OCRA Mentoring Program is Accepting Appications for 2012
OCRA is launching a Mentoring Program to help promote the career growth and development of OCRA Members and to strengthen the regulatory affairs profession. Applications to become a Mentor or a Mentee are required. Please submit before June 29, 2012
A Mentoring Program is a process for professional and personal development in which an individual (the Mentee) strives to achieve a development goal(s) under the guidance of a more experienced colleague (the Mentor). Mentoring is not intended to help Mentees find new jobs, but it can be helpful in discussions related to changing careers or advancing in current career paths.
Mentees
The goals of the OCRA mentoring program are to provide a service to OCRA members that:
- enables you to enhance knowledge/experience in a current job function
- enables you to advance in a current career path
- provides you with guidance on pursuit of a different or new career path within the general areas of:
- Regulatory
- Clinical
- Quality Assurance or Quality Control
The qualifications to become a Mentee are:
- You are a current OCRA member
- You either live or work in Southern California
- You complete the OCRA Mentoring Committee application form for a Mentee
Mentors
If you are motivated to share your educational and professional experiences in clinical, regulatory, quality, etc., in drugs, devices, and/or biologics and to advise or guide your fellow professionals, you may apply to be a Mentor in the program. The minimum qualifications to be a Mentor are:
- You are a current OCRA member
- You either live or work in Southern California
- You complete the OCRA Mentoring Committee application form for a Mentor
The program will accept applications from prospective Mentors and Mentees until June 29, 2012. To apply, complete an application form and email (or mail) it to the address indicated with the instructions on the application. Information will also be posted on the OCRA web site (www.ocra-dg.org). Non-members interested in the Mentoring Program are welcome to apply once they officially become members in OCRA.
The intent of the program is to match one Mentor with one Mentee based on the Mentor’s background and experience with the Mentee’s goals for professional growth. By June 2012, the OCRA Mentoring Committee will notify you if a suitable match (mentor/mentee match) was found for you. In the event that more mentees than mentors or more mentors than mentees have applied, the applicants will be notified of the situation by the OCRA Mentoring Committee, who will make every effort to find additional participants to continue to match mentors and mentees. For those OCRA members who live/work outside of Orange County, our intent is to do our best to match you with a mentee/mentor from your area.
A one-hour training program and orientation will be arranged for mentors and mentees. Attendance is mandatory for all participants in the mentoring program.
Establishment of a good working relationship between a mentor and a mentee, once they are matched, is up to the two individuals. However, for a successful mentoring experience, we encourage at least one face-to-face meeting after the initial training is completed. After that, the frequency of mentor/mentee meetings, the location, and the time is to be decided by the mentor and mentee. For some individuals, face-to-face meetings will be optimal, while others may find weekly email exchanges work very well to accomplish the goals of the mentoring experience. We strongly encourage the mentor and mentee to set clear, written goals at the beginning of their mentoring relationship. We expect you will need to commit approximately 2-4 hours/month to expect good progress on your mentoring experience.
If you are a participant in the mentoring program, the OCRA Mentoring Committee will ask you to complete an evaluation form after six months, which is the minimum period of time that OCRA expects each participant will stay with the program.
OCRA intends for this program to offer a valuable and highly sought-after benefit to OCRA members, and we hope many current members will apply.