Really, Florida? This was her reaction when she found out her company was relocating from Jersey to Florida. This may sound great to many, but she loved her all black ensembles and the idea of people in tropical colors all year round, coupled with the effect of humidity on her hair, sounded awful. Regardless, she carefully considered what this move would do for her career. At the end of her pro/con list, there were just not enough pros to leave the Jersey Shore. So, she started interviewing (note: She had not declined the offer to move…yet). They say you need a job to get a job and in this case, that was true! She found herself with 3 competitive offers. What was she going to do?!

She needed input from her closest mentor. The problem – her closest mentor was also her current boss. She couldn’t help but think about how awkward it would be to tell her boss about her offers and get her opinion. But then again, this is the woman who had no shame in telling her to use shoe polish. Her mentor would be able to separate emotion from the decision and she knew that despite the awkwardness, she could not make this decision without her. Much to her surprise it was only awkward at the beginning. True to her character, her mentor unemotionally evaluated each offer and helped her make her decision. Let’s just say that she did not end up in Florida and her wardrobe full of black only expanded.

You need a mentor. There are a gazillion situations that will come up, minor to major, where you will need the guidance of a mentor. It could be something as small as reassurance during a crazy project. Or something a little bigger, like helping you decide your next career move.

Finding a mentor isn’t always easy. One of us was hired into a company that made it clear on her first day that she needed to find a mentor, but gave her no insight into who or how. That one took a minute…

If your company offers a mentor program be sure to take advantage of it. A mentor is great way to learn about the company and being assigned one by your organization, as part of a formal program, is a no-brainer. But this is not the only mentor you should have within your organization. Think about dating – blind dates set up by your friends are great in theory. Reality is that you may not click as well as they would hope. You may (will likely) need to find your own mentors too (read about formal and informal mentors in a later post).

If your organization doesn’t have a program in place, it is your responsibility to take the lead. We cannot stress this enough, no one is going to approach you to be their mentee (okay, sometimes they will), so you need to ask. But! Before you ask someone to be your mentor, think about whether they will be a good fit (e.g., someone that you like, someone that you admire, someone that you can learn from – more to follow in another post). And when approaching the potential mentor, you should:

• Ensure that both you and your potential have time for a mentoring relationship
• Set clear expectations with the mentor on frequency of meetings
• Know what you want to get out of the relationship
• Be clear with your mentor on your expectations
• This is a two-way relationship so your mentor should be getting something out of it as well

Keep in mind that you don’t always get it right the first time (think about dating- you probably aren’t with the same person you started dating freshman year, right? Ok, well if you read our story, you can guess that we aren’t and we also don’t have all our original mentors, not that they’re not great mentors for someone else…). It is super important to think about what you really want to see in a mentor/mentee relationship. You will definitely want to find someone you respect and who you feel comfortable with. Go a step further and challenge yourself – find someone who isn’t similar to you. It could be a different point of view and experience that will be eye opening and will help you in the long run. Or find someone who seems to have the same faults as you but seems to have them under control (one of us has a mentor like that and is always learning new ways to be better from this mentor’s experience).

And most importantly once you feel ready to take on a mentee, pay it forward.

From our experience, finding a mentor is a little like dating. It’s not necessarily easy, but can be pretty fun and beneficial.

You’ve heard our experience, let’s hear yours…