matching.
3. Read and agree to our Code of Conduct

Go to the "Mentor Enrollment" page, click the “Mentor Status” link then click on the check-box next to “Temporarily Not Participating.” Doing this will indicate that you are not accepting any Mentee requests at the moment, and your mentoring profile will not be included in a Mentee’s search for a Mentor.  It is your responsibility to communicate your availability to your existing Mentees.

f you are a member, click here to enroll as a Mentee. You will be instructed to choose your preferences for various demographics and also to complete your member profile.

Our staff and database are hard at work to be sure your membership is all set. You may streamline this process by joining through your local region and then emailing your region administrator and the IBO office (ibs@biometricsociety.org) in one email to confirm membership. Once your membership is confirmed, you will need to create your mentor or mentee profile to move forward.

Mentors are other members who have volunteered their time to support other members' careers.

The IBS is providing this as a new program and we are currently workshopping how to best navigate this process. You may request an available mentor at any time! Please do know that they may be actively working with someone else at that time. You may be waiting to be paired with your mentor for a while, but please remember there are some general resources available to you once you have signed up.

While there is no limit to the number of mentoring relationships you can establish, we recommend that you be judicious in selecting only Mentors who are most suited to your mentoring needs. Please keep in mind that Mentors have limited time to offer and may have other Mentoring relationships.

As a mentee, you are responsible for being an active participant in the mentoring relationship, which includes ensuring timely and responsive communication with your mentor.  You are expected to come to the relationship with clear ideas of what you hope to achieve and should follow through on advice, introductions, and connections provided to you by your mentor so that you are doing your part with the expertise being provided to you.

Once you have enrolled as a Mentee, go the the "Find a Mentor" page and select the criteria you want to use for your Mentor search. Click on the Mentors' names to view their profiles. Once you have found a good match, click on the Mentor badge (seen below the Mentor's profile image) to send the Mentor an email request.

You may have one mentor at a time, while a mentor may have several mentees, this is dependent on the terms and structure they set in place at the time of creating their profile.

If you don’t hear from the Mentor within one or two weeks, feel free to contact them using the contact information found on their profile page.

We hope that every mentor/mentee relationship will quickly evolve to have an effective two-way dialogue relevant to the mentee’s professional development. However, all communications must be respectful and must adhere to our Code of Conduct. Further, the Mentee should understand and expect that the Mentor can choose to not answer questions that would require them to disclose proprietary or personal information. In turn, the Mentee can choose not to answer questions related to the same topics.  Boundaries regarding these topics should be discussed at the onset of the relationship. The bottom line is that questions should be asked in a context of mutual trust and respect.

Sometimes, regardless of the information provided, Mentors and Mentees don’t always "fit."  If this happens, we suggest that you discuss your decision honestly and kindly with your Mentor; thank them for their time then start a new Mentor search.

It is up to you and your Mentor to decide how, when, and where you want to pursue your mentoring relationship. It is likely that most of your communication will occur by phone or electronically. The annual meeting offers a great opportunity to meet in person.

We recommend that you and your Mentor agree on a schedule that works best for both of you. The most important thing is to discuss your mutual expectations about time and communication at the start of your relationship.