The Financial Women's Association of San Francisco offers a mentoring program for its scholarship recipients. The purpose of the program is to provide support for career development in two major ways: First, one or more mentors are selected for each interested scholarship recipient. The goal is to enhance a protégé's career progress by matching her with a mentor who is from a similar financial field or educational background and who might also have faced similar challenges in her personal life. Second, the FWA sponsors semiannual meetings involving all mentors and protégés, which provide the opportunity for protégés to network with mentors other than their own as well as with other protégés. At each meeting one or more speakers address various career development topics.

As for the relationship of the mentor to the protégé, the program is essentially protégé-driven. It is therefore up to the protégé to initiate a meeting with her mentor and to determine the topic(s) for discussion at each meeting. While the length and frequency of the meetings are to be determined by the needs of the protégé and by the schedules of both the mentor and protégé, it is anticipated that an average of one to two hours a month should be sufficient. Some examples of topics that might be addressed during such meetings would be:

• Improvement of resume drafting skills

• Networking for employment opportunities

• Assessing career opportunities

• Addressing on-the-job challenges

• Exploring ongoing educational training and other career development opportunities

• Balancing career and personal goals

The FWA anticipates that a protégé will be involved in the formal mentoring program for a maximum period of two years. However, the FWA hopes that through the mentoring program, protégés develop meaningful relationships that offer personal and professional support for years to come.

Want to become a mentor? Please contact contact - (415) 317-7703 or - (925) 254-0387.