Linkedin is currently testing a new feature that links potential mentors to young graduates in the same sector or the same company. “Think of it as a new form of mentorship that’s virtual, lightweight, and that fits today’s changing workplace,” says Suzi Owens, Group Manager of Consumer Products, Corporate Communications at LinkedIn.
1. How it works
The social network will create a new section called « your dashboard » on your profile and it’s private. You can apply as a mentor or a mentee to give or get advice, then you can fill in different parameters such as school, region and industry to find someone you’d like to have a conversation with. You can also choose the type of advice such as job, occupational planning, company profile, etc. After you finish selecting all your preferences, the Linkedin graph will analyze the nature of the connections among members, and then it will link the offers and requests of advice. Afterwards, you will see all the matches; you can select someone, to whom a message will be sent and after his agreement, you can start talking.
2. The potential obstacle
It is a great opportunity to use algorithms to dig about 500 million LinkedIn members’ expertise. However, one of the potential obstacles is that members need to pay attention to their expectations. One of the reasons for potential failure of the guide is that the mentee is not always able to express what he needs or he asks for too much. LinkedIn is trying to make the conversation flow smoothly so that the two sides can reach what they need. They are also working on content tips to help people know how to provide and get good advice.
3. Launch at the end of summer  
LinkedIn will offer this new option for free, as a way to retain its audience. Weekly revivals and editorial advice will be provided to enable members to make the most out of their social network, up to the 500 million registered in the world. Only a handful of members will be able to test the system at first, but functionality should be open to all registrants by the end of summer 2017.