What is it:

A cross-organisation mentoring scheme for competition professionals.  Female mentees are matched with mentors who work in a complementary discipline of the competition profession (eg in-house lawyer with private practice economist, or DG COMP official with private practice lawyer). 

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The programme aims to give mentees access to impartial and independent career advice from their mentors, and to give participants in the programme networking opportunities in W@Competition activities.

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How it works:

• The W@Competition Mentoring Programme Team will select the mentees from the full list of applicants, aiming to ensure a broad cross section of experience and specialism
• We will then match the mentors and mentees, taking into account any preferences put forward on either side
• We will initially ask mentors to get in touch with their allocated mentee, and then expect the mentee to take responsibility for organising their mentoring meetings

Who can become a mentee:

Eligible mentees are female competition professionals who could benefit from external mentoring in the field, either because their own organization does not offer mentoring opportunities or if they would benefit from a fresh perspective and new ideas on how to achieve their career ambitions.

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What is expected of mentees:

• Time (at least six hours over one year)
• Commitment to the mentoring programme, including through taking responsibility for arranging all meetings / phone calls with their allocated mentor
• To be clear about what they want to achieve from the programme and what they do / don’t want to discuss with their mentor
• To complete the application form by 12 April

Time commitment:

The mentoring programme is launched in March 2019 and will conclude at the 2020 W@Competition annual conference.  Within that one-year period, mentors and mentees are expected to meet by phone or in person for c.1 hour at least six times. 

W@Competition does not, however, mandate either the time, duration or frequency of mentoring meetings – this is something the mentor & mentee should agree between them to suit the mentee’s needs, and their respective diary commitments. 

Mentors and mentees are also invited to join other W@Competition events where they can benefit from the networking opportunities offered there with other people participating in the programme and with the competition community more broadly. 

In addition to their formal mentoring sessions, mentors and mentees may of course also want to be in contact by email/phone etc. between sessions.

Mentors should:

• Keep conversations confidential (unless otherwise agreed)
• Be willing to share experiences but also to ask questions to understand your mentee’s objectives
• Be a source of motivation, encouragement, and support
• Offer trusted advice to help your mentee identify realistic goals and pathways to achieving them

Mentees should:

• Keep conversations confidential (unless otherwise agreed)
• Take an active role in managing the mentoring relationship
• Identify what you want to achieve and tell your mentor
• Be open, honest and willing to listen
• Accept that mentoring can help but that you are ultimately responsible for your own growth & development

First meetings – top tips:

• Get to know one another - discuss your career paths to date
• Set clear and realistic expectations for your mentoring relationship
• Establish confidentiality ground rules for your mentoring discussions
• Agree meeting logistics for subsequent meetings (who will set up, and how)
• Agree action points and/or discussion topics for the next meeting

Further meetings – discussion ideas

• Review mentee’s professional objectives: how to develop relevant skills/expertise, learning and development opportunities, progression opportunities in current role (and any barriers to achieving them)
• Discuss any professional concerns: performance issues, work-related problems, how to handle difficult people
• Consider other work concerns: work/life balance, expanding networks