> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.doozy.live/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Matching > How Doozy pairs mentees with mentors, and how you choose what it matches on. Doozy matches each waiting mentee with a mentor who can take another mentee. You choose what it matches on under **Settings** › **Matching**, and see the mentorships on the **Mentorships** tab. ## When matching runs Under **Settings** › **Matching** › **When to match**, choose: | Option | Matching runs | | - | - | | **As people answer** (default) | By itself, whenever someone becomes ready to match | | **On a date** | Once, at the date and time you pick | | **On a schedule** | **Every week**, **Every 2 weeks** or **Every month**, on the day and time you pick | | **Only when you run it** | Only when you select **Match now** | **On a schedule** with **Every month** also asks which week: **First**, **Second**, **Third**, **Fourth** or **Last**, for example the last Friday of each month. Times are on the quarter hour. Under the options, **Next match** shows when the next run starts. After a run **On a date**, pick another date to match again. With **As people answer**, Doozy runs matching when: * someone answers their profile questions, * a mentorship ends, * you change the matching rules, * a mentor can take another mentee, a new mentor joins, someone's pause ends, or the program is resumed, and * a mentee's cohort starts. With the other options, none of these pair anyone. People wait for the next scheduled run, or for you to run it, so a place that opens between runs is used at the next run. Doozy still rechecks why each mentee is waiting whenever one of these happens, so **Can't be matched** stays true between runs. The next match shows above **People** › **Mentees** and in a waiting mentee's panel. ### Who goes first Each mentee gets the best-fitting mentor with room. When there are fewer places than mentees, whoever has waited longest goes first. A mentee's wait starts when they're ready: in the program, answered, and approved if approval is needed. It starts again when they go back to waiting, for example when their mentor leaves, their mentorship is ended early, or you decline their match. It stops when they're paired, including a match waiting for review, and time paused doesn't count. The **Waiting** column on **People** › **Mentees** shows it. A paused or draft program never matches. A scheduled run that falls while the program is paused is skipped: when you resume it, a schedule picks up at its next date, and a date that has passed doesn't run. Mentees without a cohort can be matched once they're in the program and have answered their profile. Mentees from a cohort wait until the cohort's start date. Then everyone waiting from that cohort is matched together, so the whole group gets the best set of matches rather than first come, first served. Mentors must have answered their profile before they're matched. Paused mentees and mentors are left out until their pause ends. The **Overview** tab says when matching runs, whether new mentorships wait for your review and when matching last ran. ### Match now To run matching straight away, select **Match now** on the **Overview** tab or under **Settings** › **Matching**. It works with every option and is available to program admins while the program is active. While it runs, the section shows progress, for example **Matching… 340 of 1,200**, and you get a message when it finishes, for example **Matched 12 mentees.** ### When a mentee can't be matched A mentee matching can't pair shows as **Can't be matched** on the **People** tab, with **Find a mentor** on their row. The **Overview** tab lists them under **Needs you**. Their panel says why, what fixes it and when matching tries next: | Reason | What fixes it | | - | - | | **No mentors have answered yet** | Add or invite mentors, or remind the ones who haven't answered. | | **No mentor matches on the required questions** | Recruit a mentor who fits, relax a question set to **Required**, or pair them by hand. | | **All relevant mentors at capacity** | Raise a mentor's limit, wait for a place to open, or pair them by hand. The panel names the best fit and when they have room, for example "Marcus Hale is the best fit, but has no room until Mar 20, 2027." | **Find a mentor** lists the mentors who fit first, then everyone else with why matching skips them, such as **Full** or **Paired before**. Pick one, check their answers side by side, then select **Pair with** and their name. Doozy warns you first if it goes over a limit or breaks a **Required** rule. When something changes that could help, such as a place opening or a mentor joining, the reason is rechecked and a mentee who now fits goes back to **Waiting for a mentor**. A mentee whose cohort hasn't started stays **Waiting for a mentor**, and their panel says so. They're matched when the cohort starts. ### Long waits Under **Settings** › **Matching**, **Remind admins about mentees unmatched for** sets when a wait counts as long. It's 14 days by default. Mentees waiting longer are in the admins' weekly Slack summary and under **Needs you** on the **Overview** tab. ### Weekly summary in Slack Each Monday, program admins get a Slack message when something needs them: mentees who can't be matched, long waits, or matches waiting more than 3 days for review. Nothing is sent when nothing needs them. ## What we match on The **What we match on** section lists everything Doozy can match on. There's nothing to add or set up. ### From the profile Every [profile](/mentoring/profile) question asked of both mentees and mentors with set answers appears here automatically. Free-text questions and questions asked of only one side never appear. | Question | Matches when | | - | - | | Pick one | They give the same answer | | Pick several | They share at least one answer. Doozy favors the mentor who covers more of the mentee's picks, so a mentor who picks everything doesn't win every mentee. | | Scale of 1 to 5 | Their answers are no more than 1 apart | Give each question an **Importance**: | Importance | Effect | | - | - | | **Required** | Doozy never pairs people who don't match. Among those who do, it counts as much as **High**. | | **High** | Counts most when choosing the best mentor | | **Medium** | Counts when choosing the best mentor | | **Low** | Counts a little when choosing the best mentor | | **Not used** (default) | Ignored when matching | A **High** match counts three times as much as a **Low** one, and a **Medium** match twice as much. ### From HRIS **Department** can be: * **Any department** (default). * **Same department** or **Different department**. * **Let each person decide:** adds a yes or no question to the profile. Mentees see "Are you open to a mentor outside your department?" and mentors see "Are you open to mentoring someone outside your department?" They match when they're in the same department or neither of them said no. Choosing another option removes the question. Unless it's **Any department**, department also takes an **Importance**, the same as a profile question. ### Always Doozy never pairs someone with their own manager, and never pairs the same two people twice in a program. ## Mentor limits * **Mentees at once:** how many mentees each mentor takes at the same time. The default is 1. Choose **Ask each mentor** to add "How many mentees can you take on at once?" (1, 2 or 3) to mentors' profiles. A mentor who hasn't answered takes 1. * **Mentees in total:** how many mentees a mentor can have in this program, counting past mentorships. Once they reach it, Doozy stops matching them and they show as **Reached total**. Their panel shows how many they've had so far. Mentorships you declined and introductions that failed don't count. The default is **No limit**. To change one mentor's limits, open them on the **People** tab and use **Mentor limits** in their panel. Choose **Program default** to go back to the program's limit. ## After matching Under **After matching**, choose: * **Introduce them in Slack straight away** (default). * **Hold each mentorship for an admin to approve first.** New mentorships wait with the status **Needs review**, along with why they were matched. The mentee shows as **Match needs review**. Review them from the **Overview** tab or the **Mentorships** tab, and choose to: * **Approve** it. Doozy introduces them in Slack. * **Decline** it, then pair the mentee with a suggested mentor, or leave them to matching, which never suggests the declined mentor for them again. See [Review new mentorships](/mentoring/mentorships#review-new-mentorships). A mentorship waiting for review counts toward the mentor's limit. ## Pair people yourself You can always pair people by hand. See [Mentorships](/mentoring/mentorships#pair-people-yourself). If they don't match on everything set to **Required**, the mentor manages the mentee, or the mentor is at a mentee limit, Doozy warns you, and you can still pair them. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.