Finding a good Mentor, Here’s How, if you are looking For a Mentor?

Here’s How to Find a Good One if you are looking For a Mentor?

Apr 28, 2017

By Nishant Tandon

You have just graduated or been out of school for a while, and are still figuring out how to navigate your career. Or maybe you chose to become an entrepreneur and now you find yourself in need of insights from an inside source. The process does not have to be daunting.

You can always get a mentor. Someone who has been there before you, been in the game a longer time, and can pass on one or more things to you. Your mentor should be a person who relates to you career-wise or business wise, someone who understands your industry.

How do you go about identifying a mentor?

Here are 5 steps to follow when looking for a mentor

1. Identify a mentor

Remember; it’s more about the person and not the position. Take your time to source that ideal mentor who you wish to emulate. Make sure you identify at least three in order to vet them.

Conduct a check-up on them, in terms of what they do, how they do it, and their public person. And then, evaluate each possible mentor against what you are looking for and pick the best match for you.

Find a mentor who will challenge your thinking and show you the possibility of a different way of approaching issues and/or problems.

2. Reach out

Reach out to them. Someone will never say YES or NO if you don’t ask. So take the time to prepare your pitch and go for it. If you don’t know the person, be sure to introduce yourself and what you are about.

Let them know what you have identified with them and go straight to the point. Share exactly what you want from them, after giving your pitch. After this initial attempt to reach out, request for a meet-up.

3. Meet-up

The meet-up might happen as soon as you wish or take a longer time. Be patient if your mentor is busy for a meet-up as we all get busy time after time. When the meet-up finally happens, come with those questions that you have been grappling with about your career or business.

Dress the part; don’t go looking like you just stepped out of a club. If in doubt, official or smart casual is always safe. Take notes; don’t just assume you will remember everything that will be discussed.

4. Evaluate the meet-up

After the meet-up, evaluate how things went and how you felt. This is best done within 12-24 hours of the meet-up when the moment is still fresh. Some of the things to assess are;

-Was the meet-up engaging or was it a monologue? If it was the latter, that’s a red flag. The interaction should be conversational, both of you should weigh in.

-Did you leave the meeting feeling better about yourself or you left the same as you came? Personally, I say you should leave such a meet-up feeling better or “worse”. That’s how you know that you have been challenged to a point you need to work extra hard and learn more.

-Was there a connection made or not? If there was no connection, then that is not a good match and you need to seek out someone else.

If the above pointers were positive, get to work and do what you agreed upon with your mentor, and start planning on a follow-up meeting. Be sure to follow-up thanking your prospective mentor for their time and insights. This will be a good time to say you would like to have a second meeting.

Let the language you use be subtle and convincing. Avoid showing desperation as this is still a vetting phase.

5. Grow with each step

Don’t force it. Let things work out naturally with both of you putting in the time and effort. You will find that everything will start working out and some serious feedback will be coming your way.

Feedback can be hard to take, but it’s healthy as what you do with the feedback determines your growth. This is the beginning of the journey where you start getting molded into the person you have been looking to become.

Thanks & Regards

Nishant Tandon

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