How to Find a Mentor

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring, simply put, is the act of an individual sharing their knowledge, skills and/or experience, to help another individual to progress. Mentoring can be applied to all aspects of life, such as personal, educational and professional growth. At PushFar, we focus on professional and career mentoring. We know that finding a mentor can be a challenge, but mentoring is vital for career progression and success.

Mentoring can be carried out either face-to-face, over the phone, on a video call or sometimes even via messaging platforms. Mentors typically mentor their 'mentee' for anywhere from a few weeks to several years, with most mentoring relationships lasting for around 6 months. We always recommend starting a mentoring relationship for 6 months, with an introductory mentoring meeting to kick-off the professional relationship.

There are no formal rules to mentoring and it is designed to be flexible. Mentors and mentees can both set the expectations and work out what works best for themselves. Mentoring meetings usually last for between 30 minutes and an hour, but some meetings might be even shorter and provide a brief update between the mentor and mentee. Ultimately, the aim of mentoring is for the mentor to support the mentee with their objectives. Mentoring is not about management but rather about goal setting and career progression, with support from someone who has had personal experience of certain challenges in their own career.

How can I Find a Mentor?

There are a vast number of ways in which an individual can work to improve the efficiency of their career progression and climb the career ladder at a greater rate. Below are a few key ways in which you can do so.

• Networking

Professional networking is a fantastic way to both level-up your career but also can be a great way to meet others both within your industry, company, city and further afield too. Networking can increase the chances of meeting other professionals who might be a good mentoring fit. So, we would definitely recommend ensuring you are proactively networking, where possible. There are lots of different ways in which you can network and we've written an article with a few top tips to help you. You can read our professional networking article here. When networking to find a mentor, make sure those you are speaking with know that you're looking for a mentor and understand what you are looking for from a mentor too. Attending networking events, exploring virtual networking communities, online professional networks and exhibitions where there are networking break-out sessions are all great ways to begin networking to find a mentor.

• Asking Your Manager

If you are working in a larger organisation then there might be an existing mentoring programme that you can join. A lot of companies offer mentoring schemes, programmes and networks, to help employees to find mentors and mentees. Ask your manager whether they can either advise you on a mentoring programme within the company or whether they can find you a mentor within the company. If your manager is unable to provide you with effective advice, then the best department to speak with is HR and/or learning and development. Human Resources are almost always the department charged with mentoring programmes, mentor matching and career progression, so they may well know about how to find a mentor, even if your manager does not. Finding a mentor in an organisation doesn't necessarily require you speaking to your manager either though. You can always take the initiative to network within your organisation to find a mentor.

• Alumni Networks

Some schools, colleges and universities offer old-student alumni networks. These can be a great place to go to find people who've shared educational experiences as you. These alumni networks sometimes also offer mentoring programmes as well. So, have a look at what your old school, old college or old university is doing on the alumni network front and see whether there might be some way in which you can find a mentor through these channels. What is more, even if your old school, college or university doesn't offer any mentoring scheme, you could always offer to start one. Educational institutes almost always keep alumni networks active and would usually encourage mentoring schemes.

• PushFar

PushFar is a network that can help connect you with other professionals and experts in your industry and industries you are looking to work in. Launched early in 2019, PushFar has developed a platform to help you to find a mentor and to stay on top of career progression in a number of exciting aspects of the day-to-day professional world. From networking events and job opportunities through to mentor connectivity and day-to-day work planning, PushFar is the answer to helping you PushFar. With thousands of registered mentors and mentees, our platform helps professionals and students to find a mentor, manage mentoring relationships, set goals, schedule mentoring meetings and much more.

• Family & Friends

If you've tried all the other suggested options above and you're still struggling to find a mentor, then approaching family members or friends might be a good alternative. While we wouldn't necessarily recommend appoiting either a family member or a friend as a mentor (as mentoring works best when it's kept professional and slightly removed from your personal life), it may well be that family members or friends will have access to a suitable mentor for you within their own networks'. So, make sure you ask your family and friends whether they know anyone suitable to be your mentor. You never know who they might be able to introduce you to.

Can I Find a Mentor Online?

Yes! You absolutely can find a mentor online. There are some incredible online mentoring resources, tools and platforms designed to help you to find a mentor. At PushFar, we run a network with thousands of professionals and students, connecting, networking and ultimately finding themselves a mentor or mentee (or often both!). Our mentor matching can help mentors and mentees to be matched with suitable individuals, based on experience, skills, locations and industries. Mentoring online can be done via Skype, or similar video call tools, messenger or even used to schedule in face-to-face mentoring meetings.

How can PushFar help?

PushFar is the professional career progression, mentoring and networking platform with thousands of registered professionals. The platform offers an intelligent array of tools and solutions to help individuals and businesses with career progression, mentor matching and professional networking too. Click here to sign up and level-up your career today.