Programs need to focus recruitment efforts on recruiting mentors but also on recruiting college transition graduates to participate as partners. The easy part is encouraging current transition students to work with mentors during their first semester. The hard part is recruiting mentors. You should start off by having a Recruitment Plan. Who will recruit? From where will you recruit? Will you mail out postcards or post flyers ?

Ideally it would be nice to recruit former college transition program participants or other nontraditional adult college students who have completed a semester to fill this role but it is not always possible. After all, these students have to juggle some of the same responsibilities and school as your current transition students. Click here to see Special Considerations when Recruiting College Students . If your pool of students on campus is small, go out into the community and look for mentors. Some companies and local organizations ask their employees and members, respectively, to serve as mentors. You should also look at the Special Considerations of Recruiting Older Adults if you plan on recruiting mentors from this segment of the population. A worksheet has been included for both. Additional tools are included in this section of the website.

Staff should also consider issues of liability when designing mentoring program. A mentoring program that is part of a larger organization, such as an adult learning center, should follow the same policies as that organization. If your organization does a reference check on each new employee, a reference check should be conducted on each new mentor. While it not absolutely necessary to do criminal background checks on potential mentors who will mentor their peers, it is important to ask the right questions to ensure the safety of all mentor program participants. The following questions might help elicit the answers you need to determine whether this person is a risk as a mentor.

• Is there anything in your background that if the public found out about it - they might feel uncomfortable about it?
• Are there any negative experiences you've had that might be of value to you as a mentor?

Remember, if a partner is harmed by his or her mentor, it is the responsibility not only of the mentoring program but also of the organization that sponsors the mentoring program. Take every precaution! For more information on liability and risk management, check the Resource section.

Recruitment Tools

Job Descriptions

College Transition
Sumner
CEP

Applications, etc.

College Transition Mentor
College Transition Partner
CEP Mentor
Volunteer Interview Form
Reference Check Worksheet

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