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MENTOR Releases Guide for Managers of Youth Interns

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MENTOR Releases Guide for Managers of Youth Interns

Powered by Bank of America

Published 07-27-17

Submitted by MENTOR

Every summer, thousands of youth are stepping into their first work experience and hoping that they have managers that care deeply about developing the individuals on their teams. With 1 in 3 youth growing up in America without a caring adult in their lives, managers have an incredible opportunity to change the trajectory of a young person’s life.

Recognizing that great management is great mentoring, Bank of America partnered with MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership to develop a guide for managers of youth in the workplace. The guide offers tangible advice for managers across three areas: onboarding youth interns, career mentoring, and closing the internship experience.

“We believe that managers can provide meaningful mentorship to young people in the workplace by welcoming them onto their teams, providing clear direction, offering them opportunities to gain new skills and experiences, and coaching them on how to succeed at work and in life,” said Kerry Sullivan, president of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.

In onboarding youth interns, the guide focuses on tactics that managers can take to build relationships with youth on their teams. By intentionally exploring commonalities and differences as well as modeling effective relationships, managers can strengthen a young person’s ability to interact with people from diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. This section also highlights the importance of providing business and project context so youth understand how their clearly defined goals and expectations fit into the bigger picture of the company and their team.

The career mentoring section of the new resource provides guidance for managers on practicing empathy and strengthening their cultural competence. It highlights ways managers can identify and leverage the strengths of youth interns while also challenging their growth, strengthening their resiliency and providing effective feedback that is timely, specific and action-oriented. 

The final section of the guide walks managers through closing the youth internship experience by encouraging them to reflect with youth interns on what they have learned, their favorite experiences and how their skills have evolved through the internship. It also lays out ways that managers can continue to expand possibilities for youth by engaging them in diverse opportunities and networks which further develop their skills and build their confidence.

Recognizing that many youth interns face several barriers that impact their work performance and their relationships with managers and colleagues, the guide also provides managers with tips on how to work through these challenges. By collaboratively working through barriers, managers build trust with youth interns, strengthen their ability to self-advocate and alter their trajectory for success in the workplace and in life.

Bank of America and MENTOR also facilitated a webinar for managers of youth interns which can be viewed here.

About MENTOR
MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership is the unifying champion for quality youth mentoring in the United States. MENTOR’s mission is to close the “mentoring gap” and ensure our nation’s young people have the support they need through quality mentoring relationships to succeed at home, school, and ultimately, work. To achieve this, MENTOR collaborates with its network of affiliate Mentoring Partnerships and works to drive the investment of time and money into high impact mentoring programs and advance quality mentoring through the development and delivery of standards, cutting-edge research and state-of-the-art tools. Connect with MENTOR on LinkedInTwitterFacebook and Instagram.

About Bank of America Environmental, Social and Governance
At Bank of America, we’re guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We’re delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It’s demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Learn more at
about.bankofamerica.com, and connect with us on Twitter at @BofA_News.

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MENTOR

MENTOR

MENTOR is the unifying champion for expanding the quality and quantity of mentoring relationships across the United States. 30 years ago, MENTOR was created to expand  opportunities for young people by building a youth mentoring field and movement. The result: a more than 10-fold increase in young people in structured mentoring relationships. Today, MENTOR is the expert voice representing a movement that meets young people everywhere they are – from schools, to workplaces, and beyond. MENTOR operates in collaboration with 25 local Affiliates across the country. For more information, visit mentoring.org.

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