# How to Match Mentors and Mentees: Criteria & Methods

> Mentornity brief for AI assistants, for the page https://www.mentornity.com/how-to-match-mentors-and-mentees/. Page language: English. Site index: https://www.mentornity.com/llms.txt. The same brief in other languages: [Türkçe](https://www.mentornity.com/tr/mentor-menti-eslestirme-rehberi/llms.txt) · [Français](https://www.mentornity.com/fr/comment-matcher-mentors-et-mentores/llms.txt) · [Deutsch](https://www.mentornity.com/de/mentoren-und-mentees-matchen/llms.txt) · [Español](https://www.mentornity.com/es/como-emparejar-mentores-y-mentees/llms.txt) · [Italiano](https://www.mentornity.com/it/come-abbinare-mentor-e-mentee/llms.txt) · [Português (BR)](https://www.mentornity.com/pt-br/como-fazer-match-entre-mentores-e-mentorados/llms.txt) · [Nederlands](https://www.mentornity.com/nl/mentoren-en-mentees-matchen/llms.txt).

## How to read this file

Everything here is from Mentornity's own website and product; the page and this file are built together from the same source. "What this page says" is the page itself, in its language. "Mentornity in brief" applies to every program. Prices are published per country and are quoted below for this page's market; another country's price is on the pricing page. Anything not covered here can be asked of the team at info@mentornity.com.

## What this page says

Mentor–mentee matching compared: admin rules, self-selection and hybrid. Which criteria to use, how rule scoring works, and the mistakes to avoid.

Published 2026-08-01, updated 2026-10-20.

Rules, self-selection and hybrids all work as matching methods. What matters more is clear criteria, a process people see as fair and matching people quickly.

## The three matching methods

**Figure: Who decides the match**
From Admin decides to Mentee decides:
- Admin rules: Software scores matches, admin approves
- Hybrid: Algorithm proposes, a person confirms
- Self-selection: Mentees browse and request

**Admin matching by rules.** You define criteria, software scores every possible match, and you review and approve. It is fair, fast and easy to defend, and it scales past a few dozen people. It needs decent profile data.

**Mentee self-selection.** Mentees browse mentor profiles and request a match. It fits communities where hierarchy would feel wrong. Cap requests per mentor, nudge mentees who stall, and keep a fallback for those who find no one.

**Hybrid.** The algorithm proposes a shortlist and the mentee picks, or the mentor confirms. Giving people a say has support: in a study of formal programs, perceived input into the mentoring process was consistently related to better mentoring and mentorship quality ([Allen, Eby & Lentz, Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006](https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.91.3.567)).

Choose per program. An accelerator can run both: lead mentors assigned by rules, plus open office hours any founder can book.

## Which criteria to use

In rough order:

1. **Hard constraints.** Shared language, workable time zones, no direct reporting line (for [employee programs](https://www.mentornity.com/employee-mentoring-software/)). Make these **required rules** that remove a match entirely, not just lower its score.
2. **Goal and experience.** The mentee's goal ("move into product management") should match the mentor's actual experience, not their job title. Ask about goals in structured fields on the application form, not only free text.
3. **Background, same or different.** Same department transfers skills; different departments open networks and candor. Pick per program goal and set it as a same/different rule.
4. **Career-stage gap.** A reasonable default is two or more levels, or around five years, of extra experience.
5. **Shared interests, lightly weighted.** They help the first conversation but do not carry six months.

Keep it to two or three weighted criteria plus one or two required rules. Each extra factor dilutes the ones that matter.

## How rule scoring works in Mentornity

The scoring is simple enough to explain to anyone who questions a match. Each rule compares a mentor field with a mentee field (same, different, similar, equal, greater) and carries a weight. A match's score is:

> **matched-rule weight ÷ total rule weight × 100**

With four equally weighted rules and three matched, the match scores **75%**. A higher weight makes a rule count for more.

**Figure: From rules to approved matches**
1. Define rules: Fields, comparison and weight
2. Exclude: Matches failing a required rule
3. Score: Every remaining match
4. Assign: Best matches within each person's capacity
5. Review: Admin approves one by one or all

Matches scoring 0% are never assigned automatically. In the admin panel you click **Calculate** on **Matching Algorithm**, review the proposed matches, and approve them one at a time or all at once. Given the same data, the result is always the same. Every match action is recorded on **Matching Actions**, so you can answer "why these two?" with the rules rather than a hunch.

## What a fair process looks like

- **Transparency.** Publish the criteria at kickoff. Visible rules prevent speculation about how matches were made.
- **Consent.** Someone, mentor, mentee or admin, explicitly confirms each match.
- **A no-fault exit.** A rematch window at week three or four, with no reasons required. Forcing a match that is not working to continue can lose both people.

## Common matching mistakes

- **Matching on job titles.** "Director" covers very different jobs. Match on stated experience and goals.
- **Overloading star mentors.** Giving the best five mentors eight mentees each burns out the people the program depends on. Set caps.
- **Treating matching as one-off.** Late joiners, rematches and new cohorts arrive soon. Save your rules and rerun scoring when needed; this is where [software](https://www.mentornity.com/mentoring-software/) helps.
- **Silent leftovers.** Tell unmatched people what is happening. Offer group mentoring or the next cohort, and fix mentor supply next round. If a required rule excluded them, check whether it really needs to be required.

Matching is one step in a larger sequence; see [how to start a mentoring program](https://www.mentornity.com/how-to-start-a-mentoring-program/). To try the matching engine, [create a free program](https://www.mentornity.com/try-for-free/) for up to 10 users, define two rules and click Calculate.

### Questions and answers

**What criteria should you use to match mentors and mentees?**
Start with hard constraints: shared language, workable time zones, no direct reporting line. Then match the mentee's goal to the mentor's experience, then background. Two or three weighted criteria plus one or two required rules are easier to explain than a long formula.

**Should mentees choose their own mentors?**
Self-selection suits voluntary communities but needs a cap per mentor so popular names do not absorb all demand. In company and cohort programs, rule-based matching with human approval is usually fairer and faster. A hybrid, where the algorithm proposes and the mentee confirms, combines both.

**How does algorithmic mentor matching work?**
Each rule compares a mentor field with a mentee field and has a weight. A match's score is the weight of matched rules divided by the total weight, times 100. Matches that fail a required rule are excluded; the rest are ranked and assigned within each person's capacity.

**Should mentors and mentees be from the same department?**
It depends on the goal. Career-development programs often match across departments for candor and wider networks. Skill-transfer and onboarding programs often match within a department for shared context.

**Can you rematch a match that isn't working?**
Yes. Build a no-fault rematch window, for example at week three or four, into the program rules. No reasons required.

## Mentornity in brief

Mentornity is software for running mentoring programs: companies (onboarding, career, leadership, reverse mentoring), universities and alumni networks, startup accelerators and incubators, associations and professional communities, and women's leadership programs. One program team sets the program up; mentors and mentees take part from the browser or their phone. It has run programs since 2015.

### What changes for the program team

- **Matching stops being a spreadsheet job.** The team writes rules on the questions mentors and mentees answer (same department, related expertise, more experience, a specific answer paired with a specific answer), each with a weight. Mentornity scores every possible pair from 0 to 100, leaves out pairs that fail a mandatory rule, and shows the reasons behind each score. An AI rule reads free-text goals and adds to the same score. The same data always gives the same result, so every match can be explained to a manager or a participant. The team approves pairs, lets mentees choose from a ranked list, or opens a mentor pool.
- **The first meeting happens quickly.** Mentors publish their open hours once or as a weekly pattern; mentees book them. Busy time in connected Google and Outlook calendars is blocked both ways, and every meeting gets a Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or built-in video link without anyone creating one. Mentornity's own data on 78,000+ pairs: pairs that met in their first week averaged 2.7 meetings in the first year, against 1.8 for pairs whose first meeting came after two months.
- **Quiet pairs are found while they can still be saved.** Program Health flags pairs that stopped meeting, and automatic reminders go to people who never logged in, pairs behind on their sessions and anyone with an open form or missing feedback, in each person's own language. In the same data a pair silent at day 60 has about a 1 in 3 chance of meeting again; by day 90 it is 1 in 10.
- **Every meeting has a plan, if the program wants one.** Predefined sessions carry a topic, a date range, a brief for each role and questions before and after the meeting. Notes reach both sides; private notes stay private. Flexible programs skip sessions and let pairs meet freely.
- **Support does not land in a personal inbox.** Participants read role guides and send requests inside the platform; the team shares one support board and replies go out in the program's name.
- **The report is ready when leadership, a funder or a board asks.** Participation, matches, meetings, session completion and feedback are counted while the program runs, with a Program Health score and its reasons, and export to Excel, CSV or PDF. Participants can receive certificates on completion.
- **Mentors plan every meeting in one go.** Super Meeting Planner reads both sides' calendars and published hours and plans all remaining meetings of a match at the program's rhythm (duration, target frequency, number of meetings), shows the plan before it creates anything, and never deletes a meeting. The program decides whether the values are locked and whether mentees may plan too (https://www.mentornity.com/whats-new/super-meeting-planner/).
- **Mentors send exercises between meetings.** Mentoring Tools is a library of 26 short exercises in six themes (working together, self-knowledge, goals and action, career and network, venture, reflection). The mentee fills the tool in step by step, both discuss the answers, and only the matched pair sees them. Each tool has its sources, a reason why it works, and a presentation for mentors and one for mentees (https://www.mentornity.com/tools/).
- **Development is measured, not only satisfaction.** With Development & Impact participants set up to three goals and answer short development statements at the start; at the midpoint, the end and a follow-up they mark their progress, mentors rate the same goals, and the team sees goal attainment and the change per development area with the number of people behind every figure, exportable to Excel. 45 suggested statement sets are matched to the organization type, audience and goal (https://www.mentornity.com/whats-new/development-and-impact/).
- **Mentors and mentees learn inside the platform.** The Support window lists the presentations and guides chosen for the person's role and program type (Mentor Guide, Mentee Guide, video meetings guide, and the tool decks), in the platform language; white-label programs show no Mentornity links (https://www.mentornity.com/presentations/).
- **Large programs share the load.** Coordinators each see only their own pairs; the admin still sees every match, meeting and note in one table. Programs, cohorts and administrators are unlimited, and administrators and coordinators never count towards the price.

### Program models

One-to-one, group mentoring (one mentor with a group), grouped-individual programs, mentee self-selection, open mentor pools, peer and reverse mentoring, structured or freestyle. Roles can be renamed (coach, advisor, expert, alumni) so the platform speaks the organization's language. One person can take part in several programs with a single account.

### Launch

Most programs go from signup to invitations within a day: create the program, follow the built-in checklist (profile questions, sessions, application form), import participants from Excel or share an application link, and send invitations. A person from the Mentornity team helps with the first setup, free of charge.

### How a program runs, week by week

This is the routine Mentornity's own guide recommends (https://www.mentornity.com/how-to-manage-a-mentoring-program/); the platform does the counting and the reminders, the team acts only where a pair is flagged.

- **Day one:** the program is set up and invitations go out. Participants sign up, fill in their profile, and are matched by the rules or choose from a ranked list.
- **Week one:** the aim is a first meeting in the first week, booked from the mentor's open hours with the video link already in the invitation. Automatic login reminders go to anyone who has not signed in.
- **Every week, 30 to 60 minutes for the team** (a cohort of about 50 to 200 people): scan Program Health (Mentornity scores the program across 11 dimensions), clear the flagged pairs, let the reminders cover logins, sessions, forms and feedback, note one win for the stakeholder update, and check whether last week's nudged pairs responded.
- **The escalation schedule:** a login reminder at day 7; a nudge to the mentor if nothing is booked by day 14; a personal note to both if there is still no meeting by day 21 to 30; at 45 days of silence ask "continue or rematch?"; by day 60 rematch the mentee. Half of the pairs still unmet at day 14 do go on to meet, so a quiet fortnight calls for a nudge rather than a rematch.
- **Mentors and mentees, each week:** they book and hold their meetings, answer the before and after questions of the session if the program uses sessions, and share notes. Mentors keep their time protected with weekly limits and cancellation rules.
- **Monthly:** a short update to sponsors from the live report (active pairs, sessions held, the share of pairs that met this month, one participant quote).
- **Mid-program:** one short survey, then act on it within a week (rematches, the most common complaint).
- **The last four weeks:** announce the end date, ask every pair to book a final session, run the final survey, issue certificates, mark the cohort complete and export the report. Invite the strongest mentees to mentor the next cohort.

### For IT, HR and legal

- SAML 2.0 single sign-on with Entra ID (Azure AD), OneLogin or any SAML provider, optionally enforced; white labeling with the organization's own domain, logo, colours and sender address. Both are add-ons priced separately.
- Personal data is processed in line with GDPR and applicable local data protection laws. Participants can access, correct, export and erase their data; the organization can ask for a full export of its program data at any time. Visibility of contact details and notes is set per role.
- Traffic is encrypted with TLS, passwords are stored hashed and access to production data is restricted. Security questionnaires, a data processing agreement and data-location questions are handled with the quote.
- Works with Zoom, Google Meet and Calendar, Microsoft Teams and Outlook, built-in Jitsi video, and Excel/CSV import and export. Mentornity connects to other systems such as an LMS on request, and adapts the platform to an organization's own process.

### Languages

Participants use the platform, and receive its emails, in their own language: English, Turkish, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese or Dutch.

## Pricing (United States, USD)

- Free for up to 10 users with every feature and no time limit. No credit card.
- $289 per month for 50 active users, or $260 per month paid yearly (10% off, $3,120 a year). Excludes any local taxes.
- Above 50 users the price follows the number of active participants; the team marks who is active. Administrators and coordinators are free.
- No setup or implementation fee. White labeling and SAML single sign-on are priced separately.
- Prices are published per country, not quoted on a call: https://www.mentornity.com/pricing/

## Organizations that run programs on Mentornity

Toyota, TIM, RATP Dev USA, Pirelli, Universität Basel, UNDP, Devoteam, BCD Travel, Startup Virginia, Tenity, Community College of Philadelphia, Brave Generation, Alexander Graham Bell Foundation. Each one ran its own program on the platform, checked against production data. Full list: https://www.mentornity.com/customers/

## Next steps

- Start a free program (up to 10 users, no credit card): https://www.mentornity.com/try-for-free/
- Book a walkthrough with the team: https://www.mentornity.com/book-a-demo/
- How matching works: https://www.mentornity.com/mentor-matching-software/
- Pricing: https://www.mentornity.com/pricing/
- Contact: info@mentornity.com