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Email ThisThe road to success is always smoother when you have someone to champion and advise you. And with all the networking opportunities, business school is the perfect place to find a mentor like this. So why don’t you have one yet?
There are two basic things you should know about looking for a mentor. The first is that you have to be social. You don’t make friends by compulsively texting your friends or hiding in the bathroom at a party. The same goes for finding a mentor. Start talking to people! Do it in situations where it’s appropriate, like at a business cocktail party or lunch, and do it in situations where it might be totally inappropriate—like on the bus or in line at the deli. I have a bad habit of reading over people’s shoulders on the subway, and if they are reading something interesting I’ll comment on it. A lot of the time I get the “you talkin’ to me?” glare, but every now and then I’ll experience a meeting of the minds or an exchange of business cards. I met a former mentor of mine while on vacation in Florida—he overheard me talking to someone else about what I wanted to do after business school and chimed in with his advice.
The second thing you need to do is be successful, or on your way to becoming successful. Mentors want to get something out of the relationship, too, and being associated with a rising star is a lot better than being associated with someone who is average. At the end of the day they want to feel like they’ve contributed to your success, so for that to happen you need to actually have some to build on.
Ok, so you’re social and you’re successful, but you still don’t have a mentor. Where do you start looking?
Start at office hours. Professors are an often-untapped resource for mentorship. We tend to think of academics as out of touch with the real world, but business school professors are different. They are on the cutting edge of their fields, and most of them also do a lot of external consulting. Establishing a personal relationship with them and demonstrating a true interest in their subject will open up a whole new world of contacts to you. And you might even get better grades.
Many business schools have part-time MBA programs with evening classes. Try out some of these classes. Since the average part-time MBA student is older than the full-time student, and has more years of work experience, you’ll meet a whole new group of people from whom to learn. Evening classes are also often taught by adjunct professors, who have day jobs in the industries in which they’re teaching. This means they are ultra-connected.
Make use of your school’s alumni network. Often there are mixer events where alumni and current students can mingle. Attend these, and make sure you don’t spend all your time catching up with your friends at the open bar. School clubs also often have events specifically for past and present club members. One of the clubs I belonged to even had a ten-day international trip every year that was open to students and alumni, so it was a great opportunity to meet people with more experience and career insight.
Finally, if all else fails, be your own mentor. Sheila Wellington has a great book on this topic. Sit down and map out your goals and career path. Discuss them with the career center, with friends, and with anyone else who will listen. Read books on how to succeed in your field. Take assessment tests to determine your strengths and weaknesses and plan how take advantage of them. And keep searching, all the while. You never know where your mentor is going to pop up.
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