Overview
Background
Problem
Solution
The goal of this project was enhancing LinkedIn with a mentorship feature to connect and support mentors and mentees.
Overview
Background
Problem
Solution
The goal of this project was enhancing LinkedIn with a mentorship feature to connect and support mentors and mentees.
Overview
Background
Problem
Solution
The goal of this project was enhancing LinkedIn with a mentorship feature to connect and support mentors and mentees.
Overview
Background
Problem
Solution
The goal of this project was enhancing LinkedIn with a mentorship feature to connect and support mentors and mentees.
01 Research
The
User
Comes
First
Resarch
Objectives
The research aimed to understand the full mentorship experience from both mentor and mentee perspectives.
What makes virtual mentorships successful
Emotional barriers and concerns people face when seeking mentorship
How users find and land mentorship opportunities
Common pain points from both mentor and mentee perspectives
Expectations that define a productive mentorship relationship
What makes virtual mentorships successful
Emotional barriers and concerns people face when seeking mentorship
How users find and land mentorship opportunities
Common pain points from both mentor and mentee perspectives
Expectations that define a productive mentorship relationship
What makes virtual mentorships successful
Emotional barriers and concerns people face when seeking mentorship
How users find and land mentorship opportunities
Common pain points from both mentor and mentee perspectives
Expectations that define a productive mentorship relationship
Competitors See full analysis
LinkedIn’s competitors succeed in offering free mentorship services by creating dedicated community spaces for both mentors and mentees.
A common trend across these platforms is that mentorships are often short-lived and lack structure—making it difficult to achieve meaningful goals.
Secondary research
LinkedIn is a valuable platform for professionals to exchange insights, stay ahead of industry trends, and expand their networks. Despite the informal mentorship opportunities and self-learning resources available on LinkedIn, many individuals still struggle with the uncertainty of initiating mentorship within their network.
In today’s competitive job market, characterized by economic challenges and frequent layoffs, having a mentor in your industry can provide invaluable guidance for navigating difficult situations and gaining a competitive edge over your peers.
Interviews & surveys
User interview and surveys See Summary
User interview and surveys See summary
Mentee takeaways See full summary
Mentees are unsure how to utilize their mentor, and 50% are worried about bothering mentors.
They need to be shown how! Structure and resources are key.
They need first-hand experience.
“Having a mentor that's in tune with your growth needs has been instrumental in helping me overcome confidence issues, motivation, and is helping me define a vision for where I'd like to end up.”— Landon Silvek.
Mentor takeaways See full summary
Mentors see a disconnect between mentees and their expectations.
There needs to be clarity in needs and mentorship structure, for the mentee to gain anything.
Mentors do it because they LOVE helping others
"I definitely think mentoring someone at the company I work for, towards a promotion that they wanted, was very rewarding & seeing them come to you for advice is really beautiful!"— Emma Edwards
Surveys See survey results
88% of mentees are unsure what resources are available or what they truly need from their mentor.
01 Research
The
User
Comes
First
Resarch
Objectives
The research aimed to understand the full mentorship experience from both mentor and mentee perspectives.
What makes virtual mentorships successful
Emotional barriers and concerns people face when seeking mentorship
How users find and land mentorship opportunities
Common pain points from both mentor and mentee perspectives
Expectations that define a productive mentorship relationship
Competitors See full analysis
LinkedIn’s competitors succeed in offering free mentorship services by creating dedicated community spaces for both mentors and mentees.
A common trend across these platforms is that mentorships are often short-lived and lack structure—making it difficult to achieve meaningful goals.
Secondary research
LinkedIn is a valuable platform for professionals to exchange insights, stay ahead of industry trends, and expand their networks. Despite the informal mentorship opportunities and self-learning resources available on LinkedIn, many individuals still struggle with the uncertainty of initiating mentorship within their network.
In today’s competitive job market, characterized by economic challenges and frequent layoffs, having a mentor in your industry can provide invaluable guidance for navigating difficult situations and gaining a competitive edge over your peers.
User interview and surveys See summary
Mentee takeaways See full summary
Mentees are unsure how to utilize their mentor, and 50% are worried about bothering mentors.
They need to be shown how! Structure and resources are key.
They need first-hand experience.
“Having a mentor that's in tune with your growth needs has been instrumental in helping me overcome confidence issues, motivation, and is helping me define a vision for where I'd like to end up.”— Landon Silvek.
Mentor takeaways See full summary
Mentors see a disconnect between mentees and their expectations.
There needs to be clarity in needs and mentorship structure, for the mentee to gain anything.
Mentors do it because they LOVE helping others
"I definitely think mentoring someone at the company I work for, towards a promotion that they wanted, was very rewarding & seeing them come to you for advice is really beautiful!"— Emma Edwards
Surveys See survey results
88% of mentees are unsure what resources are available or what they truly need from their mentor.
02 Define
Who
They
Really
Are
Meet Josh (Mentor) See Full Profile
Josh is a Sr. UX Designer who’s worked at multiple startups and embraces the unknown. He truly enjoys helping and mentoring junior designers whenever he can.
Paint Points
Providing constructive feedback without discouraging or demotivating the mentee.
He finds himself struggling to aligning / meeting mentee expectations.
Josh faces a disconnect in mentorship, both in communication styles and maintaining engagement.
Providing constructive feedback without discouraging or demotivating the mentee.
He finds himself struggling to aligning / meeting mentee expectations.
Josh faces a disconnect in mentorship, both in communication styles and maintaining engagement.
Providing constructive feedback without discouraging or demotivating the mentee.
He finds himself struggling to aligning / meeting mentee expectations.
Josh faces a disconnect in mentorship, both in communication styles and maintaining engagement.
Meet Chyna (Mentee) See Full Profile
Chyna is a Jr. Designer studying user experience and interaction design. She incredibly talented but fall short with real world know how. She needs a mentor to help her through the known.
Paint Points
She's missing real world experience and needs insight from real designers in the field.
While she understand she needs to reach out she struggles with uncertainty and worry.
Being a junior designer Chyna lacks the structure and resources needed to get where she wants.
She's missing real world experience and needs insight from real designers in the field.
While she understand she needs to reach out she struggles with uncertainty and worry.
Being a junior designer Chyna lacks the structure and resources needed to get where she wants.
She's missing real world experience and needs insight from real designers in the field.
While she understand she needs to reach out she struggles with uncertainty and worry.
Being a junior designer Chyna lacks the structure and resources needed to get where she wants.
She's missing real world experience and needs insight from real designers in the field.
While she understand she needs to reach out she struggles with uncertainty and worry.
Being a junior designer Chyna lacks the structure and resources needed to get where she wants.
Meet Josh (Mentor) See Full Profile
Chyna is a Jr. Designer studying user experience and interaction design. She incredibly talented but fall short with real world know how. She needs a mentor to help her through the known.
Paint Points
She's missing real world experience and needs insight from real designers in the field.
While she understand she needs to reach out she struggles with uncertainty and worry.
Being a junior designer Chyna lacks the structure and resources needed to get where she wants.
Meet Chyna (Mentee) See Full Profile
So What
Are We
Solving?
LinkedIn mentorship often lacks structure. Without clear goals, communication tools, or guidance, both mentors and mentees struggle to find direction or value in the experience.
We’re solving this by building a mentorship system that adds structure, connects professionals, and supports growth—directly within the LinkedIn ecosystem.
03 Design
Mid-Fidelity
Design &
Iteration
Goals
I wanted to know with minimal support, would my users successfully be able to onboard and create their first mentor session.
Task Flows Designed & Tested
Onboarding.
Search for mentors.
Scheduling a mentor session.
Saving helpful resources.
Mentorship goal setting.
Key Screens | See Mid-Fidelity Prototype
Goals
I wanted to know with minimal support, would my users successfully be able to onboard and create their first mentor session.
Task Flows Designed & Tested
Onboarding.
Search for mentors.
Scheduling a mentor session.
Saving helpful resources.
Mentorship goal setting.
04 Testing
Measured
Twice Cut
Once
User Testing See Full Summary
Zero mess onboarding.
Linkedin mentorship takes everything from your LinkedIn profile including your experience, education, and skills.
Testing revealed the UI to be intuitive and easy to handle with all users navigating this action and adding or removing information with no interruptions.
Mentor Profiles
1. Personal Bio & statistics - 2. Mentor skills - 3. Experience and scheduling.
Testing participants reported the UI to be clear, with the callout of attendance being unnecessary and confusing.
Scheduling your first session
Users have the option to schedule one of the shown dates on the mentor profile or search further ahead.
Testing resulted in 100% of participants successfully navigating the "see all" feature and scheduling a reoccurring session.
Preparing For Sessions
By utilizing the session confirmation card, I'm able to take a key moment of confirming a meeting to offer resources to help prepare for their meeting.
Testing participants reported that having this interaction at that moment increased their likelihood of downloading the resources rather than searching the platform for them.
Setting Goal That Matter
Mentorship goals assist in helping users unsure of how to utilize their mentorship and also give mentors a better of idea of how they can best help in this mentorship
*Note: Both cards are not present at once shown visually here- for description only.*
Users reported the goal-setting process was easily navigable, with clear instructions provided throughout.
Your One-Stop-Shop
1. Your mentor - 2. Session reminders - 3. Goals. - 4. Saved resources.
Usability testing revealed a redundancy in resources and templates leading to the grouping of both under "resources".
Usability Testing See Maze Testing Results
By evaluating the LinkedIn mentorship onboarding process, mentor search and selection, session scheduling, resource saving, and goal setting, I aim to validate my findings and iterations made through usability testing.
Accessibility
Testing and heat map evaluation show an even spread of use for all four mentorship access points with 100% success rate.
Accessibility
Testing and heat map evaluation show an even spread of use for all four mentorship access points with 100% success rate.
Finding Menotrs
100% users successfully searched for a mentor. Through heat mapping we can easily see users utilizing the left navigation panel over both CTA’s,
Editability
80% of user were successfully able to edit their onboarding information with one user skipping completely.
Finding Menotrs
100% users successfully searched for a mentor. Through heat mapping we can easily see users utilizing the left navigation panel over both CTA’s,
Accessibility
Testing and heat map evaluation show an even spread of use for all four mentorship access points with 100% success rate.
Accessibility
Testing and heat map evaluation show an even spread of use for all four mentorship access points with 100% success rate.
Accessibility
Testing and heat map evaluation show an even spread of use for all four mentorship access points with 100% success rate.
Editability
80% of user were successfully able to edit their onboarding information with one user skipping completely.
Finding Menotrs
100% users successfully searched for a mentor. Through heat mapping we can easily see users utilizing the left navigation panel over both CTA’s,
Accessibility
Testing and heat map evaluation show an even spread of use for all four mentorship access points with 100% success rate.
Accessibility
Testing and heat map evaluation show an even spread of use for all four mentorship access points with 100% success rate.
Finding Menotrs
100% users successfully searched for a mentor. Through heat mapping we can easily see users utilizing the left navigation panel over both CTA’s,
Editability
80% of user were successfully able to edit their onboarding information with one user skipping completely.
Mentorship Profile
1. Sticky navigation - 2. Alerts and Reminders 3. Goal setting.
Testing showed using a familiar UI successful, leading to easy site navigation and ability to understand and utilize the resources offered.
Finding Your Mentor
Through the onboarding process LinkedIn is able the user with the most compatible mentor for their industry.
Testing revealed having the mentors session attendance, unnecessary and confusing.
Mentor Profiles
1. Personal Bio & statistics - 2. Mentor skills - 3. Experience and scheduling.
Testing participants reported the UI to be clear, with the callout of attendance being unnecessary and confusing.
Scheduling your first session
Users have the option to schedule one of the shown dates on the mentor profile or search further ahead.
Testing resulted in 100% of participants successfully navigating the "see all" feature and scheduling a reoccurring session.
Preparing For Sessions
By utilizing the session confirmation card, I'm able to take a key moment of confirming a meeting to offer resources to help prepare for their meeting.
Testing participants reported that having this interaction at that moment increased their likelihood of downloading the resources rather than searching the platform for them.
Setting Goal That Matter
Mentorship goals assist in helping users unsure of how to utilize their mentorship and also give mentors a better of idea of how they can best help in this mentorship
*Note: Both cards are not present at once shown visually here- for description only.*
Users reported the goal-setting process was easily navigable, with clear instructions provided throughout.
Your One-Stop-Shop
1. Your mentor - 2. Session reminders - 3. Goals. - 4. Saved resources.
Usability testing revealed a redundancy in resources and templates leading to the grouping of both under "resources".
05 MVP | See full prototype
Mentorship
MVP
Task Completed
Onboarding.
Searching for mentors.
Scheduling a mentor session.
Saving helpful resources.
Mentorship goal setting.
Task Completed
Onboarding.
Searching for mentors.
Scheduling a mentor session.
Saving helpful resources.
Mentorship goal setting.
Task Completed
Onboarding.
Searching for mentors.
Scheduling a mentor session.
Saving helpful resources.
Mentorship goal setting.
Task Completed
Onboarding.
Searching for mentors.
Scheduling a mentor session.
Saving helpful resources.
Mentorship goal setting.
06 Reflection
Reflection
& What's
Next
I believe this feature has strong potential to positively impact a wide range of LinkedIn users who are actively seeking or offering mentorship opportunities
What truly sets this project apart from existing mentorship platforms is its emphasis on structured goal setting, clear progression tracking, and access to relevant resources. These elements not only help mentees stay focused and motivated but also provide mentors with the clarity they need to guide effectively.
Looking ahead, I see exciting opportunities for growth. Companies could integrate talent development programs directly into the LinkedIn mentorship experience—empowering them to nurture emerging talent and ultimately build stronger pipelines for future hiring.
Have a nice , I look forward to connecting with you! All Rights Reserved © Bryan Brunot
06 Reflection
Reflection
& What's
Next
I believe this feature has strong potential to positively impact a wide range of LinkedIn users who are actively seeking or offering mentorship opportunities
What truly sets this project apart from existing mentorship platforms is its emphasis on structured goal setting, clear progression tracking, and access to relevant resources. These elements not only help mentees stay focused and motivated but also provide mentors with the clarity they need to guide effectively.
Looking ahead, I see exciting opportunities for growth. Companies could integrate talent development programs directly into the LinkedIn mentorship experience—empowering them to nurture emerging talent and ultimately build stronger pipelines for future hiring.