Clients pay me as a career consultant for personal brand image positioning, including resumés and LinkedIn profile optimization. There’s another piece to the puzzle to enhance your next career adventure. Do you have a mentor? I have several for different reasons.
Why do you need one? How do you find one? Great questions.
Mentor Defined
“A mentor may share with a mentee (or protege) information about his or her own career path, as well as provide guidance, motivation, emotional support, and role modeling. A mentor may help with exploring careers, setting goals, developing contacts, and identifying resources.” – University of Washington
Tech Mentors
While researching this topic, I came across this article about tech CEOs and their mentors: “Everyone from Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg has taken on one or more mentors, while reciprocating the favor amongst the latest class of up-and-coming tech entrepreneurs.”
- Apple: Steve Jobs’ mentor was Andy Groves/co-founder Intel
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg’s mentor was Don Graham/CEO of the Washington Post
- Foursquare: Dennis Crowley’s mentor was Ken Allard/former boss Juniper Communications
- Google: Larry Page’s mentor was Michael Bloomberg
- Yahoo: Marissa Mayer’s mentor was Larry Page
Any surprises here for you? There were a couple for me.
Finding Your Mentor
You have determined you need guidance, so where do you go? In a Harvard Business Review article, “the supply-demand imbalance is severe: while more than 75% of professional men and women want to have a mentor, only 37% have one. What’s more, most of the people currently acting as mentors aren’t having as dramatic an impact as they could because they’re too narrowly focused on career advancement.” The author Rick Woolworth contends great mentors should focus on the whole person.
Here are ideas regarding where you can find your trusted advisor.
- Industry Meetups: Search this site to find local events to attend. For example, I found a Seattle tech mentoring event this week in Capitol Hill free-of-charge. Perhaps there is a similar event in your area.
- Professional Associations: Are you a member of a professional network? Most have monthly meetings and annual conferences. These are the perfect venues to meet like-minded professionals with experience that could be beneficial to your new venture or career journey.
- Former Colleague: In your career, have you worked with someone you admire who went on and attained your dream job? Reach out to them, tell them you want to meet for coffee or tea, and then catch up. If you feel connected, seize the opportunity to ask them to be your mentor.
- Social Media: I follow CEOs and entrepreneurs across a variety of fields, from technology to career consulting. They offer great advice on their blogs, newsletters, Instagram, and LinkedIn accounts. Consider these virtual mentors or take the next step and set up a call. This year I’ve reached out to more than two dozen people I admire across the globe. What’s great is you don’t have to stay in your backyard with virtual connections. Similarly, I have had ten people reach out to me for my expertise. To be clear, not all have been successful, but overall, I have benefited.
- Senior Management: Within your current company, find someone with a common interest that you believe could lend you support. If they have the bandwidth, they would be flattered to support a co-worker. If not, they aren’t your people, so contact someone else.
- Friends & Family: Last but not least, asked your personal friends for suggestions. Like asking friends for advice related to a repair person or medical professional, do the same for finding a mentor. Sometimes your mentor might be sitting across from you at the breakfast table. In my case, my husband has been a great mentor for when I started a business sales position since he was an executive with more than 20 years of sales success.
Meeting Optimization
Congratulations, you found your mentor! What’s next? It’s as simple as coordinating schedules for a one-hour meeting at the convenience of your new mentor and come prepared. Best practices include having a prepared agenda and bringing questions along with pen and paper. According to Effectiviology, “Writing notes by hand generally improves your understanding of the material and helps you remember it better, since writing it down involves deeper cognitive-processing of the material than typing it.” Plus, you’re less distracted with the technology of your phone, computer, or iPad. Close the meeting with the next steps and action items.
Follow Up
Make sure to send your new asset a handwritten or email thank you note. For content I would reiterate what you are striving for in the mentoring relationship. Next, establish your future meetups, whether in person, over the phone, or via Skype. As a mentor, I appreciate conviction, ambition, and people valuing my time. For example, just this week, I ran into someone while I was volunteering at an event. We have had dinner before to discuss her plans, and she asked to meet again in January. On my timetable wherever I wanted to go for another dinner. We’re booked on the second Thursday in January, and I look forward to touching base. Being a mentor adds to your well-being in terms of acknowledgment of your expertise and human connection.
Here’s to finding a mentor or becoming one for someone. Make it a continuous endeavor. It’s about giving back and not only during the holiday season.
Land your dream job. You deserve it!
