This section covers important policies related to the IOM Mentoring Programme, including confidentiality and data protection measures. We also provide details on available support and resources, ensuring that you have all the necessary information to participate effectively in the programme.
As part of the application process, we encourage you to carefully review the questions provided and take the time to answer them as thoroughly as possible. For mentees, the alignment between your professional goals and aspirations and the expertise and background of available mentors, along with diversity and inclusion considerations, will play a key role in the pairing process.
During the application process, you will be asked to indicate which of the six official UN languages (English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian) you speak. This information will be considered during the pairing process; however, please note that fulfilling language preferences will depend on the language skills available within the cohort. Additionally, the online mentoring platform, user materials, and live webinars will be offered exclusively in English.
Upon receiving an email from the Together mentoring platform ([email protected]) notifying you of your pairing with a mentee, follow these step-by-step instructions to set up your profile, indicate your availability, and access mentoring resources. While it is generally expected that the mentee will initiate contact, we encourage you to consider reaching out to them if they have not emailed you within a week of being paired.
No information from your registration form responses has been shared with the colleague you are paired with. This information is strictly accessible to the Programme Administrators in the Integrated Talent Management Division. It is entirely your decision what professional or personal details you choose to share during your mentoring sessions.
To ensure a successful mentoring relationship, please keep the following points in mind:
Open and honest communication will help both parties make necessary adjustments in a timely manner, ultimately strengthening the mentoring relationship.
In such cases, please guide your mentee to the appropriate organisational resources and support channels available to IOM staff. As a mentor, it is important to avoid advising your mentee on specific actions to take or directly intervening in the situation. Kindly remind them that these matters fall outside the scope of the mentoring relationship and encourage them to seek assistance or advice from the relevant IOM channels.
When mentoring sessions are scheduled through the Together platform, an Outlook invitation with a Microsoft Teams meeting link is automatically generated and sent to both the mentor and mentee for the selected date and time.
If a conflict of interest arises, please notify the Programme Administrators immediately. You can contact Katarina Posa and Florette Niyongere directly via email.
Mentors and mentees are encouraged to hold one formal virtual meeting per month, completing a total of six (6) mentoring sessions over the six-month programme. These meetings typically last 45–60 minutes; however, you are welcome to adjust the duration based on mutual availability and the depth of discussion required for the topics at hand.
Between formal meetings, mentors and mentees may also choose to stay connected through email exchanges or brief chat updates to build rapport and follow up on agreed actions.
Building rapport and establishing trust with your mentor or mentee can take time. However, if after a few interactions you still feel that a different match might better suit your needs, please reach out to Katarina Posa and Florette Niyongere for assistance. While a new match cannot be guaranteed, we will review your situation and inform you of any possible options.
Once a level of comfort and trust has been established in the mentoring relationship, both the mentor and mentee should feel at ease discussing such matters. The mentor can explore the reasons behind the mentee’s hesitation in taking the lead to schedule sessions or follow up on their action plan by asking open-ended questions. This approach can help uncover underlying challenges and enable both parties to agree on the best way to proceed for the remainder of the mentoring journey.
However, if the situation does not improve despite these efforts, please reach out to the Programme Administrators for further support.
It is natural for colleagues to juggle multiple priorities at work, which may occasionally lead to mentoring sessions being rescheduled or longer-than-expected gaps between meetings. To manage this effectively, it is helpful to discuss expectations at the start of your mentoring relationship. For instance, identify if either the mentor or mentee anticipates a particularly busy or challenging period that might impact the regularity of meetings.
Additionally, you can agree on a minimum notice period for rescheduling or cancelling meetings (e.g., “We will make every effort to notify each other at least 24–48 hours in advance if a meeting needs to be changed or cancelled unexpectedly.”). Setting such guidelines helps ensure clear communication and mutual respect.
If your question is not covered in these step-by-step instructions, please submit a ticket via this form.
If you have a sensitive matter that may affect your participation in the programme and would like to request support or guidance, please email Katarina Posa and Florette Niyongere.
To resolve this, first log out of your personal LinkedIn account. Then, click on this link and sign in using your IOM credentials. Once signed in, navigate to the Together Platform and click on the LinkedIn Learning course image to access the course for free.
Mark your calendar for the upcoming live demos on how to make the most of the Together platform. A webinar is scheduled for mentors on 8th February at 2 PM Geneva time and for mentees on 9th February at 2 PM Geneva time. For those unable to attend, a recording link will subsequently be made available here.
In addition to self-paced courses and short mentoring videos available via LinkedIn, mentors and mentees will have the opportunity to participate in live webinars conducted by experts from the Career Development and Transition Unit. These webinars are designed to clarify your roles and responsibilities, foster experience sharing with peers, and offer valuable insights to help you navigate each phase of the mentoring journey effectively. Webinar details will be shared with you in advance via email, and recordings will be made available for those unable to attend the live sessions.
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