In a company full of Smart People who love to Share Information, there is no shortage of opportunities to continue learning and developing professionally at DMC. As a company, we take pride in our culture of teamwork; through our mentorship program, everyone is encouraged to pitch in when it comes to advising other and learning from each other's successes and growth opportunities.
Make Things Happen
Before each new hire's start date, our Human Resources team reaches out to match potential mentors with a new employee. Two mentors are selected for each new employee based on a geographic location, primary service area, recommendations from managers, and availability. Mentors are encouraged to reach out to the new employees before their start dates to ensure ample opportunities to ask questions about working at DMC, getting started at work, and even getting settled in a new city.
The DMC Admin team helps facilitate mentorship by maintaining a list of all mentor pairs and the suggested meeting frequency – based on the mentee's level of experience at DMC. Mentorship meetings usually take place over lunch. Admins also take charge of scheduling lunches between the mentee and each of their mentors. Mentees may also choose to have “ad-hoc mentors" for specific career growth questions, technology expertise, professional development, or other experience-based questions.
Traveling for work is a common occurrence in the world of automation consulting. Additionally, DMC has a wide geographic spread, so mentors and mentees may be in entirely different places. Individuals can choose to be creative about how to have their mentor “lunch" – over Skype or Slack for remote mentor pairs, and sometimes over breakfast or happy hour drinks with local pairs who have busy workday schedules!
Tell It Like It Is
DMC provides guidelines for mentorship conversation starters including, but not limited to: tricky client/project situations, new responsibilities and technical capabilities, involvement in other company initiatives and events, and suggestions for DMC. Mentees are encouraged to be candid and honest; they have the opportunity to share things they may not be comfortable sharing with their direct manager. Likewise, mentors are encouraged to listen actively and be an advocate for their mentees.
Have Fun!
In addition to providing an outlet for serious discussions, mentor lunches are also a fun way to get out of the office and build relationships between employees.
Our collaborative Sharepoint list maintains a plethora of suggestions for restaurants to try in each of DMC's cities. Or, some employees choose to blaze their own trail and take on mentor “how to drive a manual car" lessons!
Learn more about DMC's company culture.