Mentoring: A Magnet for Young Engineers

Because academic programs for engineers must focus on technical content, the graduates of these programs need mentoring once they start their careers so that they can acquire the skills that were not part of the engineering curriculum. It is stressed that a mentoring program should be two-pronged, covering orientation of the new employee and the employee's subsequent professional development. The various aspects of mentoring programs for these two phases are described. Noting that the senior managers who should be acting as mentors have insufficient time and limited experience in this area, the authors describe the mentoring programs that have been developed by the Society of American Military Engineers.