The beta launch of Mentor-Quest, an easy to use, web-based tool for helping to identify a professional mentor within an organization or business community has been announced by a mentoring partner resource for companies and universities, Management Mentors. Research has shown that reducing turnover costs and improving overall productivity, pairing talented, experienced employees with promising, recently hired, employees increases the return on the investment of that employee by expanding business initiatives.

Among the most valuable assets of any organization are the skills of a company's executives and employees. Corporate and executive mentoring programs provide a means of cultivating those skills throughout the organization. Mentor-Quest users, licensed to an individual, can log on at work or home to complete the online program that will leave them with a useable profile of their ideal mentor as well as strategies for approaching an individual for this purpose.

President of Management Mentors, Rene Petrin, stated: "Our experience has shown that one of the most difficult steps in a successful mentor/mentored relationship is making the right pairing in an efficient manner." Rene continued: "We're hoping that Mentor-Quest will aid in this effort by helping an employee learn more about themselves, identify where they need professional guidance and most importantly, how to approach a more senior professional to ask for support."

Mentor-Quest is designed in a gaming format and is played out in a university setting. Users meet a "guide" who accompanies them through the self-directed process of identifying personal traits and characteristics that they can then pair with potential Mentors. Users can be honest and comfortable in submitting their responses, resulting in a more realistic profile of themselves, s    ince this is an individual and private program.