Could you mentor someone via LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is rolling out a new service to pair mentors and mentees, as it seeks to boost its platform's role in professional development.

The new service will be completely free and will be available first to users in San Francisco and Australia, according to Techcrunch.

Hari Srinivasan, head of identity products at LinkedIn, said the service will run in a similar way to Tinder. People who are interested in taking on the role of a mentor will appear to those who are interested in being mentored, depending on what search parameters they use.

Mentors will be able to choose from a range of options, such as whether they're searching for mentees from their former school or university, or whether the people have to be first or second-degree connections.

Mentees will be able to select a range of parameters to narrow their search, similar to what is available to the mentors, in order to find the right person. Once matched, each party can then message each other and then terminate contact at any point.

Srinivasan stated that the option to become a mentor will eventually be available to everyone too.

Google for Entrepreneurs formed a similar partnership Techhub last year to support startups from around the world with mentoring and programmes from Google. Elizabeth Varley, global founder and CEO for Techhub, said at the time: "Our programme helps founders deal with challenges at the different stages of developing their company and product, whether it's their first time or fifth time starting a company."

This year, Structu3dpeople started offering training and mentoring programmes to help place 1,000 women in tech by 2020. Rav Bumbra, director of the company, said: "Mentors and role models are pivotal in developing skills as well as providing confidence, building resilience, encouraging aspirations and advancing careers."