Frequently asked questions

Mentoring @ Invespire is a website where you can find a mentor, request a one-hour session, and meet them over a video link the mentor gives you. It is a small independent project, and it is free to use.

Yes. There are no payments anywhere on the site. You do not pay to book a session, and mentors do not pay to be listed. Mentors give their time voluntarily.

Anyone aged 18 or over can create an account. You confirm your age when you sign up. Every account starts as a mentee account. You can browse mentors without signing in, but you need an account with a verified email address to request a session.

Find a mentor in the directory and open their profile. Pick an open time, add a short note about what you want to discuss, and send the request. The mentor then accepts or declines. If they accept, you get an email and a notification with the video link.

There are no payments, no video calls inside the site, no calendar sync, no group sessions and no mobile app. You cannot reschedule a session: you cancel it and request a new time. Sessions are always 60 minutes.

No. A request is only a request until the mentor accepts it. While it is pending, other people can request the same time. When a mentor accepts one request, other pending requests for that time are declined automatically.

You can have up to 5 pending requests at once.

You can request times up to 30 days ahead. A time must start at least 2 hours from now. If a request is not answered before its start time, it expires and shows as declined.

Every account has a time zone, and all times on the site are shown in yours. Mentors set their availability in their own time zone, and the site converts it for you, including daylight saving changes.

If you sign up with Google, your account starts on UTC because the site cannot see your browser's zone at that point. A banner offers the detected zone once. You can change your time zone under Settings > Profile.

Outside Mentoring @ Invespire. When a mentor accepts your request, they paste a Google Meet, Zoom or similar https link. You join that link at the session time using your own device and account.

Yes. Either side can cancel an accepted session up to 2 hours before it starts, and must give a reason. After that cutoff the cancel option is no longer available. A mentee can cancel their own pending request before it is answered.

The other person gets an email and an in-app notification with your reason.

Not directly. Cancel the session, with a reason, and request a new time from the mentor's profile. Sending a short message to the mentor first can help you agree on a time.

Yes, once a booking request exists between you. Sending a request opens one conversation for the two of you, so you can talk before the session is confirmed. It is not live chat: the inbox refreshes on its own. You also get an email when a new message arrives, and no further email about that conversation until you have read it.

After a session's end time has passed, the mentee can leave a rating from 1 to 5 stars and a written review of up to 1500 characters. Each session can be reviewed once. The mentor can reply publicly once. Ratings feed the average shown on the mentor's profile and in search.

Sign in, open the mentor application from your dashboard, and submit a headline, a bio, skill tags, your years of experience and an optional LinkedIn or portfolio link. You need a verified email address. An admin reviews it and approves or rejects it. If it is rejected you see the reason, and you can improve the application and submit it again.

Every mentor profile is reviewed by an admin before it appears in the directory. That review covers the headline, bio, skills and link. It is a check of the profile, not a guarantee of skill, qualifications or the outcome of a session. Read the profile and reviews and decide for yourself.

No. Mentors are independent volunteers. Mentoring @ Invespire provides the place to find each other and book a time. It does not employ mentors, direct what they say, or guarantee their advice. Treat mentoring as one input to your own decisions.

Mentors are volunteers with their own schedules. Common reasons are a clash with something else, a topic outside their experience, or a note that was too vague to prepare for. A decline always comes with a reason, and it says nothing about you. You can request another time, or try another mentor.

Edits to an approved profile are held for admin review. The current approved profile stays live until the changes are approved. A mentor's name and photo are not part of that review.

Yes. An approved mentor keeps their mentee access and can switch between the two views from the navigation, and choose which view opens by default. It is one account.

After you register, we email you a link. It works for 24 hours. Until you verify, you can browse, but you cannot request sessions or submit a mentor application. A banner in your dashboard lets you send the email again.

Yes, where Google sign-in is turned on for the site. You can also use an email address and password. We never see your Google password.

Use the forgot password link on the sign-in page and enter your email address. If an account exists, we send a reset link that works once and expires after 60 minutes. The page gives the same answer whether or not the address is registered.

To slow down password guessing, the site limits repeated failed sign-in attempts over a 15 minute window. Wait and try again, or use the reset link if you have forgotten your password.

Yes. Go to Settings > Privacy and data, and choose Delete my account. You confirm with your password, or with a link we email you if you only sign in with Google. Your upcoming sessions are cancelled and the other people are told. You can download a copy of your data on the same page first. The privacy page explains what is deleted and what is kept for a limited time.

Your name, email address, time zone, a hashed password (or a Google link), your optional photo, your bookings, messages and reviews, and, for mentors, the profile you submit. Emails about your account go to the address you registered with. The privacy page has the full detail.

Anyone can see approved mentor profiles: name, photo, headline, bio, skills, rating and public reviews. As a mentee, the mentor you book sees your name, your note and the messages you send them. Your email address is not shown to other users.

Use the video link the mentor provides and keep your own device and accounts secure. Do not share passwords, financial details or ID numbers. Be wary of anyone who asks you to pay or to move the conversation elsewhere. You can leave a call at any time. Report anything that worries you.

Use the report button next to the item, choose a category and say what is wrong, in up to 500 characters. You can report reviews, mentor replies, messages and video links you can see, but not your own. We confirm we received it, an admin either removes the item or dismisses the report, and you are told the outcome. There is a daily limit on how many reports one person can send.

The report buttons cover reviews, replies, messages and video links. For a mentor profile, a person's conduct, or anything else, use the report page (you do not need an account) or write to us from the contact page. Say who and what happened, with dates. Admins can remove content and suspend or close accounts.

A suspended person cannot sign in, and a suspended mentor no longer appears in the directory. Their upcoming requests and sessions are cancelled, and the other person is told the session will not happen. The suspended person is emailed the reason and how to appeal.

Check your spam or junk folder, and check that the address on your account is spelled correctly. Then use the resend option in the banner at the top of your dashboard. Links expire after 24 hours, so use the newest email.

Wait a few minutes, then check the conversation and send a message asking if they are on their way. The site has no automatic no-show handling. If it happens, write to us on the contact page with the date and time. Once the session has ended you can leave an honest review of what happened.

If you know you cannot attend, please cancel at least 2 hours ahead so the other person is not left waiting.

Times are shown in the time zone saved on your account. Open Settings > Profile and check it. Google sign-ups start on UTC until you accept the detected zone or change it. If the time zone is right and a time still looks wrong, contact us with a screenshot.

Accepted sessions can only be cancelled until 2 hours before the start. Inside that window, message the other person directly. A mentor cannot cancel a pending request: they decline it, with a reason.

Message your mentor in the conversation and ask for a new link. Mentors paste the link themselves, so a mistyped link is the most common cause. Meeting tools such as Google Meet and Zoom have their own help pages for sign-in and device problems.