How to Ask Someone to be a Mentor
3 yrs ago
The benefits of mentoring are well documented—from increasing knowledge and improving skills, to enhancing competitiveness and career prospects. Knowing these potential gains, chances are, you are in pursuit of finding a professional who can engage with you in a mentoring relationship. In that case, we have created this simple guide to help you know how to ask someone to be a mentor. Be clear about what you want Your first order of business is to know what you want to accomplish. Do you need in-depth career advice? Do you want to bounce off ideas for a potential project? Do you want to work through roadblocks that are hampering your professional development? Asking these questions will allow you to identify the kind of mentor you want to work with, enabling you to narrow down your choices. Doing this will also help you to properly frame your request. Start with your network Asking a stranger to become your mentor is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Doing this is a surefire way to get ignored or rejected. After all, you are asking them to invest their time on you without knowing who you are, how you operate, or what value you can give to them. Much like friendship, successful mentoring is founded on a good relationship that gradually builds overtime. That being said, you want to start looking into your own network for people you already have relationships with. These may include a colleague or peer from a previous job, former bosses, experienced people you have excellent interactions with, or people in your field whom you admire and respect. The point is that you want to connect with someone whom you can have a mutually-rewarding and beneficial professional relationship with. If you cannot find someone in your circle who fits the bill, then that is the only time you should look outside your network. Do not ask right off the bat Another mistake you can make when figuring out how to ask someone to be a mentor is to ask them right off the bat. If you have already found a prospective mentor, work on getting into their radar first. Do this by following their work and providing support when an opportunity arises. If they are on social media and you are too, comment on the posts or blogs, share their updates, or open a discussion around their work or posts. By taking such actions, you are sending out a message that you are genuinely interested in what they do, which can spark a connection and conversation between the two of you. These can also demonstrate that you can be of service to them. Ask and make it clear Once you are able to cultivate a relationship with your target mentor and you believe there is a mutual affinity, make your move. A succinct email providing clear details about your intention can show how you value your prospective mentor’s time. Just make sure that you are specific about the area you would like to be mentored in and what skills of theirs you are looking forward to learn from. It is also important to demonstrate that you are flexible in terms of the mentoring arrangement and schedule. After all, you are asking them for help and you want to make sure that there will be no roadblocks that could make it difficult for them to help you. Being able to accommodate their schedule is an indication of your interest in the opportunity and your commitment to learn from them. Finding and approaching someone to become your mentor can be a challenge. But if you think things through in advance and work out a strategic plan, it is not impossible to find a mentor who can support you in navigating your career and working through the challenges you are facing. Still, if you are unable to find a mentor despite all the efforts you have put in on your search, a good alternative you can try is to join a mentorship platform like Speedy Mentors. Here, you will find professionals from across disciplines, who are ready to share their wisdom and experiences to people like you who are willing to learn and succeed. Being in the platform can help cut back your search time by half, and will give you access to some of the best industry professionals.
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