Quick Post: Add this to the reading list – What’s the right way to find a mentor!

Introduction: One of my goals for this website is to create a reading/listening/viewing list, along with explanations for the various articles, books, and other items of interest for my mentees, and others who can avail themselves of the opportunities for professional and personal development.

The current recommendation: an article

What’s the Right Way to Find a Mentor? by Janet T. Phan

The Link: https://hbr.org/2021/03/whats-the-right-way-to-find-a-mentor?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=facebook&tpcc=orgsocial_edit

Janet really put a good deal of effort into this excellent article, on the fundamentals of the method of getting to a mentor. She starts off by recalling how she found her own mentor and the ways in which the experience benefitted her.

Then she proceeds to write down how to court potential mentors, including templates for emails and suggestions for follow-ups, and everything in between! I am certainly recommending this article to all my mentees, and to anyone who stumbles across the list!

Going beyond the article: other avenues

Going beyond the article though, remember, that there are other ways to find mentors. Here are a couple:

  1. Your existing mentorship structures – whether you are a student or an alum, recent or not, teachers current and past, though burdened by heavy workloads at times would only be happy to provide mentorship. And, because of the pre-existing relationship(s), you might not hesitate so much in approaching them for advice.
  2. Schools, colleges, and universities at times have more formal mentorship opportunities. You can reach out to such organizations and groups and get matched to a mentor based on your interests.
  3. There are various independent non-profit organizations that provide mentoring opportunities to members. One such example: the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), offers mentoring to its members.
  4. When you work in the corporate world, organizations of varying sizes also offer mentoring pairing opportunities for newer employees and veteran employees.

So, the opportunities to go look for mentors and find them are nearly endless.

Conclusion: Remember, you lose 100% of the chances you never take! All you have to do is reach out and ask! The worst you might hear is a no, or a not now, but with persistence and effort, you will find that special person or group of people who will help you out! Good Luck!

References:

  1. Cover Image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-and-white-books-education-facts-433333/
  2. Image of a person presenting to small group: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-beside-flat-screen-television-with-photos-background-716276/
  3. Image of avenue: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-blue-concrete-building-2317956/
  4. Image of checkered flags: https://pixabay.com/vectors/checker-flag-race-checkered-flag-1648337/