PROGRAM OVERVIEW. Once you find a mentor you want to connect with, you and the mentor work together to decide how to move forward.

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1 Welcome to the University of Minnesota Law School Corporate Institute Mentoring Program. This program connects law students interested in business and business law with University of Minnesota Law School alumni working in relevant fields. This guide contains detailed step by step instructions for creating and using your mentor account. The Documents Library of your Symplicity mentor account contains a copy of this guide as well as a Quick Guide with less detailed instructions. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the Corporate Institute Mentoring Program at cimentor@umn.edu. PROGRAM OVERVIEW The Corporate Institute Mentoring Program uses the Professional Network module of Symplicity, a software package already in use by the Law School s Career Services Office. This software allows the Corporate Institute to qualify the mentors who want to participate in the program, allows you to search for a mentor based on a wide variety of criteria, and allows all information you and the mentors provide to be stored in a password protected database. All of our mentors are University of Minnesota Law School alumni who either practice business law or work in business in roles other than as practicing lawyers. They have told us what experiences they are willing to offer you. While students may have only one mentor at a time, mentors may choose to connect to only one student or to several. And they can opt in and out of the program. Once you find a mentor you want to connect with, you and the mentor work together to decide how to move forward.

2 ELIGIBILITY Students. Any law student attending the University of Minnesota Law School is eligible to seek mentoring through the program after: (1) Viewing the online Corporate Institute Mentoring Program Orientation at (2) Reading the Student User Guide. (3) Reading and Signing the Student Commitment Form. Alumni Mentors. Mentors will have: (1) Graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School. (2) Had no disciplinary actions taken against them, if they are or have been licensed to practice law or another profession. (3) No felony convictions. (4) Read the Mentor User Guide. EXPECTATIONS Students will: Locate a potential mentor, through a profile search, who can give them a professional development experience they are seeking Contact the mentor through the Mentoring Program with a message that communicates the student s interest in the contact, specific questions, and a workable time frame Respond to all mentor communications within five business days Honor the schedule and scope of the mentoring relationship Inform the Mentoring Program when mentoring is completed Respond to all inquiries from the Mentoring Program Conduct themselves as ambassadors of the Law School

3 Mentors will: Keep their mentor profiles current Respond to all Corporate Institute Mentoring Program and phone correspondence within five business days Provide the mentoring opportunities they have identified in their profiles Cancellation of Access: The Corporate Institute may restrict or discontinue, with notice, access to the Mentoring Program for any mentor or student abusing the system. Abuse might be violating any program policies, not participating in good faith, displaying unprofessional behavior, or exhibiting other similar actions or omissions.

4 The Corporate Institute Mentoring Program: Step By Step for Students Step 1 Qualify View the online orientation video at: If you choose to participate in the program, this orientation is mandatory. You may obtain program access within your Symplicity account after viewing this orientation, submitting a commitment statement, and indicating that you have read this document. When you meet these requirements, we will activate your mentoring module. Step 2 Locate, sign, and return the Commitment Form to activate the mentoring module Paper copies of the Commitment Form will be available in the Corporate Institute. You may sign and deliver your Commitment Form there and skip the remainder of this step. To download the commitment form from the Document Library of Symplicity, point your browser to If the link doesn t work, copy and paste it into your browser s address bar. You will see this page:

5 Enter your username and password to log in. If you don t know your password, lawcareers@umn.edu to reset it. Once you log in, select Document Library under the Resources tab at the top of the page. Locate the document Corporate Institute Mentoring Student Commitment Form Note: If you do not see the Corporate Institute Mentoring Student Commitment Form in the list, search for it using the Keywords box. Click on the document name. It will open in a new tab, browser window, or Adobe Acrobat Reader window, depending on your computer s settings. If you don t have Adobe Reader, you can download it free at If the link doesn t work, copy and paste it into your browser s address bar. You must save the document to your computer in order to sign and return it. If the document opens in a new browser tab, move your mouse to the bottom of the screen and a menu bar should pop up. Select the disk icon to save it. If it opens in Adobe Reader, choose Save from the File menu. If you cannot save the document, cimentor@umn.edu to have it sent to you by . You must sign the Commitment Form before you return it. You may sign it digitally or print it and sign it by hand. Once you ve signed the Commitment Form, it to cimentor@umn.edu or hand deliver a paper copy to the Corporate Institute in room N130. The program will notify you by when we activate your access to the mentoring program.

6 Step 3 Search for a Mentor Once the mentoring module has been activated for you, you will see a new tab at the top of the Symplicity home page labeled Corporate Institute Mentoring. There also will be a new link on the right side of the page labeled Search for a Mentor. Click either of these to search for a mentor. You will see the Search for a Mentor page:

7 The names in the list are available mentors. Click on a mentor s name to view their profile. The colors of the Begin Mentoring Relationship with this Mentor and No Mentoring Relationship boxes below the mentor s name indicate your relationship with that mentor. If No Mentoring Relationship is red, it means you have not expressed interest in that mentor. If Begin Mentoring Relationship with this Mentor is in green, it means you have a current mentoring relationship with that mentor. Begin Mentoring Relationship with this Mentor will remain green throughout the duration of your mentoring relationship. If both of the boxes are gray, it means that you have already had a mentoring relationship with that mentor, which is now completed. You can search for a mentor using various criteria. If you know the mentor s name, you can enter it in the Search by Name box and click Search. You can click More Options for additional search criteria:

8 You can also click the Advanced Search tab for additional search criteria. Advanced Search and More Options have the exact same search criteria the only difference is the formatting of each page. Both More Options and Advanced Search use AND to connect multiple search criteria. This means if you select three search criteria, the results will show only those mentors who satisfy all three of those criteria. If your search returns no results, search by only one or two criteria. You can also click the Clear button at the bottom of the page to reset the search. Though students may have only one mentor at a time, mentors may choose how many students they wish to mentor at a given time. Once a mentor has reached his or her maximum number of students, that mentor s name will disappear from the list and search results. When one of that mentor s mentoring relationships is completed, that mentor will reappear in the list and search results.

9 You can add a mentor to your Favorites list by clicking the star icon to the left of the mentor s name. Adding a mentor to your Favorites list will not initiate a mentoring relationship. The star will turn yellow and that mentor will appear in the list under the Favorites tab. Note: If a mentor in your favorites list reaches their maximum number of students, they will temporarily disappear from your favorites list. Once one or more of that mentor s mentoring relationships ends, they will reappear in your favorites list.

10 Step 4 Initiate Contact with ONE Mentor Once you ve found a mentor you re interested in, send the mentor a message to initiate the mentoring relationship. You can either click Begin Mentoring Relationship with this Mentor under the mentor s name in the mentor list: Or you can click the Begin Mentoring Relationship with this Mentor button at the bottom of the mentor s profile: In either case, a box will pop up where you can type a message to the mentor: In this box, type an introductory message to the mentor. You should identify yourself, describe the mentoring you seek, and tell the mentor your availability.

11 Here s some example text. You will want to write your own to describe your interest in a mentor Dear Ms. Mentor: My name is Jesse Doe and I am interested to meet with you through the Corporate Institute's Mentoring Program. Eventually I would like to work as in-house counsel for a company. My interests are business and corporate law, energy and IP issues, but I realize in the first couple of years of practice I will need to gain basic legal and advocacy skills. I am also curious about your French language skills. Are you often consulted on French legal matters? I lived for three years in Switzerland and if possible, I would like to pursue international transactional matters. If you are available, I would like to meet with you for coffee sometime next week. I am available after noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please let me know what works for you. If you would find it helpful, I could send you my resume to give you additional background of my work experience. Thank you, Jesse Doe Click Send to send your message. There is a spellcheck function you might want to use before sending. If you prefer, you can type your message in MS Word or another word processing program and paste it into the box. The mentor will receive an from Symplicity that includes your message. It will also have the address associated with your Symplicity account and a request for the mentor to contact you at that address. In your message to the mentor, you may request that he or she contact you at a different address or by phone.

12 The Corporate Institute will receive a copy of this You will receive an confirming your interest in the mentor: Remember that you may only have ONE mentor at a time.

13 Step 5 Wait for the mentor to contact you The mentor will contact you at the address associated with your Symplicity account, or if you requested otherwise in your message, at a different address or by phone. Mentoring program staff instructs mentors to contact interested students within one week. If you have not heard back from the mentor after one week, cimentor@umn.edu and we will make sure the mentor is still available. Step 6 Maintain the Mentoring Relationship You and the mentor manage the mentoring opportunity. During this engagement: Clarify with the mentor the scope of mentoring he or she is willing to provide. Communicate to the mentor your goals for the mentoring relationship. Do not assume any guarantee of confidentiality. Expect the highest level of professionalism. Offer the highest level of professionalism. You are an ambassador for the University of Minnesota Law School. Do not exceed the scope of the mentoring relationship the mentor is willing to offer. Do not solicit the mentor for employment. If you have any issues during the mentoring relationship, please cimentor@umn.edu. Step 7 Complete the mentoring relationship IMPORTANT: Once you have completed the goals of your mentoring relationship, you must complete the relationship in Symplicity. This step is critical. Since all mentors can limit the number of students they are willing to help, you must complete your mentoring relationship in Symplicity so other students can contact that mentor. In addition, completing the mentoring relationship in Symplicity allows you to contact another mentor. To complete the relationship, log in to Symplicity and access the mentor s profile. To do this, click the Corporate Institute Mentoring tab at the top of the home screen, and then click on the name of your current mentor. You can enter the mentor s name in the Search by Name box and click Search to speed up this process. Once you have the mentor s profile up, there will be a button at the bottom of the page that says Mentoring Complete. Click that button to complete the mentoring relationship.

14 Note: The Changed My Mind button will end the mentoring relationship WITHOUT notifying the mentor or the Corporate Institute. Rarely, if ever, would you need to click this button. If you do, please contact the Mentoring Program Staff first. If you inadvertently send an interest to a mentor, cimentor@umn.edu and we will reset your account. Once you click Mentoring Completed this box will appear at the top of that mentor s profile, indicating you have completed a mentoring relationship with that mentor: The system will send a Mentoring Completed to the mentor: The Corporate Institute Mentoring Program will receive a copy of this . Once you have completed the mentoring relationship with one mentor, you may contact another mentor.

15 THINGS THAT MAY GO WRONG Unprofessional student conduct includes: Contacting a mentor at home or outside business hours without permission Seeking a job with a mentor Not responding promptly to or phone messages Any behavior that causes a mentor to feel uncomfortable Unprofessional mentor conduct includes: Having a student perform work tasks Not responding promptly to or phone messages Any behavior that causes a student to feel uncomfortable Contact the Corporate Institute Mentoring Program as soon as possible with any concerns related to unprofessional conduct in the mentoring context by a student or a mentor. UNEXPECTED ENDINGS You may decide to end a particular mentoring relationship before it is completed. It may be that you just didn t see a good fit with that particular mentor. If you find yourself in that situation, please contact the Mentoring Program to let us know what happened. The mentor also may end a mentoring relationship if they feel like there is not a good fit with you or for any other reason. They will need to contact program staff to end the mentoring relationship. Neither of these situations will require an explanation. MENTOR EVALUATION After you complete a mentoring relationship, we will send you a short survey to evaluate your mentor. If you choose, your responses may be anonymous and confidential. The Corporate Institute Mentoring Program may cancel program access by any mentor or student for inappropriate or unprofessional conduct.

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