Where/when can I mentor?
Mentorship can occur anywhere. It can be in your ...
organization/company
team
local communities
online
You can think of it as an onion, peeling back different layers:
self > team > department > organization > industry
it can take place in physical locations
can happen online/remotely
You're the one taking the first step and initiative. Sometimes, people want to reach out, but feel uncomfortable/shy. Or they don't want to inconvenience. Similarly, they may not know who is willing to share.
Taking the initiative, you can mentor at:
schools
meetups
conferences
hackathons
internal events
organizations
More details coming soon.
You can be a like a lighthouse, signaling to others, "Hi, I'm here, feel free to reach out!"
For example:
posting a welcoming message (with what type of info to ask), on your
social media, Twitter pinned tweet/bio
LinkedIn summary
personal site/blog
For those with large followings, there are ways to manage with filters, email aliases, and more. More details to come.
See Mentorship Programs for more details
Coming soon ...
We have families, friends, hobbies, and other responsibilities. How do you fit mentorship in too?
It doesn’t have to be time consuming.
It can be an hour a month
10 minutes over a span of many months
Be mindful of when you can help, and then do it. Stay flexible and adaptable as your schedule changes.
The email
I enjoy business, product, data, psychology, tech and people. Awhile back, I reached out to an alumnus for career advice. He’s a busy individual, a co founder of a SaaS company. He replied with a lengthy email. There were follow-up questions, his opinions, and assumptions, and insights from his experience.
We never had a phone call. Or met in person. But that email exchange had an impact.
Time is not equal. I estimate that it took him about an hour to write that email. But at the same time, it easily saved me a few weeks worth of mine.
Coming soon ...