Choosing the right mentors starts with choosing the right mentees. Learn how to select, assess, and match mentors effectively to build a strong mentoring program.
If you’re running a mentoring program, one of the trickiest parts is choosing the right mentors. It affects everything: retention, engagement, leadership development, and whether your mentees actually grow.
Most organisations jump straight to “Who should our mentors be?”
That’s not where you start.
First, you need to understand your mentees.
If you want strong mentoring outcomes, don’t start with your mentors. Start with your mentees. Understand who they are, the challenges they bring, and whether they have capacity.
Then select mentors who have motivation, availability, and alignment with your program goals. Build a simple selection process, match intentionally, and you’ll create a mentoring program that’s impactful, measurable, and sustainable.
Before selecting mentors, you need a clear understanding of who your mentees are and why they are in the program. Identify:
This gives you the clarity to choose mentors who actually align with their needs.
Your first step is to look at the people challenges your organisation is trying to solve. These challenges guide who should join as mentees.
Common challenges include:
Your mentee cohort should be chosen with these goals in mind.
Once you know who could benefit, you also need to check their capacity. This prevents selecting mentees who are already stretched too thin.
Look out for mentees who:
A strong mentee is someone who wants development and has the capacity to show up.
Once you know who your mentees are and why they’re in the program, choosing mentors becomes far easier.
There is no single type of mentor that works for every mentoring program. The right mentor profile depends on the goals you want the program to achieve.
Before identifying your mentor group, consider the organisational goals driving the program. This helps you decide what kind of mentors will support the outcomes you need.
Key considerations include:
Mentoring doesn’t fall apart because someone lacks expertise. It falls apart when they lack motivation or capacity.
Successful mentoring is less about technical expertise and more about motivation, commitment, and willingness to participate. These qualities heavily influence whether a mentoring program succeeds.
While each mentor brings their own strengths, there are three qualities that consistently predict success in any mentoring program.
The best mentors genuinely want to be there. They’re motivated by things like:
A mentor must be willing to commit enough time to the program. Most mentoring programs work well when mentors can commit to:
Non-negotiable.
Not all strong mentors volunteer themselves. Some might need:
If you rely on volunteers alone, you’ll miss highly capable mentors who simply wouldn’t put their hand up without being asked.
A consistent and transparent mentor selection process improves mentor quality and avoids mismatches.
A simple mentor selection process ensures that everyone understands expectations and responsibilities before joining the mentoring program.
Useful components include:
A structured process avoids the “first in, best dressed approach” as these leads to common problems such as:
Being deliberate in your mentor selection will always lead to better outcomes.
Once you have selected your mentees and mentors, the next step is matching. Good matching builds trust, accelerates learning, and drives measurable growth.
Matching should consider more than job titles. A well-rounded approach increases the chance that both people will find the relationship valuable.
Useful matching criteria include:
The stronger your mentor and mentee selection process, the more accurate and effective your matches will be.
Choosing the right mentors isn’t about popularity or job titles. It’s about motivation, capacity, alignment with your goals, and matching them well with the right mentees.
Start with your mentees.
Choose mentors intentionally.
Match with purpose.
Get those steps right and your program becomes impactful, measurable, and sustainable.
If you want to make mentor selection and matching easier, faster, and more accurate, Brancher’s mentoring software takes the guesswork out of the process. With our platform, you can identify, screen, and pair mentors with mentees in minutes (not weeks) while tracking program outcomes and engagement.
Book a demo today and see how Brancher can help your mentoring program succeed.
Start by identifying your mentees and your program goals. Then choose mentors who are motivated, capable, and aligned with the mentees’ needs. Opt-in mentors or leader-recommended mentors usually perform best.
Motivation, availability, consistency, willingness to help others, and relevant experience. Strong communication and emotional intelligence also help.
Not always. Good mentors can be peers, cross-functional experts, or external mentors. It depends on your goals.
Around one hour per month for the session and one hour for follow-up. Most programs run for 6–10 months.
Combine opt-in recruitment, leader recommendations, tap-on-the-shoulder invitations, and external mentors if needed.
Because mentee needs determine the mentor profile. It ensures alignment instead of guesswork.
Yes. External mentors can fill capability gaps or provide diverse and objective viewpoints.