How to Find a Mentor

There are several advantages to having a mentor, especially in your professional life. The experience, knowledge, and contacts you stand to inherit from a mentor are immeasurable, but how do you get to that point? Follow these simple tips, and you’ll learn how to find a mentor that’s right for you.

Know Yourself

The first, and perhaps most challenging, part of finding a career mentor that fits your needs is to really understand what you are looking for. Take the time to figure out where you want to take your career. Set goals for yourself. Figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are. What are you particularly good at? What are the areas of your life that you could stand to improve? What are things you can do to actively work on shoring up the areas of your professional life that you aren’t fully satisfied with? It may help to sit down and write out all of these things. Something almost magical happens when you set down abstract concepts in writing. Insights become more palpable and goals feel more obtainable. Define who you are and what you are working towards.

While these are all exercises that are good in and of themselves, what do they have to do with finding a career mentor? Part of figuring out how to find a mentor is realizing that a mentor-mentee relationship requires participation from both parties. You can’t expect your mentor to do all the heavy lifting. By clearly defining who you are and what you want for yourself, you can express that clearly to your future mentor. You can demonstrate that you are an active participant in the relationship, and you can get exactly what you are looking for.

Build Your Network

The only way to find the right mentor is to get out into the world and meet the people in the field you want to master. The stronger your network is, the more likely you are to find the people with whom you truly click. Attend professional events and industry meetups in your field. Seek out volunteer and membership opportunities with professional organizations that are relevant to your career path. Inquire at your alma mater if there are any formal mentorship programs available. Failing that, you may discover that there are alumni events that are great opportunities to build your network. Also, you should make it known that you are seeking out a mentor amongst the individuals in your network. Someone whom you trust could very well provide an introduction that changes your career.

Let It Happen

You are unlikely to find the career mentor you need by asking total strangers to devote their time and energy into a relationship with someone they do not know. Your primary focus as you unravel how to find a mentor should be to focus on your own value and process. You need to be someone who is both enjoyable to mentor and someone worthy of your mentor’s expertise. Be the best version of yourself every day. Bring that best self into your network and let yourself be seen. As long as your remain actively working to better yourself and continue to seek out the mentorship you want, the foundations of the relationship will begin to form of their own accord.

Seek out people who you admire, people who align with your values. Be on the lookout for potential mentors with unimpeachable integrity, and then study how they deal with the challenges in their own careers. Stay open. Stay Honest. Stay seeking. The right relationship will eventually present itself, and you need to be ready for it.

Solidify the Relationship

Once you have found someone with whom you connect well and you feel would be a good fit for you as a career mentor, you need to define what that relationship will look like. Be clear about what you are seeking and what you are willing to bring to the relationship. Schedule regular meetings and check-ins with your mentor. Hold yourself accountable for reaching your goals. Be ready with questions and voice them appropriately. Also, be open to what your mentor has to share with you. Straight talk and honesty are like gold in the mentor-mentee relationship. It may not be always be easy to accept words that are critical, but they are invaluable to your development. A good mentor will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Be receptive and attentive. Well-defined roles with accountability for follow-through are the cornerstones of your relationship with your mentor.

A good career mentor can make a gigantic difference in getting all you want out of your professional life. You can benefit from years of industry insight and knowledge about how to navigate that sector, and how to build yourself up. Now that you have figured out how to find a mentor, be sure to explore additional professional advice on the Cydcor blog.

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We are Cydcor, the recognized leader in outsourced sales and marketing services located in Agoura Hills, California. From our humble beginnings as an independent sales company to garnering a reputation for consistently exceeding client expectations and driving outstanding revenue growth, Cydcor has been helping Fortune 500 and emerging companies achieve their customer acquisition, retention, and business goals since 1994. Cydcor takes pride in the unique combination of in-person sales, call center, and digital marketing services we offer to provide our clients with proven sales and marketing strategies that get results.