Elizabeth Mannshardt

Gabe Farkas (right) chats with two students during the speed mentoring program.

Mentoring is an opportunity for networking, professional development, and learning from others’ career paths. Traditional matched-mentor programs can be successful, but often require long-term commitments and abundant effort in up-front organization. Speed and one-time mentoring are alternatives that can provide students and young professionals a chance to quickly connect with more advanced career professionals in informal, small-group settings. Events can be designed as one-time offerings—ideal for workshops or conferences—or held multiple times within a section or chapter with different participants and varying structures.

The North Carolina Chapter (NC ASA) recently completed its first speed mentoring event, and the Section on Statistics and the Environment (ENVR) has successfully held one-time mentoring sessions at JSM. These can provide models for sections and chapters looking to offer similar mentoring opportunities.

Feedback from mentees and mentors highlights the need among students and young professionals for mentoring in general and indicates speed and one-time mentoring as effective platforms.

Breda Munoz and Rishi Chakraborty answer students’ questions during the speed mentoring program.

Speed Mentoring

During NC ASA’s speed mentoring event, participants mingled over light refreshments before taking part in an informal program. The program began with one-minute elevator speeches by each of the mentors and proceeded with five-minute speed mentoring rounds. Mentors sat at their tables for the entire event, while mentees rotated between tables for each round.

Mentees were offered the opportunity to practice their own elevator speeches. At the start of the program, they were asked to write down their career goals. They then added structure or action items based on advice and lessons learned from mentors. A speed panel finale allowed the moderator to pose targeted questions to mentors.

Participants were provided optional questions to stimulate discussion. A moderator kept time and announced the start/end for each round. For the speed panel, mentors remained at their tables.

Details—including an example schedule, questions for mentor/mentees rounds, and mentor/mentee feedback—can be found on the NC ASA blog.

One-Time Mentoring

ENVR hosted mentoring sessions at JSM 2017 and 2018 via breakfast roundtables. Activities and topics were similar to speed mentoring. Details for offering this type of event can be found on the ENVR website.

Based on ENVR’s successful JSM mentoring roundtables, the Government Statistics Section (GSS) will offer one at JSM 2019. For details, visit the GSS website.