(Sandbox) Understanding Matching Survey Design

What is a matching survey?

Your mentees and mentors complete a matching survey when they sign up for the program. These surveys collect information on who they are, what is important to them, and what they are looking for in a mentor. 

Our proprietary matching surveys serve two key purposes in your program: to identify a well matched mentor who can help each participant meet their goals, and to help you better understand their students.

What's in my program's matching survey?

The default questions on the matching survey are based on our research about which criteria are essential to making good matches. This often includes asking about academic interests, life experiences, age, hobbies, and preferences about the mentorship experience (e.g. asking a mentee how frequently they would like to be in contact with their mentor).

When designing your program, your Mentor Collective representative has chosen the matching survey they believe best fits your program goals, taking into account what commonalities are likely to lead to strong matches for your population. You can review that matching survey by following these instructions.

Each standard matching survey contains a collection of questions that can be grouped into 3 categories:

• SHARED CHARACTERISTICS questions that are used to identify mentors and mentees with similar interests and experience.
• MENTORSHIP EXPERIENCE questions that are used to identify mentors and mentees with similar expectations for their mentorship.
• Questions that are used to GUIDE THE MENTORSHIP, so that mentors and mentees can jump right in to building a meaningful connection.

Learn more about these questions below. 

Shared characteristics

Sharing certain characteristics is important to creating engaged relationships and helping participants meet their goals. The following questions may be included on the standard survey for your program depending on your program's goals and population:

• What's your ideal mentor's main college major or academic program?
• Which of these academic subjects are you most interested in?
• Which of these career fields are you interested in?
• Do you want a mentor who has had any of these particular life experiences?
• These are a few of my favorite things…
• In which of the following languages are you comfortable holding a conversation?
• What is your gender?
• What is your race/ethnicity?
• How old are you?
• In what year were you last enrolled in a post-secondary institution?

Mentorship experience

These questions are used to identify mentors and mentees with similar expectations, which is key to creating engaged mentorships.

Out of the preferences you just shared, which is most important to you? (Mentees only) 

Mentee agency is key to creating engaged relationships.

Most mentors find they can support 3 mentees. This ends up being 2-4 hours per month on average. What is the maximum number of mentees we can match you with? (Mentors only)

Mentors who are volunteers should have the agency to determine how much time they can dedicate to the program.

Different mentors and mentees prefer different communication frequencies. How often would you like to be in touch with your counterpart?

It is important that mentors and mentees have similar expectations about how much interaction they're looking for. This also helps us identify participants who might be interested in a lower-touch form of mentorship.

Guide the mentorship

These questions collect stories and conversation starters from each party that can be used to start the mentorship off on the right foot. Responses may be shared with their counterpart when matched, or automatically recommend resources to help the mentor support the mentee. 

You may also find these stories valuable in understanding what motivated mentors and mentees to participate in the program.

What is one goal you would like your mentor to help with in this mentorship? (Mentees only)

This information is used to guide the relationship by automatically providing relevant resources for mentors to help mentees reach their goal.

Is there anything else we should know when searching for your mentor? (Mentees only) 

This is the opportunity for mentees to let us know about what's important to them in a mentor beyond our standard questions.

What is one question you want your mentor to help you answer? (Mentees only) 

This is sent to the mentor when the pair is matched, to help kick off their first conversation.

What was your biggest challenge in school, and how did you overcome it? (Mentors only) 

This is sent to the mentee when the pair is matched, to help kick off their first conversation.

Please briefly describe your professional experience and/or current occupation. (Mentors only) 

This may be shared with mentees to inform their conversations about professional development.

Would you be open to connecting with your counterpart over any of these social media platforms?

This question makes it easy for mentors and mentees to connect on their platform of choice.