Mentormatch

Mentor Match
CASE STUDY • GENERAL ASSEMBLY’S HACKATHON PROJECT 2015
ISABELLE KRISTINE RINGNES • JEN NG • DAVID BERG • JAMES O’TOOLE • SOFIA PETSOULAKIS

Mentor Match connects you with mentors & mentees
within your organization.
WHAT

• Organizations lack the resources to build mentorship programs —>
seek solution
• Mentorships have proven benefits.
• 25% of all large U.S. companies have mentorship programs; 4% in
2007.
• 71% of all Fortune 500 companies have mentorship programs.
• User research shows that 61% of survey respondents would use an
online service to find mentors/mentees within their organization.
WHY

• 18,500 firms with 500+ employees
• 13,875 potential companies
• > 6,937,500 users
WHO

LOS ANGELES
SAN FRANCISCO
PHILADELPHIA
BOSTON
NYC
WHERE

• Large companies lack structured mentorship programs.
• Young, aspiring employees want mentors and will value the
company more.
• Senior employees want to help employees and their
company grow.
• Mentorships are appreciated, valued and sought after in
large companies (500+ employees)
ASSUMPTIONS

RISK RESPONSE
Companies do not trust third-party
services
• Establish key-accounts / close
relationships
• Prove security measure
• Enable software installment
Mentors (senior employees) do not
understand how to use or see a
reason to use
• On-site classes — teaching how
to use it
• Step-by-step teaching process
online at log-in
• Live help chat on website
Mentees do not dare to reach out
to unknown employees
• Organize mentorship mixers
• Community-building events to
increase initial physical contacts
before engaging online
Requests for mentors exceed
requests for mentees — resulting
in drop-off rates and less
engagement
• Create rewards system to
increase mentor sign-up
• Mute certain mentor accounts
when saturated
People abandon the service once
initial relationships are established
• Develop additional services
• Documents storage, event
calendars, additional resources
• Discussion forums
• Enable function that “mutes”
accounts when saturated
RISKS

• $164 billion is spent on corporate training
programs annually.
• 39% of firms plan to increase their new-hire
training programs.
• $14 billion annually on leadership development.
• Mentorship program companies estimated to
grow revenue from 50% to 75% in the next two
years.
MARKET

EXPERIENCE
TEACHING
SUPPORT
HELP
GUIDANCE
ADVICE
LEADING
BY
EXAMPLE
ROLE MODEL
LEARN
THEMES

“Teaching, friendship, support & personal attention.”
“Guiding & leading by example.”
“Overseeing the spiritual & intellectual growth of another.”
“Helping colleagues develop professional strengths.”
“Guiding another towards a goal.”
DEFINITION
OF
MENTORSHIP

“It could bring new ideas, techniques and energy into the practice.”
“It helps younger faculty progress academically more efficiently than if they
were to learn on their own.”
“Mentorship increases job retention.”
“The programs can be helpful — but only if they feel organic and unforced.”
Q: “How do you think a mentorship program could benefit your company?”
A:
QUOTES

INTERVIEW TAKEAWAYS
7 INTERVIEWS

“The career coaches *(mentors) are now working in a capacity that we
weren’t able to before. We didn’t always have a career coach, it was
just me and that provided limited availability. They provide coaching,
support, and career initiatives for graduates full-time now.”
Eddie, 28-years-old, Business Dev. Producer, NYC
*MENTOR at GENERAL ASSEMBLY
“At this stage in my life, I find value from learning and doing and
making mistakes. If someone has a lot of wisdom to impart to me
— like a mentor figure — I would be up for having a mentor."
Johanna, 41-years-old, Director of Tutoring Company, NYC
*MENTOR at Tutoring Co.
MENTOR QUOTES
*Does not technically have the title of a mentor, but provides services aligned with
definitions of a mentorship supervisor.
*Does not technically have the title of a mentor, but provides services aligned with
definitions of a mentor.

“I think mentors & mentees should be paired up by availability,
and by what mentors have to offer and what mentees are looking
to learn. The first time I was a mentor, it didn’t work out was
because of schedule conflicts — my mentee could never meet up.”
Courtney, 32-years-old, Freelance Writer, NYC
MENTEE at Clover’s Project
“I would want my mentor to be a person that I can relate to, have
similar career goals and be easy to talk to. It would be good to
know if they have had successful mentor/mentee experiences, too.”
Susanne, 26-years-old, Marketing Trainee, Norway
MENTEE at Coca-Cola
“I think mentors are important. I attend conferences at Google that are
geared towards women, and they talk about the importance of having a
mentor for their career. I see a mentor as someone who knows you as a
person rather than just good for professional wisdom — one that has
experience and is someone to lean on for your career path.”
Sabrina, 25-years-old, Univ. Program Coordinator, NYC
MENTEE at Google
MENTEE QUOTES

INTERVIEW RESULTS
• Interviewees wanted to be paired
with people sharing similar professional
& personal interests.
• All interviewees are currently on
LinkedIn.
• There is a desire to make the
mentorship process more formalized to
increase the level of commitment,
engagement and accountability.
• Everyone is interested in seeing
listings for industry events.
DESIGN SOLUTIONS
• Include information about professional
experience & personal interests in profiles.
• Allow ability to log in via LinkedIn.
• Include availability in profiles to manage
expectations of time commitment.
• Include feature showing Meet-Ups and
industry-related events the mentors &
mentees have attended (to give insight on
their professional & personal interests, and
to offer talking points); and will be
attending (so that mentors & mentees can
meet in person to see if they are a good
match).
DESIGN IDEAS

ELIZA JACOBS
LOCATION: Boston, MA
HOMETOWN: Santa Barbara, CA
AGE: 23-years-old
TITLE: Program Coordinator
EXPERIENCE: 6 months
PAIN POINTS
• Conflicting schedules with mentor.
• Being paired with someone she can’t relate
w/personally and professionally.
NEEDS
• To be paired with someone who identifies
w/her academic past, where she’s from and
can identify w/her strengths and weaknesses.
• To work with someone who can give career
advice, but is relatable on a personality level
who shares similar interests.
KEY FEATURES
• Hometown
• Bio
• Email address
• Interests
• Fun Fact
• Availability
• Filters on skills to learn
• Years of mentoring experience listed
• Testimonials
“I want to know how to get from good to great.”
PERSONA 1

BRANDY JONES
AGE: 32-years-old
TITLE: Program Director
EXPERIENCE: 5 years
PAIN POINTS
• Conflicting schedules with mentee.
• Lack of filters and disorganization of
information.
• Lack of dedicated availability to mentees.
NEEDS
• Staying in touch online.
• Knowing what mentees are looking for.
KEY FEATURES
• Availability
• Bio
• Email address
• Interests
• Fun Fact
• Filters on availability, location, desired skills
and industry
• Testimonials
“I want to share my knowledge with motivated
and dedicated people.”
PERSONA 2

ACCOUNT STANDARD PLUS GOLD
C O S T
$6/ PER USER
ANNUALLY
$7,5/ PER
USER
MONTHLY
$20/ PER
USER
ANNUALLY
F E AT U R E
S
• Mentor/mentee
discovery
• Connections
• Filters
• Messaging
• Same features as
Standard plan
• Pay by monthly
basis
• Option to cancel
at any time
• Personalised
matching
(algorithm)
• Customization of
site
• On-site training
BUSINESS MODEL

GOAL
Companies that sign up
20 15 5
SUBSCRIPTION STANDARD PLUS GOLD
USERS
Employees who
participate
40% 40% 30%
AVG COMPANY
SIZE 500 300 1000
PROFIT GOAL 24 000 13 500 30 000
KPI

NEXT STEPS
ANNOTATIONS INCORPORATING FEATURE
IDEAS & NOTES FROM USER RESEARCH
& TEST RESULTS

mentor match
SIGN UP LOG IN
sign up | log in | log in
with
“ Ment or Match connects you with mentors & mentees within your organization.”
LOG IN
WITH LINKED IN
about testimonials contact
1
2
1 Adding LinkedIn log-in as
an option would increase
sign-up efficiency and show
users additional professional
backgrounds through the
LinkedIn profiles. Currently,
about half of the users
surveyed use LinkedIn.
[USER RESEARCH]
2
Reduce the size of the stick
figures and black boxes. The
scale is imposing.
[USER TESTS]

mentor match about testimonials contact
SIGN UP
INDUSTRY:
NAME: Jane Smith
EMAIL: hi@hello.com
CONFIRM PASSWORD:
PASSWORD: 6 - 10 characters
ROLE:
SUBMIT
1
Users liked the suggested
text displayed in the form
fields to help them know
what the constraints are.
[USER TESTS]
1

mentor match
BIO: Where did you grow up? What is your
educational and professional background? Are
you working on any side projects? Feel free to
share anything about yourself!
INTERESTS:
FUN FACT:
mentors profilementees
5
SKILLS: C h e ck all th at ap p ly.
Career
Communication
Creativity Tools
Decision-Making
Leadership
Learning
Problem-Solving
Project Management
Strategy Tools
Stress Management
Team Management
Time Management
EDIT PROFILE
Monthly
Quarterly
Bi-Annually
AVAILABILITY:
NAME: Brandy Jones
TITLE:
HOMETOWN:
EMAIL: brandy@good-funds.org
LINKEDIN URL:
LOCATION:
ROLE:
INDUSTRY:
SUBMIT CANCEL DELETE ACCOUNT
upload photo
upload
video
1
Consider sticking to flat
design or skeuomorphism —
not both if the flat asset is
going to transcend the image
of the notebook, then it
contradicts the
skeuomorphism effect.
[USER TESTS]
1

mentor match
BIO: Ip su m d o lo r s it am e t co n se c te tur alp ac a
e lit n am m attis, r is us sit am e t te llus p o su e re ve l
p ro n k in g d iam ad ip isc in g n u llam , se m p e r
b ib e n d u m n isi in h um m in g llam b ad a vivam us
ve l. Pu ru s e u ip s um k u sh p lace r at c ur ab itu r
ullam co r p e r m e tu s ve l ip s um , te m p o r fe u g iat e g e t
q uis m i vivam us at tu r p is lam a g lam a, a lo b o r tis
n un c n un c s o d ale s acc um san o rc i a. Tr istiq ue ut
e u in te rd u m o d io in h ac , h ab itass e p late a
d ic tu m st n am .
SKILLS: Ip sum d o lo r s it am e t co n se c te tur alp ac a
e lit n am m attis , r is us sit am e t te llus p o su e re ve l
p ro n k in g d iam ad ip isc in g n ullam , se m p e r
b ib e n d um n isi in h u m m in g llam b ad a vivam us .
INTERESTS: Ip sum d o lo r s it am e t co n se c te tur
alp ac a e lit n am m attis , r is us s it am e t te llus
p o su e re ve l p ro n k in g d iam ad ip isc in g n ullam ,
se m p e r b ib e n d u m n isi in h um m in g llam b ad a.
sign out
Brandy Jones
ROLE: Mentor
INDUSTRY: Tech
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: 5
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandyjonesgf
EDIT
FUN FACT: r is us s it am e t te llus
p o s ue re ve l p ro n k in g d iam ad ip isc in g
n u llam ,
AVAILABILITY: Bi-Annually
SAVE
1
Change availability copy
for clarification. Users were
confused about the
availability status. Does it
mean that it’s how often they
are able to speak to you?
They would want to have more
frequent correspondence with
their mentor/mentees — like
daily or weekly and not
bi-annually as the copy
suggests.
[USER TESTS]
1

mentor match
d ic tu m st n am .
sign out
Brandy Jones
ROLE: Mentor
INDUSTRY: Tech
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandyjonesgf
n u llam ,
AVAILABILITY: Bi-Annually
1
Potentially integrate
the Ziggeo API for
video function.
[FEATURE IDEA YET-
TO-BE TESTED]
Users liked the suggested
text displayed here
specifically for the bio
because bios are always
too vague. They need the
guidance and suggestions
for what to write.
[USER TESTS]
2
2
1

mentor match
sign out
mentors profilementees filter 1
1
Second navigation
could be bigger to
help it stand out
more.
[USER TESTS]

mentor match
sign out
E LI Z A JAC O BS
Boston, MA
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
6 months experience
filter
1
1
Users liked the hit of
color upon image hover.
It was a nice surprise
and let them know where
they were on the page.
[USER TESTS]

mentor match
Eliza Jacobs
ROLE: Mentor
INDUSTRY: Tech
TITLE: Chief Technology Officer
LOCATION: San Francisco, CA
HOMETOWN: Mexico City, Mexico
EMAIL: carlos@good-funds.org
LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosortizgf
sign out
mentors mentees
d ic tu m st n am .
AVAILABILITY: p ro n k in g d iam ad ip isc in g
SEND MESSAGE
n u llam ,
ELIZA’S PROFILE
profile
SEE TESTIMONIALS
1
Users preferred to access
testimonials directly through
the profile page vs. the main
navigation. The main
navigation suggests that the
testimonials are for the overall
company, Mentor Match. They
would rather read testimonials
about individual
mentors/mentees as that
would be more helpful in
deciding who to be paired
with.
[USER TESTS]
1
1

mentor match
s ign out
E LI Z A JAC O BS
Boston, MA
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
6 months experience
Alpaca elit nam mattis, risus sit amet tellus posuere vel pronking diam adipiscing
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placerat curabitur ullamcorper metus vel ipsum, tempor feugiat eget quis mi vivamus at
turpis lama glama, a lobortis nunc nunc sodales accumsan orci a. Tristique ut Ipsum.
— Baako Me n s ah , 45, Jo u rn alism Pro fe s so r
Amet consectetur alpaca elit nam mattis, risus sit amet tellus posuere vel pronking diam
adipiscing nullam, semper bibendum nisi in humming llambada vivamus vel. Purus eu
ipsum kush placerat curabitur ullamcorper metus vel ipsum, tempor feugiat eget quis mi
vivamus at turpis lama glama, a lobortis nunc nunc sodales accumsan orci a. Tristique
ut Ipsum.
— Ellie Jo h an se n , 32, Pro g r am Man ag e r
ELIZA’S PROFILE > ELIZA’S TESTIMONIALS
SEND MESSAGE BACK TO ELIZA’S PROFILE
1
Switch the placement of
“profile” and “testimonials.”
Since testimonials are specific
to the individual members,
it should be in the secondary
navigation. “Profile,” since it
is the administrator’s account
information, should be in the
main navigation.
[USER TESTS]
1 1

mentor match
sign out
about contact
mentors
profile
mentees filter | clear filter
forum
testimonials
events
reminders
inbox
2
Interviewees expressed
interest in a messaging
functionality & storage for
docs relating to their
mentors/mentees in the
Mentor Match account, as
well as to receive reminders
about upcoming meetings
and check-ins.
[USER RESEARCH]
The majority of interviewees
said they would be
interested in seeing industry
events on the site, along
with who within the company
is attending.
[USER RESEARCH]
Some expressed interest in
a discussion forum for real-
time resources and
community discussions.
[USER RESEARCH]
3
1
1
2
3

mentors mentees
5 REFINE SEARCH
filter | clear filterprofile
INDUSTRY:
Accounting
Advertising
Business
Finance
Human Resources
Information Tech
Marketing
Media
Public Relations
Tech
AVAILABILITY:
Monthly
Quarterly
Bi-Annually
Annually
Unavailable
LOCATION:
Boston
Los Angeles
New York
Philadelphia
San Francisco
SKILLS:
Career
Communication
Creativity Tools
Decision-Making
Leadership
Learning
Problem-Solving
Project Management
Strategy Tools
Stress Management
Team Management
Time Management
CANCEL
2
1
2
Change multiple-selection
boxes to checkboxes due to
technological convention.
Save radio buttons for
single-selection choices.
[USER TESTS]
Revisit the skills offered.
“Career” and “Learning”
skills caused confusion —
it’s too vague. Users
suggested replacing them
with “sales” or “coding”
skills.
[USER TESTS]
Add copy that reads “check
all that apply for clarity.”
[USER TESTS}
3
1
3

mentors mentees
5 REFINE SEARCH
filter | clear filterprofile
INDUSTRY:
Accounting
Advertising
Business
Finance
Human Resources
Information Tech
Marketing
Media
Public Relations
Tech
AVAILABILITY:
Monthly
Quarterly
Bi-Annually
Annually
Unavailable
LOCATION:
Boston
Los Angeles
New York
Philadelphia
San Francisco
SKILLS:
Career
Communication
Creativity Tools
Decision-Making
Leadership
Learning
Problem-Solving
Project Management
Strategy Tools
Stress Management
Team Management
Time Management
CANCEL
22
Remove “unavailable” as an
option. Users wouldn’t
actively select someone who
is “unavailable” to be a
mentor/mentee. It would be
fine to have it appear as a
status when perusing
profiles and adding a
waitlist option if the user
really wanted to work with
someone in particular, but
don’t need it here.
[USER TESTS]
Users want to see a filter
that includes # of years of
experience.
[USER TESTS}
1
1

mentor match
inbox profile sign outmenteesmentors
isabelle@mentor-match.org
toby.smith@gmail.com
Hi Isabelle,
Ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur alpaca elit nam mattis, risus sit amet tellus posuere vel pronking diam adipiscing
nullam, semper bibendum nisi in humming llambada vivamus vel. Purus eu ipsum kush placerat curabitur
ullamcorper metus vel ipsum, tempor feugiat eget quis mi vivamus at turpis lama glama, a lobortis nunc nunc
sodales accumsan orci a. Tristique ut Ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur alpaca elit nam mattis,pronking diam
adipiscing nullam, semper bibendum nisi in humming llambada vivamus vel. Purus eu ipsum kush placerat curabitur
ullamcorper metus vel ipsum, tempor feugiat eget quis mi vivamus at turpis lama glama, a lobortis nunc nunc
sodales accumsan orci a. Tristiqueeu interdum odio in hac, habitasse platea.
All best,
Toby
s ign out
1
1
Users expected to either
see an email pop-up
screen when “contact” was
clicked, or social media
buttons and a phone #.
Consider adding in social
media and phone # if
more users expect this.
[USER TESTS]

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