In this blog post, Julie Miller, Director, Career Strategies, recommends strategies and debunks some common myths surrounding the act of “Finding a Mentor”.
How to Find a Mentor
You’ve probably heard that it’s important to have a mentor. But you may be wondering: What is a mentor, who should that mentor be, and how do I ask someone to be a mentor?
Let’s begin with something important…
Myth: You need one person to be Your Mentor.
Reality: You’ll have several mentors which we’ll call your Personal Board of Advisors. More on that later!
Where do I begin?
You probably already have several mentors even if you don’t realize it:
Your favorite finance professor, whose views on the finance industry inspire you
A classmate from your undergraduate years, who works in an industry or city that interests you
Your Career Coach, whom you consult when composing a cover letter or updating your resume
Your cousin, who graduated from business school a few years ago and has launched their career
All of these are trusted sources of advice and ideas and guidance as you navigate your career strategy and your professional identity, and you could consider each of them to be a mentor to you.
What is a mentor?
A mentor is someone whom you trust and admire for guidance in your life. They may be someone who’s done a good job of building, growing, and navigating their own career; or someone who has expertise in something you’re trying to understand; or they’re a good sounding-board for you as you develop your own ideas; or they’re someone who just seems to know how to encourage you, support you, and cheer you on in life in general, and you find that helpful as you navigate your own career strategy. In short, they’re a trusted advisor to you in some dimension of your life. A phrase you’ll hear me say is, “There’s always someone who’s a step or two ahead of where you’re going. Find them, and ask them for advice.” That person would be one of your mentors, and thereby a member of your Personal Board of Advisors.
Where can I find mentors?
In addition to the mentors you already have (even if you don’t realize you have them), there are many sources where you can easily identify other mentors as your career and life evolve!
- People you already know and trust for advice, ideas, and guidance – friends, family, friends of family, family of friends
- Undergraduate classmates
- Graduate school classmates
- Undergraduate and graduate professors
- Undergraduate and graduate alumni
- People you meet at meetings, conferences, workshops, parties, the gym
How do I ask someone to be my mentor?
The good news is that generally, you don’t need to actually say to someone: “Would you be my mentor?” Instead, mentorship typically grows organically.
Here’s an example: You’ll speak with a finance professor after class to ask their advice or observations on a finance topic as you’re preparing for a job/internship interview. A few days later, you’ll thank the professor and update them on how the interview went. The next time you interview, you may ask the professor for additional guidance, or you might thank them again for their earlier advice to let them know how helpful they’ve been. Over time, you’ll reach out to that professor from time to time with updates on how you’re doing, to ask how they’re doing, and sometimes to seek additional guidance on something related to your career. As those conversations develop over time, that professor has organically become a mentor to you.
And at the same time, you’ll also have occasional conversations with others – a trusted relative, a friend of the family, a classmate, an alum – on various topics related to your career, maybe as you prepare to ask for a promotion, or consider changing jobs, or explore how to have better work/life balance. Over time, you’ll seek and receive mentorship from many people, each of whom supports you in parts of your career journey. It may be easiest to think of mentorship this way: Together, these mentors become your Personal Board of Advisors.
What’s my Personal Board of Advisors?
Your Personal Board of Advisors is the collection of your mentors – the group of people from whom you seek guidance and advice from time to time on a variety of topics in your life, including your career strategy. Your Personal BOA is unique to you, similar to how your friend group is unique to you.You can keep adding mentors to your Personal BOA as your career strategy evolves.
And note that you did not have to ask anyone, “Would you be my mentor?”
So, here are mentorship concepts to remember:
Myth: I need to ask someone, “Will you be my mentor?”
Reality: Mentorship typically develops organically
Myth: I need one person to be my all-purpose mentor
Reality: I’ll receive mentorship from many people during my career, each of whom may offer guidance in a different and unique range of dimensions as I navigate my career strategy and professional development. Another way of thinking of this is that all of these mentors together constitute my Personal Board of Advisors.
And finally:
Myth: Mentorship is formal and transactional
Reality: Mentorship is relational, and you and your mentors benefit most when you reach out to them from time to time with general updates about your career, and ideally, to thank them for how their mentorship and guidance have helped support your career strategy. Mentors appreciate and enjoy keeping informed about what’s happening in your life, especially when it’s related to their mentorship and guidance!
