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Mentoring

The Department offers employees a comprehensive mentoring program. Mentoring is a tool that individuals can use to nurture themselves and enhance their careers. Mentoring is offered informally as well as formally. Mentees observe, question, and explore. Mentors demonstrate, explain and model. The following supports the positive use of mentoring for employees and organizations:

  • Deliberate learning is a cornerstone. Our program trains mentors so that they are able to promote intentional learning, which includes a capacity for building through methods such as instructing, coaching, providing experiences, modeling and advising.
  • Mentoring Networking and Partnering. Our Mentors, as leaders of various learning experiences, share their “how to” skills with their mentees. Mentors are also advised to share their failed experiences.
  • Mentor experiences. Our Mentors are trained to offer personal scenarios, anecdotes and case examples, because they offer valuable, and often unforgettable insight. Mentors who can talk about themselves and their experiences establish a rapport that makes them "learning leaders."
  • Development matures over time. Mentoring -- when it works -- taps into continuous learning. Mentors share experiences and observations offering the mentee thoughtful analyses.
  • Mentoring is a joint venture. Successful mentoring means sharing responsibility for learning. Successful mentoring begins with setting a contract for learning around which the mentor, the mentee, and the supervisor are aligned. 

Mentoring Program

The U. S. Department of Commerce offers employees the opportunity to participate in formal mentoring partnerships. For centuries, mentors have offered valuable advice and wisdom at critical points in a person's career development. By volunteering as a mentor, you will be able to use your career and life experiences to help an aspiring leader in their professional development. By signing up to be a mentee who obtains a mentor, you are seeking advice and counsel that could assist you with your career aspirations in a friendly, and highly informative fashion. Being a mentor or mentee can also be fun.

Our Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program (SES CDP), our Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP), and our Aspiring Leaders Development Program (ALDP) participants will join the DOC Mentoring program.

If you are interested in joining the program, you must be a Department of Commerce employee. You will be required to signup in our mentoring system.

Once you have signed up in the Mentoring Connection System, you will be matched with a mentor or mentee that is compatible. We work with the mentoring partnerships to ensure that they are successful.

All sessions are accessible to employees with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to (202) 482-4481. TTY (202) 482-2030 via e-mail at slanguage@doc.gov.

For more information on the Mentoring Program please contact Julia Law at jlaw@doc.gov