Veteran eMentor Community | Program Overview pages

Everyone needs a Mentor. Connect, Share, & Excel.

"eMentor is a cutting-edge online mentoring program for military personnel, veterans and military spouses. eMentor connects individuals for dynamic mentoring experiences that powerfully move them forward in their personal and professional lives. Turn a lifetime of experience into the experience of a lifetime...become a mentor or protege today!

Mentors and Proteges start by completing an online profile. From there, proteges can search for and select a mentor. When the mentor accepts the protege's invitation, the relationship begins.

The pair work together to establish goals, develop an action plan, and measure progress. They communicate primarily online, but may decide to talk on the phone or even meet in person.

Mentors and proteges are matched through a state of the art virtual mentoring website.

New Mentors and Proteges complete an online profile, providing background information and interests that help match them to a suitable mentoring partner.

Once their profile is complete, proteges can immediately seek a mentor, ask a question, join a discussion forum, review posted resources, and more.

When a mentor accepts a protege's invitation to connect, the pair work together to establish goals, develop an action plan, and measure progress against the stated objectives.

Most relationships take place mainly online using either the platform's messaging tool or via regular email. Mentor pairs may choose to connect on the phone (which is highly encouraged) or meet in person. The relationship is supported with periodic training emails, newsletters, and online training opportunities for mentors and proteges, and the availability of phone or online coaching on any aspect of mentoring.

Whether paired or unpaired, mentors can interact with proteges by posting in a discussion forum, answering proteges' questions, posting an article, or messaging specific proteges they would like to assist.
We have programs designed for these types of proteges: all military veterans, all military spouses, women military officers and veterans, and women military officer candidates including midshipmen and cadets.

We have a few ground rules in place and tips to help you have a positive experience in the program. As a mentors and protégés, we ask you to:


1. Keep your Contact Information and Profile Current
Seems basic, but your email address must be current for another member to invite you into a relationship or contact you once paired. And eMentor staff need to be able to contact you, too! Also, your profile information is used by the system’s matching software to offer suggested mentors to protégés. You are more likely to be paired with someone with the desired background if your profile is up-to-date. As a rule of thumb, please review your profile at least once every six months.

2. Participate! Post an Article, Answer or ask a Question, Post to a Discussion Forum, Join or Lead a Group
It is important to understand that eMentor does not assign mentors to protégés. Our program allows protégés to search for and select their own mentor. If you are not involved with a one-to-one connection, you can still experience the great benefits of networking and mentoring by interacting with other participants through these additional program features:

Discussion Forums: Anyone can join a discussion forum to ask questions or comment on the discussion forum’s topic. Some discussion fora are based on a demographic: all mentors, for example. Take a moment to add a comment to a discussion.

Articles: Posting an “article” simply means uploading content that you feel will be useful to the program’s participants. This can be a document, video, or a link to a website or online article.

Questions&Answers: Any participant can post a question to all users and get multiple perspectives on an issue.

Groups or Public Connections: Mentoring Groups are created by the program administrator (by request) around a particular topic or issue. A mentor leads the group and any eligible participant may join (some groups restrict membership to a particular career field or professional community) and engage in a small group discussion on the posted topic. If you would like to form a group, contact your program manager/admin by clicking on the “Contact Admin” link in the upper right corner of the screen.

3. Communicate Frequently/Consistently
Once paired in a mentoring connection, the expectation is that you will exchange emails regularly (2-4 times monthly on average) and respond to your partner’s email within THREE WORKING DAYS. And most important is that you first agree with your partner on how and how often you will communicate (phone/Skype/email/chat) and then follow through on the plan. We cannot overemphasize the importance of regular communication to creating trust, a bond and getting results.

4. Use Our Mentor and Protégé Handbooks
We have compiled excellent handbooks for mentors and protégés that are full of useful tips and best practices to make the most of your online mentoring relationship. Each subject is handled very succinctly so that you can get the information you need in minutes. You can access the Mentor Handbook and Protégé Handbook online in the “Quick Links” on the right sidebar on your home page once you are logged in.

5. Stay in Touch with Us
This is a very “high touch” program and our eMentor staff are here to serve you! If you have a problem or question, you can always contact us directly and we will respond promptly. Particularly, if you are having problems connecting with a protégé or have problems after you have been paired, please let us know. We are standing by to personally assist you!

We are very excited to announce the development of our new STEMKids eMentor Program! This program will pair middle and high school students with military, corporate and other career mentors who work in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) careers for the purpose of encouraging the kids’ interest in these careers."