How To Land A Mentor Who’ll Fast Track Yr Career & Get You That Sweet Mula

We’re too quick to view the success of someone – be it their title, seniority or wage – and assume that they’re the be-all / end-all. The right mentor for you mightn’t be the biggest wig out there, or make all that more money than you do. The right mentor for you needs to be, first and foremost,someone you get along with. This isn’t a group assignment at uni. Having a mentor is a choice by both parties, so unless y’all are going to be pals, don’t bother.

Additionally, try and find folks who have the same strengths, skills and way of thinking as you. Oh, and don’t just get fixated on one candidate. Suss several people you like the look of.

Not literally, fam. But keep in mind that this is 2017 – the ways in which to familiarise yourself with someone, their work and their views (+ pretty much any other segment of information a burgeoning professional could ever want for) are practically endless.

This is also your chance to suss the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates you landed on before. In doing so, you’ll be able to set realistic expectations of what to gain from a relationship with them. Keep in mind that they’re not superhuman, they’re just successful – they won’t have an answer for everything you pose them, or even be able to comprehend the best course of action for you from time to time.

Reach out to the person you’ve researched and ask if you can pick their brain about a few things. You’d be surprised at how agreeable most folks are to this.

In the same way you wouldn’t expect to marry the person you go on a Tinder date with, don’t expect that this initial meeting will result in an ongoing mentorship situation. It’s just a way to suss their suitability for you, and you to them.

What should this catch up look like? Depends on the person. When I posed the idea of catching up for a coffee (in an attempt to come across kinda professional) to my mentor, she laughed and said we should get a wine instead. It all depends on the mentor, and hopefully you can gauge the best situation to invite them to after your research.

Have a long, hard think about how your initial catch up with your potential mentor. Did they shut your ideas down? Were they receptive to your ideas? Did they respect your concerns, even if they might seem trivial when stacked against theirs?

Don’t jump into bed with someone you’re unsure about. Think of it like an Uber driver: odds are you’ll either give them five stars, or something below three if they were exceptionally crappy. If you’d rate your catch up in the one to four star category, they’re probably not the teacher for you.

If they made the cut, make sure you follow up almost immediately in a chilled manner (like an email – phone calls are a bit much given you physically just saw them) thanking them for their time and requesting to tee-up another meeting.

It’s not dating, so don’t worry about coming across as an eager beaver – quick action like this is almost always perceived as ambitious, not creepy.

Just like a relationship with a mate, you’re probably not going to become BFFL off the back of one catch up. You’ll probably still be assessing the lay of the land after several.

That’s no excuse, however, to try and put the scenario on steroids. The good stuff will come naturally after a bit of time and open dialogue. Trying to make it evolve faster than any given relationship naturally would will likely backfire.

Guess what? Your mentor’s going to challenge you at some point. It might come in the form of questioning your decisions, examining your overall work ethic or calling your angst toward your manager unfounded, but regardless, it’ll happen.

Don’t just call it quits because they don’t agree with you. The whole point of a mentor is to guide you in the right directions and hopefully not make the same mistakes that they did. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Ask them how you could’ve tackled things better, or why something didn’t have the outcome you wanted it to. No one likes being the bad guy who calls out someone’s behaviour, so you’ll likely need to coerce them into it.

The key, good people of the internet, to a successful mentorship scenario is to be acutely aware that it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Why would anyone do anything for you if they aren’t set to gain diddly-bloody-squat? There will always be something you can leverage and give them in return for their guidance.

This could be in the shape of offering your insight as a young person on a particular topic – a way of thinking that just isn’t tangible for someone more embedded in their career. Or, it could be your experience doing your mentor’s job at the lowest level. People aren’t that willing to express the grievances they have at the bottom of the food chain to those above them, but if you’re external to your mentor’s business, passing along the challenges you face could help them improve the quality of existence of those they manage.