Mentor Recruitment

Motivations and Rewards


Mentoring is a professionally and personally satisfying experience for mentors. Jackson et. al. (2003) found that faculty members who “identify as a mentor”

  • Felt more confident than their peers
  • Were more likely to have a productive research career
  • Reported greater career satisfaction

A meta-analysis by Ghosh and Reio (2013) provides further evidence of the reciprocal benefits of mentoring.  Their findings support that “the provision of career, psychosocial and role modeling mentoring support were associated with five types of subjective career outcomes for mentors: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intent, job performance, and career success” (Ghosh and Reio, 2013).

Yet, while mentoring can be a rewarding experience for mentors for personal and professional fulfillment, a successful mentoring experience in many corners of academic medicine requires structured approaches through programs.  Successful programs are characterized by an institutional commitment to mentors for sustainability and clearly articulated indicators for success and measurable outcomes.