Guild Editor Mentoring Program

The Northwest Editors Guild’s mentoring program is rooted in the spirit of editors helping editors to everyone’s mutual benefit and to the benefit of the larger editing community overall.

Each year, the Guild facilitates several six-week sessions of one-on-one peer mentoring. Mentors are Guild members who volunteer to share their knowledge and support their peers in professional development. These mentoring sessions are open to current Guild members at no additional charge.

The mentoring program partners volunteer mentors with mentees who are editors newer to the profession, editors seeking to engage in professional development, or editors interested in exploring a specific niche or skill.

Each mentor-mentee pair decides on their goals and their preferences for meetings and communication, and proceeds accordingly. The weekly time commitment is left to each pair to decide, the only expectation being that mentor and mentee communicate regularly.

Some mentors and mentees, by mutual agreement, continue their discussions formally or informally beyond the  end of the official mentoring session. Mentees may also sign up for additional sessions with new mentors, with the understanding that requests from first-time mentees will be prioritized.

What the Mentoring Partnership Looks Like

Peer mentoring is for everyone, whether new to editing or an established editor. Mentoring provides the mentee with the opportunity to focus on professional development of current skills or the exploration of new skills or niches. The mentoring partnership also provides accountability, supporting mentees in progressing from planning to action.

Mentors contribute their presence and knowledge gained from first-hand experience. They engage in brainstorming with mentees, help them get unstuck, and also ask the tough questions that need to be answered.

Mentees bring their goals, questions, and curiosity to the partnership. They are ready to take an active role in creating the synergy mentorship fosters, and are prepared to do the work required to find answers and move forward in reaching their goals.

Both mentors and mentees commit to the full term of the session. Mentors and mentees also acknowledge that the primary focus of the mentoring program is the development of editing skills. While some mentors can provide guidance in business development, it must be understood that the availability of business mentoring is not guaranteed.

Get Involved

Sign in to your Guild membership account to access the mentor and mentee sign-up forms.

All members are invited to participate in the mentoring program as mentors, mentees, or both.

And yes, you can be both! Many mentees go on to become mentors. And some editors have even mentored in their area of expertise while simultaneously receiving mentoring as a mentee for their own professional growth and development in a new area.

Are you ready to get started? If so, click on the appropriate button(s) below to sign up.

If you’d like more information or have questions, email Margie Banin, the mentoring program coordinator, at mentoring@edsguild.org.

If you need to apply for Guild membership in order to be eligible for the mentoring program, you can do that here.

We look forward to your participation!