Today, Xbox has opened registration for the global Xbox program ‘Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career,’ a mentorship opportunity for everyone interested in careers in gaming.

Also, revealed today are the women leaders across Xbox who will join the program as mentors. You can find information about registration and local mentors here.

Below are additional details:

• Registration for the program is free and open to everyone ages 18 years of age and older
• The deadline to register is April 17; mentees will be selected later in April
• Mentees will receive a one-on-one virtual coaching session with the mentor in their region:
  • Tania Chee, Xbox Business Lead, Australia & New Zealand is the ANZ-based mentor. Tania is responsible for driving the gaming platform’s business growth across the Tasman. Tania’s career spans 20+ years across roles in Australia and the UK from IT start-ups to managing Microsoft’s gaming, consumer software and office business through the retail channel.

Why is this mentorship program important? The impact of mentorship is significant and apparent:

• Mentees are promoted five times more often than those without mentors and similarly, mentors themselves are 6 times more likely to be promoted.
• According to a 2019 survey, 82% of men have had male mentors, while just 69% of women have had female mentors. Additionally, most women (7 out of 10) shared they prefer to have female mentors.

And in gaming, Xbox’s ‘Mentoring: Kickstart Your Career’ can help support the next generation of leaders and close the gap between the women gamers and those who work in the industry: according to the ESA, across all players and ages, 45% of gamers identify as female while only 24% of those working in the industry are women.

For more information regarding the Xbox Mentorship program, please visit their blog post.