“Mentoring” likely rings in people’s ears as a formalized relationship, such as an apprenticeship. It may also connote charity work: the mentor as a philanthropic hero to their indebted mentee.

Reed Milewicz, with Sandia National Laboratories, addressed these convention views in a recent webinar hosted by the Exascale Computing Project High-Performance Computing (HPC) Workforce Development and Retention Action Group. Milewicz reframed the day’s topic saying we each have an opportunity to serve as mentee and mentor throughout our career. Supervisors guide us through the lay of the land until we begin to show others the ropes. But it also goes beyond onboarding.

Mentorships can be categorized in two ways.

The first, a career mentor, may be easier to imagine: an expert trains learners through job shadowing, delegation, or collaboration. The mentee may be titled an intern, research assistant, or coworker.

The second type of mentor supports the daily life elements of their mentee. Think Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Role models don’t instruct on technical work; they teach life lessons, counsel, and help to build character.

Since career mentoring is the prevailing case, life mentoring must come to the fore. It will last longer than its cousin since it’s more than training for a job description. Life mentoring should be considered a retention tool.

The college freshman gets homesick, but friends (and the goal of a diploma) see him through to graduation. Likewise, the new hire has butterflies in her stomach. A mentor can quell her qualms but she needs more than verbal encouragement to get her past the syllabus shock. If her mentor “recognizes the human” in her, as Milewicz put it, she’ll stick around to contribute her unique perspective to the organization’s mission.

Mentoring the mentee past their job title leads to impactful change, first at the one-on-one level and then institutionally. The organization is thus empowered with respected mentees who become robust mentors.

Scot Bellavia

Scot Bellaviais the B.E.S.T. Program Coordinator. He oversees interns around ORNL’s campus who are often getting their first professional job experience, grateful benefactors of a robust mentorship relationship.