The SI Mentoring Scheme was introduced in 2024. It complements the existing suite of workshops & indexing skills sessions by providing applicants (known as ‘mentees’) with individual support and advice from an experienced colleague (the ‘mentor’). This may be on an indexing matter, a business management matter, a specific project – such as the creation of a website – or help towards gaining a new perspective on your indexing career.
Before the Scheme’s launch, it was piloted by two mentor-mentee pairings. Afterwards, they commented:
‘I’m really glad to have taken part in it, and it’s made a difference to me – thank you! Just having time to talk one-to-one with a fellow indexer is so useful… Working with a mentor has made me reflect on how far I’ve come, what’s going well, what I can change and what I can’t. I’ve thought about the skills I need to develop, and I’ve been able to take steps to improve.’
‘The mentoring scheme was very helpful to me. I learned about things I didn’t know I should know!’
The Scheme is intended for qualified indexers only, not students. It’s most likely to be of use to people who are 2 years post-qualified or more: with this much experience, it’s possible to reflect on your achievements to date and identify how you would like your career and business to develop in the future. However, new professional indexers may also apply for mentoring under the Scheme.
A single period of mentoring will be for two months. Over this period, the mentor will devote three hours of their time to the mentee via email and/or Zoom. The mentee will be encouraged by the mentor to undertake certain tasks relating to their specific goal(s) and to record their progress in a logbook. It is possible for the participants to agree to extend the period of mentoring for a further two months for an additional fee.
For each two-month period of mentoring, the mentee will be charged £95. Of this sum, £90 will be passed on to the mentor as an honorarium and the remaining £5 covers the Scheme’s administration costs. Mentees will receive 1 CPD point on the completion of a two-month mentoring period.
If you would like to join the Scheme as a mentee please download and complete this questionnaire and email it to [email protected]. The Mentoring Scheme co-ordinators will then attempt to match you to a suitable mentor. Once a mentor has been identified the SI Office will email you their contact details along with a link to make payment (no payment is required prior to the identification of a suitable mentor).
Calling all mentors!
The success of the SI Mentoring Scheme will depend on us having a sufficient number of mentors to match up to mentees. We are looking for people with different strengths to enable us to respond to specific requests for help and support. Previous experience as a mentor is not required, and you will receive supporting Scheme documentation to help you on your way. So, if you are a confident user of embedded indexing software, or you have a particular indexing speciality, or you have insight into how a successful indexing business should be run – and, most importantly, you like the idea of helping others and giving back to the profession – then you would make an ideal mentor, and we would love to hear from you.
The two people who acted as mentors in the Scheme’s pilot had this to say about their experience:
‘I loved doing it and hope that the scheme will become permanent.‘
‘I’ve really enjoyed participating in the pilot. It’s been good to pass on my knowledge, which has given me a confidence boost and has also encouraged me to reflect on my own experience and to identify areas of my own practice that I would like to develop further – not something I would necessarily set aside time for in a busy work/home life.’
As well as the £90 honorarium per two-month period of mentoring, mentors will earn 2 CPD points. If you would like to offer your services, please contact the Scheme co-ordinators at [email protected].
