Mentor Hunting [GB] Edition

Finding a mentor is a lot like a job hunt. You can just jump right in and apply (ask someone to be your mentor), or you can follow a few simple steps before that to get better results.

In the rest of this article you’ll find steps to executing a mentor hunt and how they relate to finding a job.

Step 1. Define Your Objective

When you define your objective in a job search it helps you filter your job search and screen employers. If you think of mentors as employers, defining your objective helps you do the same thing when searching for a mentor.

Define your mentor search objective by asking yourself these 3 questions and answering them honestly:

1.      Why do you want a mentor?

Your potential mentors may want to know the answer to this question along with details of your career path thus far, and more importantly, the career you envision for yourself. Be prepared!

2.      What qualities do you want in a mentor?

Have 3-5 must have qualities, but still be open minded; if someone does not completely meet your must haves, but there is trust and chemistry, there may still be a beneficial fit.

3.      What type of mentoring relationship do you want?

You have more options than just a one to one relationship. Check out this Golden Briefcase article about seven typesof mentoring relationships and their benefits.

Remember your answers; you’ll need them as you get closer to finding a mentor!

Step 2. Polish Your Image

If you think of a mentor as an employer, then you know they have their own set of qualifications you need to pass. A prospective mentor may not place want ads, but there are qualities a mentee should possess or develop in order to be taken seriously. If you are truly passionate about achieving your objective, these qualities should already be something you possess.

Your online image should be consistent with your offline image

Commitment. The reason many people seek mentors is because they have a career goal they want to achieve. In return for a mentors time and guidance, a mentee can at least be committed to their own cause. This means showing initiative and follow through.

Receptiveness. A mentor is someone who offers knowledge, feedback, and information; whether it be positive or negative, a mentee should be ready to receive it, process it, and improve from it. Someone who is ready for a mentor understands that they will not always hear favorable feedback, but it will help just the same (if not more).

Desire to learn. Mentorship is about growth and in order to grow you must be willing to learn. A serious mentor admires a thirst for knowledge.

Your goal now as a mentee is to present a consistent on and offline image that projects these qualities as well as your personality. Clean up your LinkedIn and Facebook profiles and adjust how you use them. LinkedIn is great for professional networking, but most people don’t use it enough; Facebook is also great for professional networking, but most [young] people don’t know how to approach it.

In addition, be conscious of (so you can improve) your netiquette and interpersonal interactions. Learn how to communicate effectively — good communication will be an asset during your mentor search and throughout your mentoring relationship.

Step 3. Prospect

DO NOT overlook step 2; potential mentors will notice your lack of effort in presenting a professional image. While you can polish your image in conjunction with prospecting, it’s best to get a handle on your image first.

Prospect online to discover who you want to seek out in person!

Unlike job searching where there are many websites and company pages dedicated to want ads, finding potential mentors is not as straightforward. Some large corporations, schools, and social organizations offer mentor programs, but good ones are rare. Doing the footwork yourself is the best option; all it takes is diligent networking!

Network by following and interacting in groups getting to know the people in them AND letting them get to know you. Attending networking events, interacting online, and meeting for one on one networking are great ways to prospect and work best when you do all three! Try meeting with people you’re interested in for one on one networking before deciding to officially move on to the final step. The entire process can be conducted entirely online, but if you’re able to take your networking offline, seize the opportunity.

It may seem like a lot, but once you get into it, you might find that you enjoy the process!

Step 4. Ask

Try to have a one on one meeting before you ask someone to be your mentor and be certain of these 3 things:

1.      You’re prepared to discuss your answers from Step 1

2.      You’re comfortable speaking to this person, and

3.      This person is someone you aspire to be like in some way, shape, or form

Once you’re certain of these things, ASK. If you ask in person (or over the phone), be prepared to answer any questions upfront. If you send a message later, schedule a live follow up meeting, in which case, still be prepared to answer any questions.

Did you find this article helpful? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

#ShesaBoss and #theGB blog

Enhance Your Professional Development With Modern Mentoring Relationships

Tradition teaches us that what you get out of a mentoring relationship is knowledge transfer from an older more experienced individual to a younger less experienced individual. Nothing more, nothing less and that was enough.


A mentor provides...

Well, times have changed and so have our needs. People, especially women, want more flexibility and more options.

With that said, I present to you several mentoring relationship options: emersion mentoring, peer mentoring, e-mentoring, reverse mentoring, focused mentoring, MLM mentoring, and group mentoring. I’ve come across these relationship types through research and personal experience. Some I found outright, others I developed to better suit the needs of entrepreneurial women. The descriptions below will help you decide what kind of mentoring relationships will work best for your professional development.

My mentor and I

Emersion Mentoring focuses on using various activities that the mentor and mentee can do together to help the mentee better understand the mentors professional lifestyle. Networking events, small projects, and shadow days are some good activities to try. Emersion mentoring is perfect for the student or young professional who needs some career direction or would like to gain some experience.

Peer Mentoring does NOT require a designated mentor or mentee. Instead, the relationship consists of two people with a similar level of experience, similar point in their career, or common personal trait (heritage, single mother, disability, etc). Peer mentoring typically focuses on work/life balance and overcoming common professional obstacles. A familiar quote comes to mind: “Two heads are better than one.”

E-Mentoring is more of a way to carry out a mentoring relationship. In the past, e-mentoring was primarily email communication, but the ever changing online world has well, changed that. With all the online options available to us (Facebook, Skype, GoogleDocs, etc), there’s no reason why everyone can’t find the mentor that’s just right for them. When possible, I suggest supplementing e-mentoring with traditional meeting styles such as telephone and in person meetings.

Reverse Mentoring primarily benefits the experienced professional, but of course, in any mentoring relationship both parties benefit to some extent. The usual mentor/mentee roles are switched; in reverse mentoring the young professional is the mentor and the experienced professional is the mentee. This set up is designed to help the mentee stay up to date in a fast-changing world.

Focused Mentoring is usually characterized by a goal of getting comfortable with a specific subject or skill. For example, you may be apprehensive about networking at live events; with your focused mentor you can attend events together to see your mentor in action or your mentor can critique your actions! Decide what method works best for both mentor and mentee.

Mutual Learning Mentoring (MLM) focuses on matches that can lead to mutual growth and development. Ideally (and this is only a suggestion), the participants would be from the same industry and have complementing professions (marketer and graphic designer, writer and photographer). Like peer mentoring, there is no designated mentor or mentee.

Group Mentoring occurs when one experienced professional (the mentor) meets with more than one young professional simultaneously. Group mentoring is characterized by infrequent (monthly or less), informal meetings; since meetings are less frequent than other forms of mentoring, I recommend supplementing in person meetings with online communication to help foster a more meaningful relationship.

Create your own perfect relationship!

Mentoring relationships are all about learning and growth through reflection and feedback. You can try the above mentioned styles of mentoring as is or you can pull different characteristics from each and create a relationship that works best for you and the other parties of the relationship. For example, peer and mutual learning mentoring can be done in the form of infrequent meetings of 3-4 participants, but still maintain the no mentor/no mentee characteristic; the benefit here would be that although meetings are infrequent, you get more feedback in one group meeting than you would from one one to one meeting.

Which of these mentoring relationships would you like to try? Have you been in a mentoring relationship before? What was your experience?  

Share your thoughts with us!

#ShesaBoss and #theGB