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72Maritime Reporter & Engineering News proposal:?This could be of service to all theyoung mariners from all over the world. Attracting young and talented people to this profession is getting harder and the maritime industry is facing an acuteshortage of qualified seafarers. I am sure seniors who love and have enjoyed this profession can contribute very positively in conveying the adventure and opportu- nities this profession offers.? ?[We need to encourage women and minorities to get into the industry]. Those are the people who will not have a natu- ral network in the industry and often en- counter difficulties. A mentor might be able to intervene at a high level to reduce barriers set up by a lower level employee to prevent advancement by such individ- uals. ... Such intervention can only come from senior people and often it must come from outside the company. We owe it to the industry to make sure everyone has a chance to contribute.? ?Leaders onboard are failing in stan- dards and neglecting their duties as coach/teacher because of poor upbring- ing. [They] feel that seafaring is just an- other ordinary job! Well, we need to overcome these barriers when shaping better mariners for the future.? And finally, here is a comment that says it all:?I have inherited this glorious profes- sion as a legacy bequeathed to me by ex- traordinary men of the maritime profession who lived very ordinary lives. Tell me how can I repay even a fraction of this debt. I shall be honored.? Hopefully some of these reasons for of-fering to be a mentor resonate with youand provide an incentive to offer a bit of your time.Visiting the International Maritime Mentoring CommunityWhen (I am an optimist and thereforedid not say ?if?) you visit the maritimementoring community, you will find mentors representing over 4,000 years of maritime experience ready to be freely shared.When a mentors registers, they are asked to list their areas and depth of mar- itime experience, and are asked to indi- cate their gender, country of residence, and a few other bits of information. All this is meant to help proteges determine which mentors may be useful to them inthe career choices they are facing. Proteges then visit the site and click a button labeled ?find a mentor?. There they are asked to indicate the kinds of ex- pertise they are looking for and are pre- sented with a list of matching mentors. Itis then up to the protege to connect with the mentor and, if accepted as a protege, join the mentor?s ?mentoring group? - an area where all of his or her proteges can congregate and share experiences. The site also houses a library for men-tors and proteges to share useful docu- ments and links pertaining to careers inthe maritime industry. Some mentors have begun to write blogs on the site, and the discussion area has topics includingmaritime schools, careers, and others. What?s Next? The site is up and going. Mentors arethere and proteges are there. But this ini- tiative will only be as successful as the number of members there. So at this timewe are embarking on a few initiatives to reach out primarily to maritime schoolsand employers. Maritime CollegesWe are inviting all maritime colleges to have a presence on the mentoring site. Each college is welcome to create a group (or ask us to do so) dedicated totheir college and have one or more fac- ulty representatives periodically visit the group to answer questions. This would allow proteges on the site to interact with the college and gain some insight into what it would be like to study there. In addition, the college can offer their cadets a "Meet a Mariner" program of sorts.Their students are invited to visit the community, join their dedicated college group, and interact with mentors in orderto help guide their careers upon gradua-tion. Maritime Employers Similar to colleges, we are inviting all maritime employers to create a group dedicated to their company. Proteges who would like to find out more about what your company has to offer can join and interact with representatives from your organization. Ideally those representa- tives could provide a combination of gen- erally useful career advice in addition toinformation on working at your company. I will start in the same way as I began - with an invitation. This is a wonderful in- dustry with a deep and profound mentor- ing tradition. Every single reader has the opportunity to improve the industry by joining the site as either a mentor or pro-tege. We all have something to give, and something to learn. There is no downside. Please visit the International MaritimeMentoring Community. Join, share, sup- port and learn at www.MaritimeMentors.com EducationThe Author: Murray Goldberg is CEO of Marine Learning Systems (www.MarineLS.com). An eLearning researcher and developer, his software has been used by 14 million people worldwide. MR#11 (66-73):MR Template 11/4/2012 11:45 AM Page 72