Episode 18

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Published on:

14th Mar 2025

Episode 18 Why having a mentor will boost your career

In this episode Sarah explores the power of mentorship in career growth. She shares the key benefits of having a mentor, how to identify what you need from a mentoring relationship, and practical ways to find the right mentor for you. Whether you're looking for guidance, career development, or industry connections, mentorship can be a game-changer. Learn how to take a proactive approach to finding and working with a mentor!

Show Notes:

[00:00] – Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable and introduction to the episode

[02:00] – Why mentorship is your career secret weapon & why so few people have mentors

[03:00] – The research: 76% of professionals believe in mentorship, but only 37% have one

[04:00]12 key benefits of mentorship, including career growth, networking, confidence-building, and navigating leadership challenges

[06:00] – Sarah’s personal experience with mentors & how they helped her career transitions

[08:00] – How to identify what you need from a mentor (role model, industry expertise, networking, leadership support, etc.)

[09:00] – Finding the right mentor: Industry fit, seniority, chemistry, and shared values

[10:30] – Different routes to finding a mentor: Workplace programs, LinkedIn networking, professional groups, and mentorship platforms

[12:00] – How to build a connection and approach a potential mentor with confidence

[13:00] – Setting up a successful mentorship relationship: Time commitment, expectations, and boundaries

[14:00] – The value of becoming a mentor yourself and how it benefits your career

[15:00] – Final thoughts, free career resources, and how to stay connected

Useful Links

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If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: sarah@careertreecoaching.co.uk

You’re capable of more than you know. Shine brightly, lead boldly, and be unstoppable!

Transcript
Speaker:

Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,

the podcast for ambitious female

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leaders who want to create more impact,

income, and influence in their careers.

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feel connected to their passion

and purpose, but without

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selling out or burning out.

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I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach

and career strategist, helping women

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like you thrive in leadership roles

while staying true to your values.

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I'm the founder of CareerTree

Coaching and have over 15 years of

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coaching experience and significant HR

leadership experience to share with you.

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I know as a female leader it can

be hard to find time to focus

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on your career aspirations.

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The day job can be all consuming.

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Plus, no matter how senior you are,

there are always going to be times

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when you feel stuck, when you have

self doubt, or feel like an imposter.

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And that's where unstuck

and unstoppable comes in.

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Each week I'll be sharing practical

strategies, insightful interviews and

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inspiring stories to help you boost

your confidence, lead with purpose

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and achieve sustainable success.

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If you're ready to stop playing

small and unlock the incredible

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potential you have within you and feel

unstoppable, you're in the right place.

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Let's get started.

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Welcome to episode 18.

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I'm really glad you're here today.

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We're going to talk about how a

mentor can help you in your career.

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What I thought we'd talk about is

some of the benefits to having a

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mentor and then what you can do to

identify what it is you want and how

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you can find the right mentor for you.

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Because when I was looking at this

there's not much information that out

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there about how you can find a mentor.

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Often it's about how you

set up a mentoring scheme

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or how you can be a mentor.

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So I thought it'd be useful to

do this today around mentoring,

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because it really is your secret

weapon in your career arsenal.

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There was some research done, I

think in:

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3, 000 professionals, and I think

around 76 percent said they I thought

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having a mentor was a great idea,

but only 37 percent actually had a

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mentor, which is surprisingly low.

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I think, there's not that many people out

there who've organized a mentor and it

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can really boost your career having one.

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You don't have to wait for your

organization to find one for

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you or to have it as part of

some career development program.

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You can be proactive in deciding

you want to have a mentor and

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finding the right person for you.

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And that's what we're

going to talk about today.

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What are the benefits to having a mentor?

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I've come up with about 12 but

I'm sure there's probably ones

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that I haven't thought of.

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Certainly there's that

encouragement and support.

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for your own growth and development.

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We do have to be agents

in our own development.

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So having someone there that can support

you with that and get you to think

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about the areas that you might need

to focus on or that you have gaps in

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terms of where you want to be taking

your career can be incredibly useful.

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Similarly, if you're in a leadership

role or you're moving into a leadership

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role, having a mentor to help navigate

the challenges of leadership can be

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incredibly useful as well if they've

already done that walked that walk.

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Mentors can give you feedback on

your behavior or your performance.

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So you're not in a managerial sense,

but in terms of learning, learning

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sense, particularly if they're

working in your organization.

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They can also be a great sounding board

for ideas or for innovation in your area.

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And they can also help

challenge your thinking.

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So get you to look at things

from different perspectives.

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You can learn from the experience

that they have as well.

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, they can be advocates for you within your

organisation or within your industry.

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And they can also connect you with

people who can be useful in your career.

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They can open doors for you.

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And they can also be inspiring.

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They can be a role model that you can

feel shares the same values as you and

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are doing the role that you want to

be doing at some point in your career.

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Plus they can help build your confidence

and your self awareness, which is, key

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in terms of moving your career forward.

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Then they can also be useful

if you're moving into a new

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role or you're moving into a new

field or having a career change.

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I have had two mentors in my career.

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One was when I was in my HR career and

I'd got a new role as an HR manager,

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but it was a standalone HR role.

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I was setting up the HR function.

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I had a mentor who was an HR

director in a sister organization.

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And he was just great at giving me

that support, that space to be able

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to think about the ideas that I had

for the HR function and also how

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to navigate some of the challenges

and the loneliness of being the

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only HR person in the organization.

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So I found it incredibly valuable.

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And then the second time I had a mentor

was when I changed career and became

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a career coach working in a social

enterprise, and I had a peer mentor then.

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So that was another career coach in the

organization who was more experienced

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than me, who really helped me.

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Navigate that transition from being

an HR director to being a career

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coach and starting essentially all

over again with a new field, new

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language, new way of being really.

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And she helped me make that

transition faster, and feel supported

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in a very busy organization.

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I'm a real advocate for mentors,

both formal and informal.

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If you're interested in having a mentor,

the first thing to do is to think about

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what you need from that relationship.

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Why do you want a mentor?

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What do you want to get

from that relationship?

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And it could be a combination of

the things I've just mentioned

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in terms of the benefits.

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You could be looking for

it for, a role model.

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It could career development, filling

the gaps, getting more experience.

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It could be the access to networks and

contacts, or it could be that sounding

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board, challenging ideas, innovation.

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It could be a combination, but being

clear about what you want from

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it will help you then be clearer

about who's going to be the best

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person to give you what you need.

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Which is my second point , which is to

be clear about your mentor's background.

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What do you want them to have in terms

of experience or approach for it to

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be a good productive relationship.

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So thinking about do they

need to be in your industry?

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Do you want them to have

expertise and knowledge in the

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area that you're working in?

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Or actually do you want somebody

different who's going to be working

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in an aligned field or a different

field who can give you a different

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way of thinking and approaching some

of the ideas or your way of working?

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also thinking about the seniority.

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Do they need to be somebody

who is more senior to you?

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And how far from you

do you want them to be?

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Do you want them to be just that one

level up as I had with the HR director?

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Or do you want them to be significantly

further in their career than you?

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Or do you feel actually a peer mentor

is something that you would benefit for?

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Thinking about the background

of your mentor, but also the

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chemistry because chemistry is

always important in a relationship.

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So thinking about what do you respond

best to, what kind of behaviors Do you

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respond to or, values to do they need

to embody the same values that you have

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in order for that relationship to work.

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Being clear about background, but also

about chemistry that you want from the

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mentor to and what you can start to think

about then is, the routes to finding

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your mentor because there are different

routes and you can experiment with them.

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So you can start off by thinking , is

there somebody in my organization?

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Do I know somebody who I've seen and I'm

impressed with, I feel inspired by, that

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they share my values that I would like

to be mentored as I said, maybe doing the

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role that you want to be doing either.

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now or in the near future.

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And then you can think about making a

direct approach to them, or you could

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talk about it with your line manager

as part of your career development.

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You could broach the subject that you'd

like to have a mentor, because your line

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manager will know you, they'll know your

style and your personality, and they'll

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also have contacts in your industry.

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If you are thinking of an industry.

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So they could be the perfect person

to be that bridge to introduce you to

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somebody who could be a mentor for you.

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And similarly, it's worth

investigating if your organization

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has any formal mentor schemes.

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Chatting with your HR department about

whether there are any formal mentor

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opportunities within the organization.

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But then also you've got your own

networks and LinkedIn is also a

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great resource for finding people.

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You can start doing some research

around who your possible mentor could

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be, in terms of either industry,

companies they're working for, jobs

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that they're doing their visibility.

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in your sector.

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And there could be people known

to you or people unknown to you.

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It's doing some research and starting

to notice people who you feel could

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fit the criteria that you have.

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And then there are also trained mentors.

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There are, portals that

link people who want to be a

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mentor with potential mentees.

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And, the advantage to that is that

person's already thought about becoming

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a mentor, they might already have been

a mentor previously, they understand

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how the relationship works, and they are

trained in terms of understanding how to

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provide the right support, ask the right

questions, and get the best out of you.

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You could do some research

around some of those organizations

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that, that link people.

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I've got a couple for you here.

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There's one called mentorsme.

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co.

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uk and that puts small business owners

in touch with business people as mentors.

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And there's also one called mentalset.

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org.

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Uk, which puts independent mentors

with women working in STEM.

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That's a couple of examples, but

there will be others out there as well.

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So that can definitely be

another route to explore.

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But as I said, there's there

are different routes, there's

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formal and informal routes.

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And it's worth just experimenting

and seeing which route, generates

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the best result for you.

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Once you've you've identified your

potential mentor, then you've got to think

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about getting them to say yes to you if

they're not in some sort of formal scheme,

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starting to build your relationship

with them and getting onto their radar

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is the first point of call, . And

again, LinkedIn can be useful at this.

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If they're active on LinkedIn, you can

start by connecting with them,, and

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then, liking and commenting on their

posts so that they start to see you.

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I think there's some stats, which

is something like only 1 percent

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of LinkedIn users are active.

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So if someone comments on your

post, you certainly know about

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it and you're grateful for it.

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So you can start to build that

relationship, or if they're active

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on Twitter, retweeting their tweets

or commenting on the tweet, can

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be another way of making that

connection using social media.

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But you can also look for how active

they are in other ways as well.

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So if they're an active network

and they're attending networking

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events or conferences where you

know that they're going to be there.

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And if you can attend the same

event and find a way to, introduce

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yourself and have an initial chat

with them, you might not choose to

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mention that mentor idea yet to them.

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You want to warm them up and start

to build that relationship with them.

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But certainly getting to know

them and you can also start to

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review, am I an attractive mentee?

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Would I want to mentor me?

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Do I show through my activity in my sector

or my organization or on LinkedIn that

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I'm committed to my own development,

that I'm committed to my learning, that

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I'm committed to my career progression?

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As a mentor you probably always

want to work with somebody who is a

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motivated individual who wants to use

the time and get the most from it.

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So thinking about how you can show that

you are that person is also valuable.

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And then when you've started to build

that relationship with them, you can

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then make an initial approach to

have a conversation with them, or take

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them out for coffee, to meet them to

chat about whether they would do it,

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be amenable to becoming your mentor.

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And let's face it.

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Most people are going to be incredibly

flattered if you approach them

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and ask them so don't shy away

from making that initial approach.

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Often people can't become mentors

because of the time commitment.

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If you can be clear about the time

commitment that you're looking for

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from them, if it's maybe one hour

a month with you coming to them or

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doing it on Zoom, so it's easy for

them that it's, you're going to make

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it easier for them to say yes to you.

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Thinking about what that time

commitment might look like can be can

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be helpful at getting them to say yes.

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And then once, once they've agreed,

which hopefully they will Most

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mental relationships work effectively

if you've got clear boundaries.

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So you can think about setting

up an informal contract with each

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other about how it's going to work.

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And that can include things like

regularity of meetings for how long.

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It can also include Things like

confidentiality, which is really

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important, and the goals that you

have for the mentor relationship.

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And you could even build in

a sort of break clause to it.

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So to review the relationship,

maybe after three months.

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And then if it's not working,

you can both agree to go your

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separate ways, or you can, extend

it and continue the relationship.

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But being upfront and honest about

it is setting up for success.

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If you don't have clear boundaries,

then things can get muddy and people

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can not know what their role is

or how much is expected of them.

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I hope that's been useful to you about

thinking about what you want from a

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mentor and how then you can find a mentor.

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And once you've got them, how you can

make sure that mentor relationship works.

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And of course, you can think

about becoming a mentor yourself

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as well, because that's also

good for your career development.

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There could be more junior employees

or people in your community or, through

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a voluntary capacity, who you could

mentor and also get the benefit of

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being a mentor, as well as looking

for someone who will mentor you.

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Thank you so much for listening

to this episode of the Unstuck

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and Unstoppable podcast.

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I have lots of free resources you

can access on my website, ww.career

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tree coaching.co

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uk, and I'll also put

links in the show notes.

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If you found this episode

helpful, then please subscribe

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so you don't miss the next one.

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And please do share it with a

friend and leave me a review

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and I will personally thank you.

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Remember, you're capable of more

than you know, shine brightly.

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Lead boldly and unlock the

extraordinary potential within you.

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Be unstoppable.

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About the Podcast

Unstuck & Unstoppable
Career Talk For Ambitious Women
Unstuck & Unstoppable is the go-to podcast for ambitious female leaders ready to amplify their impact, boost their income, and achieve career success on their own terms—without burning out or compromising their values. Hosted by Sarah Archer, a leadership coach and career strategist dedicated to empowering women in leadership, this show provides the tools, strategies, and inspiration you need to thrive in your career.
Whether you’re looking to overcome imposter syndrome, enhance your leadership skills, or create a sustainable path to success, each episode will offer actionable insights, expert interviews, and real-life stories to help you take your career to the next level.
It’s time to stop playing small, unlock your full potential, and create the impact you’re destined for. Tune in weekly to discover how you can lead boldly, live fully, and succeed with confidence and integrity.

About your host

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Sarah Archer