Concluding the formal mentorship (for mentors/mentees)

Article Sections

• Prep for your last meeting
• Continue an informal mentorship
• If it’s not working out…

Overview

Now that your mentorship is drawing to an end, it’s important to reflect on what you've learned, say thank you, and make sure you and your mentee/mentor are on the same page about what happens next.

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Prep for your last meeting

We'll send you a notification when your mentorship is drawing to a close. At that point, we recommend that you and your mentor/mentee schedule a final meeting to reflect on your mentorship and think through next steps (if any).

Prior to your last meeting, go to your Mentorship Hub and review the goals you set for the mentorship. Think about what goals you've completed and which ones you'll continue working on after the mentorship concludes.

We also recommend reviewing the Effective Mentoring Practices resources (attached below) for recommendations on how to conclude your long-term mentorship.

Last meeting sample agenda

30 minute agenda

• 10 Minutes: Reflect on the mentorship—what have you learned?
• 10 Minutes: Talk about the future—what will your next steps be? Does your mentor have any parting advice for you?
• 5 Minutes: Have an open conversation around informal mentoring. Is this something you both are interested in?
• 5 Minutes: Thank each other and acknowledge each other’s contributions

 

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Continue an informal mentorship

You and your mentor/mentee may decide to continue an informal mentorship outside of this program. Make sure to have an open conversation as your mentorship closes to see if this is something you and your mentor/mentee are interested in.

If you both opt to continue the relationship, it's important to communicate about expectations going forward. For instance:

• How frequently do you want to communicate?
• What are your preferred communication channels? 
• What kind of ongoing support is the mentee looking for? What kind of ongoing support is the mentor able to provide?

Technical how-to for continuing an informal mentorship 

Your long-term mentorship was for a set period of time, and it will auto-close at the end of that time.

So if you and your mentor/mentee opt to continue the relationship, you'll need to open a new communication thread!

To do so, just click on your mentee/mentor's profile image. This will take to that user's profile, where you can initiate a new communication thread with them.

*Note - If you are a mentor looking to continue a closed mentorship with a mentee you will not have the ability to do this if your mentee is a student. You only have access to reach out if the mentee is also an alumni.

When you get to their profile, click Message <name> and send them a message to open a new communication thread.

That way, when your formal long-term mentorship communication thread auto-closes, you'll be able to continue the conversation in another thread.

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If it’s not working out…

Mentorships end for all sorts of reasons - time constraints, changed schedules, different interests, etc. If your long-term mentorship isn't working out for those or other reasons, you can always end it.

And if it comes to conclusion naturally, that's fine too! If you're the mentee, just make sure to thank your mentor for their time and help.

How to close your mentorship

You can close your mentorship at any time.

As a general practice, we do recommend saying thanks before closing the message thread! Once you've closed it, you won't be able to communicate further with your mentee/mentor.

Report your mentor/mentee

If your mentor/mentee behaved inappropriately or unprofessionally, let us know!

We want to make sure the platform is a safe place for people to connect and that both mentors and mentees behave in an appropriate, professional, respectful manner at all times.