When I first designed the Women in BIM Mentoring Program, it was intended to only create matches for 1-on-1 mentoring and let them fly quite independently. Due to various conditions however we were unable to match a lot of applicants, but even the word “rejected” didn’t sit well with me. First of all, I called them “Unmatched Mentoring Applicants” or UMAs - I liked to imagine them in yellow sportswear wielding a katana;) But after fixing the language, it was time for some action, so halfway into the program we had to adapt.
We came up with several opportunities for group mentoring and here are the impressions that they left us with:
