Sault College Career Essentials Mentors

Why Mentoring? Wouldn’t it be great to have someone you could count on to guide you on your transition from school to the workplace? This transition can be confusing and frustrating. Nearly anyone could benefit from the wisdom of someone who’s been through it and survived!

What is Mentoring? Mentoring is, above all, a relationship between someone with lots of experience and someone with little experience. It is designed to facilitate the less experienced person’s education and progress in a given field and help them feel more comfortable with the transition to workplace.

How To Find and Approach a Mentor Think about what you want from your potential mentor. Consider the following... Do you want a better picture of the industry you’re planning to go into? Do you want a mentor whose experience is like yours or one with a very different background? Would you consider a mentor outside your chosen field or do you prefer someone who can offer more specific guidance? Do you want to develop job-related skills? Do you want someone to whom you can bring your concerns and questions on an as-needed basis? Do you want regular appointments? Do you want critiques, advice, or both?

How To Find and Approach a Mentor If you’ve been networking, you may find that you’ve already met someone promising. Also, your professors can answer many of your specific questions and may even be willing to help you connect with experts in the field. If your program involves co-op, internship, or fieldwork placement, you’ll have opportunities to meet professionals in your field. It’s likely that if someone is willing to assist with your formal education, they may also be willing to be a mentor in the future.

How To Find and Approach a Mentor Once you have chosen someone you want to mentor you, you will have to ask them if they agree to it. Don’t panic: many established professionals are happy to help! On the other hand, many are also very busy. Someone you’ve spent time working with is more likely to agree to mentor you than someone whose name you’ve picked out of a directory.

Structuring your Mentorship Now is the time to communicate what you’re looking for. Your mentor will want to have some idea what it is you’re asking him or her to commit to. Instead of saying “I’m looking for a mentor,” try “I’d like to connect with a professional in the field who would be willing to meet with me once or twice a month to talk about challenges and solutions, and who might make some suggestions to help me better prepare to enter the job market.” That gives your potential mentor a much clearer picture of the kind of help you’re looking for, and helps him or her to make an informed decision about whether they would like to mentor you or not. The most important thing to keep in mind is that if you decide to work together, each of your responsibilities in this relationship should be explicitly planned, rather than assumed.