Mentorship program survey questions: 28 examples

A mentoring program needs to be successful to make a difference in your organization. One way to tell if your program has the impact you want is through mentorship program survey questions. But you need to ask the right questions to get the most valuable answers. Luckily, we’ve collected those for you. 

Below we have 28 different questions to ask. If you're planning your mentoring program, definitely download our tear away templates to make building your surveys way easier.

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What is a mentorship program survey?

A mentorship program survey is a questionnaire designed to measure different aspects of mentorship and understand how participants feel about the program. Are they growing, being challenged, building a relationship — understanding these things helps you build a better mentorship program. 

Program managers may include mentorship program survey questions that gather information from participants, including:

• Demographic details
• To understand if their match is relevant and a good fit
• Understand if the program was successful or identify challenges
• Gather anecdotal feedback to help program managers improve mentorships
• Get quotes to use for program reports, which are particularly valuable to company leadership

Why is it important to survey mentors and mentees?

When mentors and mentees are given an opportunity to answer mentorship program survey questions, it allows them to share their mentoring experience. This information can be valuable to program managers in many ways. 

To gain insight into how to improve your program

One reason it’s essential your participants answer survey questions is to gain insight into potential ways to improve your program. Mentors and mentees who have gone through the process will be in a stronger position to offer feedback about the advantages and disadvantages of the program. And understanding how to improve a mentoring program can help your organizations build a better experience for future participants. 

To evaluate your program

Another important reason to gather survey answers from mentors and mentees is to evaluate your mentoring program. Workplace mentoring programs are created around objectives or goals that the program is set to achieve. 

Measuring KPIs is one way to test the success of the program. However, collecting information from mentoring program participants can also tell you whether participants feel the program was successful for them. And if it was, it is powerful evidence that your mentoring program works. 

To quickly resolve poor mentor matches

Having mentors and mentees answer survey questions can also help program managers quickly weed out poor mentor matches. Identifying problems or challenges in a mentoring relationship can help you resolve the issues or make a better pairing for participants.  

When should you survey mentors and mentees?

There are several key times that you should survey mentoring participants. These include: 

• During registration - it helps to get to know more about participants and what they want to achieve in the program. This information is critical to making a good mentor match. 
• After they are matched - ensure they are happy with the pairing and gather information about their expectations for the mentorship. This information can be compared with their post-program survey to determine if the mentoring experience matched their expectations and goals. 
• Mini surveys after each session - it's good to connect with mentors and mentees after each session. This allows them to reflect on the session and consider whether they progress nicely through the program. 
• Midway through the program - asking mentoring program participants some questions at the halfway point of the program is another critical time to gather information. At this point, mentors and mentees can consider whether they’re meeting their goals or if they need to change direction. 
• At the conclusion of the program - learning more about their experience throughout the program is valuable information that can be used to improve the program and report to leadership on the success of the workplace mentoring program. 

Examples of mentorship program survey questions

The way you pose survey questions impacts the type of answers you receive. For example, closed questions only require a yes or no answer. You want to choose open questions that invite a more detailed response from program participants to gather more valuable information. 

Here are some excellent questions to use at various stages of the mentorship. 

Survey questions to ask during registration

The registration process is about more than just collecting names for your mentoring program. It is an opportunity to get to know participants better. Understanding who they are and what they want to accomplish is key to helping get a great mentor match. 

Here are some registration mentoring program survey questions to ask:

1. What other professional disciplines are you interested in learning more about or prefer your mentor to be from?
2. What other professional disciplines/functions do you have experience in, either here or at other employers?
3. What goals do you hope to achieve through this program?
4. Which goals or accomplishments have you achieved in the past, which you can mentor on?
5. Describe any experiences or learnings you hope to get from this mentoring program.
6. Describe any experiences or topics you can help with as part of this mentoring program.

Survey questions to ask after matching

Once a match has been made, it’s another opportunity to ask questions and gain some insight into the success of your pairing process. Here are some sample mentoring program survey questions to ask at this point. 

1. How did you find the matching process?
2. How did you feel about browsing available mentors?
3. What would you do to improve the pairing process?
4. Were you excited or disappointed about the quality of mentors available?
5. Were you excited or disappointed about the quantity of mentors available?
6. Has the pairing process made you more or less hopeful about the mentoring experience?

Quick survey questions to ask after each mentoring session

Consider asking just a few mentoring program survey questions after each session, such as:

1. How is your mentorship with [mentor or mentee]? 
2. On a scale of 1-10, rate your session.
3. What was discussed?
4. Did you take meeting notes, and what was the key piece of information you took away from the session?

Survey questions to ask midway through the program

The midway point of mentorship is a good time for participants to stop and reflect on what they’ve experienced and what hopes they have for the remainder of the program. Here are some questions to consider. 

1. How is your relationship with your mentor/mentee?
2. What do you enjoy about the program?
3. What about the program do you not enjoy?
4. What would you like to see for the second half of the program?

Survey questions to ask when the program concludes

The end of mentorship can be a bit of an emotional time. If the mentorship was successful, participants might need some closure. And if the experience was more challenging, participants may want to make suggestions on how to improve it next time. 

These questions can help them do that. 

1. How would you rate your overall experience with the mentor program?
2. What did you like most about the mentor program?
3. What were some things you felt could be improved?
4. Did the mentor program run as you planned?
5. What are the most memorable things you learned from your mentor/mentee?
6. How would you describe your relationship with your mentor/mentee?
7. What activities or discussions did you have with your mentor or mentee?
8. Would you have preferred to meet more or less with your mentor/mentee?

Launch and manage a mentorship program with ease using Together

Workplace mentoring programs have so many advantages for participants and employers. It’s why over 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies offer mentoring programs. Whether you want to improve your employees' skill set, create a more collaborative workplace, improve employee engagement, or reduce turnover, mentorships can accomplish all that and more. 

Starting a mentoring program in your organization doesn’t have to be complicated. With Together, you can be up and running in no time. Our mentorship software handles all the heavy lifting, from registration to pairing to reporting. And it easily integrates with software you’re already using. So, participants won’t have to struggle through learning a new program. 

With Together’s platform, you’ll be able to scale up your mentoring program as needed. Find out how Together can help you launch and manage a mentoring program for your company today.