Keep an Eye out for Mentors

Most of us are trying to put our career puzzles together without a picture to follow. Some were fortunate to have the right mentors from an early age (who showed them that picture, and guided them along the way) ... some don’t know why they need a mentor, or why anyone other than their immediate families would want to mentor strangers (those people exist, you just have to show you are open to being mentored). 

Mentorship serves different purposes, and most people talk about these two forms of mentors: Coaches and Sponsors. 

Coaches are what most students normally think about when it comes to mentors. This is someone, typically with more experience than you, who advises you on your approach with a problem you are trying to solve. I mentor many people in this way. We have 30 min chats every 6 weeks, where I ask about how they are doing, what’s top of mind for them, and if I can help advise them on any particular topic. This last sentence sounds canned . . . all of that does happen but it's much more fluid and conversational. I also have people who coach me. They are not formal mentorship relationships; meaning, we don’t officially put a label on our relationship as mentor and mentee (although other advice out there will suggest that it’s important to make it official), but I look up to these people as mentors or coaches. I’m sure they view our relationship as one where they are helping me progress in my career.

I enjoy conversations with them. There are many examples where I have gotten great ideas on how to execute my projects, and I follow up to continue to get their advice and refine my work. For me, it’s all about them helping illuminate different options I had not thought of myself. When someone has travelled a path, experienced it, and knows where the turns and pitfalls are, they typically do a good job when they coach others on that same path. I take their advice and their comments seriously. I also watch out for when their advice misses the mark (when they talk about something they don’t have much experience in). 

A good coach or mentor will tell you when they don’t know. A really good one will help you think through how you might approach solving your problem, by asking you a lot of good questions (they don’t have to know the answer, but they know how they would think about the problem if they had to face it themselves).

The advantage of having these relationships is that you can have a few people to ping about something you are working on. It reduces the guesswork and the chance of you making mistakes. Over time, it helps boost your career progression vs. those that don’t have people advising them frequently. 

The second mentor type is a sponsor. A sponsor can open doors for you. Your relationship with them would be more formal than with a coach. You would treat them more like someone you need to impress. These are people who are usually much more senior than you; therefore, they have the leverage to open doors for you when the time is right (and if your relationship with them has evolved to a stage they would consider doing that for you). 

A mentor can be a peer, a professor, a senior person at your company, a 2nd cousin, etc. You don’t have to look too far for them. You just have to pay attention. A mentor is typically someone with more experience than you in some dimension AND has taken some sort of liking to you (you clicked with them). A common cue to spot a mentor is when someone frequently gives you feedback. Feedback is typically viewed negatively. But, it’s actually super positive when someone keeps giving you feedback, as their intention is likely that they want to see you improve. Another queue is someone who regularly checks up on you. They might say hi more frequently than others, or ask how you are doing and what you are working on even if they can easily get that update from your boss or otherwise. 

If you are not experiencing any of these cues, put yourself in situations where you might meet people with more experience than you. Join a club or a group you are interested in. People there have experiences that are varied and you’ll likely meet people you can learn from. Don’t shy away from groups related to culture, like Asian or Middle Eastern, etc. Take advantage of the fact that you have that similarity to engage, and keep an eye out for people you click with (whether they have more experience than you or not). If they have more experience, and you want to develop a mentorship relationship, don’t hesitate to ask them if they would be up for a coffee chat. Use your networking and communication skills to help start those conversations and develop them into relationships. If you are not confident in your skills, do it anyway, that’s the only way to practice and make it work for you. 

Some tips for organizing your approach to mentorship relationships:

Start a spreadsheet and make a list of all the potential or current mentors you have. Add columns for “Relationship” (where you know them from) - “Importance” (how senior are they, what doors can they open for you) - “Last Contact” (the date you last spoke with them) - “Context” (capture the notes from all your conversations). This should help keep you organized and keep the idea of mentorship top of mind for you. For those folks that are more important, set an agenda for each time you meet with them detailing what you want to discuss, and share it with them before your meeting. Towards the end of your meeting, ask them if they need help with anything and offer your time (to support them). After the meeting, follow up with a note thanking them for their time, and recap what you chatted about and what you are planning to do next. If some mentors are becoming less responsive, or pushing off meetings frequently, let them go, it’s ok. You don’t have to keep pushing to keep those relationships alive. If something comes up, down the road, where you could use their help, definitely reach out. You don’t have much to lose at that point. 

Ultimately, with or without mentorship, you are responsible for your professional success.

If you are determined, you will succeed, and you might even surprise yourself with the extent of your success. What mentorship offers is increased speed to success. To give this thought more color, I like to compare mentorship to “hints” when playing video games or solving a puzzle. When stuck, you can spend countless minutes or hours trying to move to the next level OR you can get a hint. If your game or puzzle doesn’t offer you a hint, in this day and age, you can go online (Google or YouTube) and you will likely find your hint. When you cultivate a network of mentors, it’s like having a cheat code (hints) for your professional career. Remember this as you progress on your journey.

My Challenge to You

1. I would be happy to mentor the first 3 people who reach out to me (focusing on your job-hunting journey). If you read this and are interested, send me a LinkedIn note mentioning that you read this article. 

Let us know how you did by using #InternationalStudentHandbook #challenge28 #InternationalStudents.

Keep a lookout for more “succeeding on the job” advice by following us on LinkedIn, or by checking out our International Student Handbook

Good luck with your job hunt!