Peer Resources
Peer Resources'
Find a Mentor Services
"If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it."
~ Jonathan Winters ~
To help you find a mentor, we have provided the following two options:
Find a Mentor Services Available on the Internet
- NOTE: While Peer Resources has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses and other contact information for the 120+ services listed here, neither Peer Resources nor the curating team assumes any responsiblity for errors, or for changes that occur while this page is online. Further Peer Resources does not have any control over or any relationship with these web sites or their content. If any user encounters errors or problems (or suspicious content), please contact the curator team at info@peer.ca.
- Executive/CEO Peer Groups - A list of dozens of structured, fee-based groups that are available where C-suite executives can meet with each other in a confidential group to learn how to deal successfully with both their unique and common issues. (This list and details of each group are maintained by Peer Resources and is continuously updated.)
- Business in Bare Feet- Provides mentors and support for mentoring initiatives in businesses around the world. They provide face-to-face group and individual sessions. Fees are involved for mentoring, and there is a free membership option. Located in Queensland, Australia and experienced in providing mentoring at a distance. Founders are members of Institute of Chartered Accountants and affliated with foundations, universities and business incubators. Tel: +61414870227; email: team@businessinbarefeet.com. Twitter.
- MentorCity - An online mentoring service that connects people to mentors. No cost, but invitations, which can be obtained by leaving an email address on the site, are needed to access the form for becoming a mentor or to find a mentor. Tel: (888) 532-7503; email: info@mentorcity.com Twitter
- MENTORCanada - A free service called "Mentor Connector" that has been designed to connect volunteer mentors and youth across Canada. A searchable database helps both volunteer mentors and those seeking a mentor to find potential sources to complete their mentoring relationship. Organizations can submit the details of their group as well details about specific mentoring programs. Programs that are independent of organizations can also submit their data to be included in the Connector. MENTORCanada has links within all social media sources. Additional contact details: 1.800.263.9133 ext 59; info@mentoringcanada.ca.
- CricketMedia: Virtual Mentoring Portal - An online mentoring service that connects grade 3-5 students with mentors, who are screened and comply with safety protocols. Works through a browser (not an app) and can be customized for language and literacy characteristics. Focus of this portal is on increasing engagement between the mentor and those mentored.
- Friends First MentorLife - A Denver, Colorado-based non-profit established in 1993 online cross age, group peer-mentoring program that connects one upperclass mentor with four younger students in a school-based environment. Their program is referred to as "STARS."
- iCouldBe - A New York City virtual mentoring portal that provides high school students with an online community of professional mentors to help teens stay in school, plan future careers, and achieve in life.
- All Inclusive e-Mentoring Portal - A list of virtual mentoring portals for children and youth maintained by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership.
- Toronto Fashion Incubator (TFI) - Described as a mentoring service for this in or considering the fashion industry, this service is more like a consultation or teaching service. Membership is required to receive 120 minutes of free, personalized, private, one-on-one consultation time to use within a membership year. Some levels of membership require fees. Topics include help with a business plan, discovering how to build cohesiveness in a product line, learning the proper way to approach and follow up with retail buyers and more. Many of the mentors and their qualifications are listed on the site. Twitter
- MAX - Muslim Awards for Excellence - This service is designed to assist Canadian Muslims with early career growth and development. People can apply to be mentors or mentees to help Canadian-Muslims break the glass ceiling and build a culture of excellence. Mentor/mentee meetings can be in-person or online, and an orientation session is held yearly. Tel: (888) 532-7503; email: info@mentorcity.com Twitter
- Alberta Global Talent Mentorship Program - This program matches trained, professional and skilled individuals that have the experience and willingness to share with immigrants who are looking for employment in a variety of fields or have been recently hired. The are continually seeking mentors and those who want to be mentored.
- Book A Mentor - Become a mentor or find a mentor in virtually any field, including finance, human resources, leadership, marketing and technology. Primarily a fee-based services, but a 14-day free trial of the service is available. Difficult to learn the fee system from the home page, but appears that users who want to be mentors must become members at $99.00/monthly; how to connect with mentors not apparent; may promise more than it delivers; could be a lead generation and marketing scheme that promotes mentoring. No contact details are available on website.
- Connect Mentors - Based in London, England this service will find three available mentors in your sector based on your age, qualifications, work experience, location and work interests. You can then message that mentor what new skills you are hoping to acquire. They are supposed to get back to you within a few days.
- Youth BIIS - This organization provides free mentoring, coaching, and networking support to young adults, age 18-29 who are interested in starting a business. An application is available on the website asking for detailed information. They also provide no-cost business plan writing support, workshops, and business visits.
- MentorSet - A UK-based mentoring scheme, started in 2002, to support women in science, engineering and technology. It is coordinated by the Women's Engineering Society (WES) and is open to WES members and their partner organisations. Open to corporate and student participation. Mentors and mentees both receive training. Twitter
- Mentor Match - A UK-based mentoring scheme where individuals provide some details about their skills, what they'd like to learn (or improve), and the service provides the names of potential mentors to contact. Twitter
- Aspire Canada - An online mentoring service that connects people to mentors. This site is less interested in providing a relationship and more dedicated to providing advice. Dozens of mentors are available at no cost. To use the site, visitors must sign up.
- MentorshipBC -
This Canadian non-profit organization connects small business owners to mentorship programs across British Columbia. Mentors are screened and meet specific standards; they are also trained, and keep discussions confidential. In addtion to matching small business owners with mentors, the website provides many resources to starting or growing a small business. (There is no fee for matching or mentoring.)
- Career Skills Incubator -
This Canadian non-profit organization provides a mentor/mentee matching system that goes beyond just meeting and includes goal setting. Contact mentorship@careerskillsincubator.com to get involved.
- Esquire Magazine's Mentoring Project -
This magazine has established a mentoring project that features the comments of at least 50 well-known people regarding a person who was most significant in their life. In addition, the magazine has a find a mentor search tool that allows users to locate opportunities to find (or be) a mentor in their local community (or anywhere in the USA).
- Mentor Matching Engine (MME) -
This way of matching mentors with partners is exclusively for high school students in that state of Illinois and requires an invitation. The primary purpose is connect STEM professionals who will serve as online mentors to high school students anywhere in Illinois.
- SHOO-IN -
Mentors primarily help with resume preparation, preparation for job interviews, and learning skills necessary for the job market. SHOO-IN not only provides profile enhancement services, but also offers lessons on industry overview. Mentors are screened and provided with training materials.ĘShoo-in monitors the mentors and also evaluates them by having both sides complete an evaluation form. There is a fee for resume editing, participating in mock interviews, and a premium package that includes preparation for job hunting, mock interviews, feedback, analysis of case studies and market analysis ($599.) Located: 5th Floor, 708 3rd Avenue, New York, New York 10017; Tel: (929) 270-9889; Email contact@shoo-in.com
- mentored -
Provides mentors who are experts in math, science, literature and other areas. Sessions cost $5.00 and last up to 20 minutes. Mentors undergo an extensive background check, are monitored by peer review. All sessions are recorded, reviewed, and archived.
- United Kingdom Mathematics Trust - The UKMT mentoring schemes provide via email a series of challenging mathematical problems, requiring full written solutions, to stretch and inspire the most able and willing secondary school pupils. Participants are provided with a mentor who will be able to discuss the problems and other mathematical ideas, and read and return their solutions with helpful comments.
- Project Scotland - Volunteers are matched with mentors and engage in 20-30 hours per week for three months of volunteer activities with a charity in Scotland. Travel expenses are paid, and volunteers can attend learning workshops.
- Scottish Enterprise - This organization provides business mentors, generally senior executives, for young, growing businesses in Scotland (not available to those in the Highland and Islands region). Advisors discuss your business development ambitions and then match you to one of 800 mentors with the skills and experience to meet your needs. Two types of mentoring are available: one-to-one; and group.
- My Music Mentor - A service that provides a music mentor/tutor for children and adults. Typically there is a fee for each lesson. The service allows musicians of any experience level to both teach and learn with others, regardless of their chosen instrument, musical genre, age or location. The service provides a simple-to-use booking system, and a huge variety of music teachers. Meanwhile, Mentors can earn money doing something they love, improve their CV and work based entirely around their own schedule.
- MentorNetwork -
This Canadian organization provides MENTORup, an online mentor-matching platform for entrepreneurs and mentors to connect and get organized; MENTORready, a series of streamlined orientation workshops that teach entrepreneurs, students and professionals how to most effectively engage in mentoring relationships; MENTORmove, which is a speed-mentoring event that connects communities through multiple face-to-face encounters; and MENTORon, a resource that outlines how to locate and work with mentors.
- Mentorplus.me - Mentor+me is a business oriented social network that connects industry leader mentors with people who want personalized and actionable advice. Available through invitation.
- Ten Thousand Coffees - A mentoring service where students, recent grads, young professionals can connect with industry leaders from diverse categories. Those seeking a mentor can signup as a novice, browse the expert profiles and select an expert. When the expert accepts the invitation, you can set up a time to talk. Conversations can take place via Skype and other protocols. Unlike formal mentoring, however, these meetings typically only occur once, but a mentorship could develop as a result of the initial meeting.
- Australian Businesswomen's Network - A fee-based mentoring service where a trial mentoring serssion enables participants to clarify business goals, obtain a picture of current business progress, gain support and a clear direction for your business, identify improvement areas, and determine whether long-term mentoring is a fit for you. Fees are listed on the website.
- MentorOn - A no-cost service that matches mentors with those who want a mentor based on expertise, goals, personality, interests and other factors. Areas include business mentors as well as mentors for youth.
- Horsesmouth - A U.K.-based social network where visitors can search for a mentor, volunteer to be a mentor, or browse inspirational profiles and stories. No fees are required.
- Aboriginal eMentoring BC - An online mentoring service that pairs Aboriginal youth (11-18) with university students from the University of British Columbia.
- Venture Capital for Africa helps find mentors for entrepreneurs in Africa who have registered a venture with them. Once these requests are screened and posted it's up to one of the registered mentors to step up and offer assistance as a mentor.
- Canadian Association of Gift Planners - Some local, volunteer chapters provide professional mentors for those interested in becoming more involved in gift planning (fundraising, philanthropic giving); contact: education@cagp-acpdp.org.
- Mentorsme - This portal in the United Kingdom is intended to connect interested parties with organisations that provide mentor services to small businesses and those interested in starting a business. The service is operated by the Business Finance Taskforce which has been created by the British Bankers' Association.
- JustMentoring - A hub in the United Kingdom to find mentors. Several of the the more than 200 organizations included in their directory specialize in providing mentors to help those involved with the criminal justice system to help them live crime-free lives.
- MentorMatchMe - A United Kingdom-based service that provides mentors for resolving career, personal or business challenges. The service is a combination of fee-based and free, whereby the person wanting a mentor receives the first three hours free, but pays for the cost of the matching, and negotiates a fee for any additional hours after the first three.
- mentorguide - A U.K.-based service that provides directories of information on local business mentors offering in-person, online or telephone mentoring.
- Merryck & Company - A fee-based mentoring service in the USA, Australia, and the United Kingdom that matches former CEOs and business unit heads with sitting executives and provides a confidential resource for strategic, operational, cultural and personal issues.
- New Teacher Center - A national, non-profit in the USA that provides mentors for new and novice teachers to improve student learning, increase teacher retention, and strengthen professional development. They provide mentors across the USA and now support 6,300 for more than 26,000 teachers annually.
- American Corporate Partners - Provides no-cost mentoring to recently returned military veterans. Spouses of veterans wounded or killed in action are also eligible to have a mentor. Application forms are available online.
- Mentor.im was created by the Austin Center for Design to help people find a mentor or become a mentor in the design field. Complete a profile to aid or start a career in design and the Center will find a one-on-one match.
- TerrificMentors International - a fee-based service that provides corporate or personal mentors. Specific fees are not discussed on the website and users may initially not even find information that indicates a fee will be charged. This is one of an increasing number of organizations providing mentors for a fee.
- TiE Global - Provides business mentors for entrepreneurs wanting to start or refine their business. TiE groups are available globally. One-on-one mentoring is available from successful business owners. Their mission is to encourage and nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking, and education.
- Founder Institute - Provides experienced mentors to help entrepreneurs ensure success in their start-up initiatives. through a series of start-up bootcamps that include three-hour, hands-on, intensive, in-person workshops in several U.S. cities and other countries.
- ACETECH - Provides one-on-one, in-person mentors to CEOs of entrepreneurial initiatives whether in the start-up, rampup or speedup stage of development. All mentors are tech CEOs who have considerable experience running successful entreprenuerial enterprises. There is no fee for mentoring. Mentors are located in Vancouver, Victoria, and the Okanagan areas of British Columbia (Canada).
- MicroMentor - a free online service that connects small business owners with business mentors. Business professionals offer entrepreneurs one-on-one advice to help build successful businesses. Entrepreneurs, particularly those with low-incomes and limited access to business resources and owners of businesses that employ five people or less are connected to volunteer mentors who have successfully navigated business ownership or management.
- YourMentoring.com - An automated online service that matches profiles of mentors and partners. Many career areas are included. Submit your profile for free during their start-up period. When fee-based period begins the only charge will be to contact a mentor (money back guarantee).
- ACME Animation - Professional animators act as mentors for students in high schools across the USA.
- American Academy of Periodontology - This professional association for dentists has its own Find a Mentor service, but it is for members only.
- Promontreal Entrpreneurs - A mentoring service for entrepreneurs in the Montreal, Canada area who are in need of advice and support for their business operations.
- Ace Mentor Program of America - A not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide mentors for high school students in the architecture, construction and engineering industries. Approximately 100 chapters in various locations throughout the USA. Contact: Acting Executive Director at (203) 323-8550.
- Long Island Youth Mentoring - A Christian youth mentoring agency that provides mentors for youth.
- Denver Urban Scholars - Provides mentors for middle school, high-school, and post-secondary students in the Denver, Colorado area who are at risk of leaving school early.
- CanWit eMentorship - A social network that connects women in technology with experienced mentors for career development. The website helps make the match and is suitable for both mentors and those seeking a mentor. Limited to women in Canada.
- Canadian Women in Communications (CWC) - This program has been established to increase the number of women in the commuications industry to become senior leaders. Participants must be members of the CWC to be elligible.
- Lean Manufacturing Network - Provides individuals and companies with mentors, training, resources, and professional networking in learning how to effectively implement change management; leadership, team-building and lean manufacturing to achieve world-class performance results. Their outreach consultants/mentors have been certified by the Lean Manufacturing Network.
- ARGroup (formerly iMentorPro) - An alliance of former CEO’s, senior executives and company directors who act as mentors to others who are currently in the ‘hot seat’ as the leader, part of the leaders team / direct reports or in the line of succession within a business or a business unit.
- MentorSeries.com - Top photographers act as mentors to participants in small groups while they photograph during treks in locations around the world. (Participants pay a fee for the workshop.)
- Mentor Your Business/Mentor Eget Företag in Stockholm, Sweden is a nation-wide mentoring program for newly started entrepreneurs and soon to be started entrepreneurs. The program is free of charge and the mentors offer their services at no cost.
- Mentorat Quebec - A non-profit organization that provides mentors for helping young people with career decisions, for lawyers, for bridging the generations, and for women in non-traditional roles. (This site is in French.).
- Project Management Institute of Southern Ontario - Provides experienced project managers for in-person mentoring for less-experienced project managers. Must be a member of their organization to participate.
- Diamond Consulting Group - A one-on-one mentoring connection with success expert Claude Diamond that focuses on wealth-building opportunities in creative real estate/lease purchasing or sales training and coaching. Mentor coaching, coach training and opportunities to become a licensee are also available.
- CompuCorps Mentoring - A Canadian charity that recruites and provides mentors to other not-for-profit groups to assist them with computer systems, technology development and technology implementation.
- Score - Mostly retired small business owners provide business advice online or in-person through offices in 389 cities around the United States. Can help with marketing inventions, business expansion, capital procurement, and promotion. Tel: 1.800.634.0245.
- CanadaInfoNet - An e-mentoring service designed to assist internationally-trained professionals living in Canada with networking and other job preparation skills.
- Mentor Program Listings - Many universities and organizations provide mentors for their students or community members. Check out this list to see if your university or organization is listed.
- Just Plain Mentors - An organization and system that specializes in providing mentors who are associated with various show business professions.
- Academy of Achievement Find Your Mentor - This interesting site doesn't actually find or match users with mentors, but it does match what visitors want to achieve, their personality, and their challenges with well-known people who have similar characteristics. The site includes profiles of achievers that are meant to act as a source of inspiration.
- MentorMatch - A joint project between The Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the American Foundation for the Blind that pairs people searching for a career with a blind or visually impaired mentor currently employed in the desired field of employment. Their current database in North America includes over 1,000 mentors and the system is available to all blind and visually impaired persons.
- StudentMentor.org - Connects any university or college student with professional mentors. The pair then decide the method and how often they will meet.
- Baseball Mentoring Program - Provides professional players to help younger players learn the latest techniques in hitting, pitching, and fielding as well as mental toughness and preparation for success both on and off the field.
- Woman to Woman Mentoring Program - Provides mentors to assist Jewish women from other countries to integrate successfully in the Greater Toronto area.
- Jewish Family Services of Ottawa - Provides mentoring for internationally-trained professionals seeking to find employment in the Ottawa-Carleton (Ontario) region. Tel: (613) 722-2225.
- Women's Executive Network (Canada) - This e-mentoring program matches women executives with girls aged 16-19. Girls are asked to write an essay on why they want a mentor and approximately 600 will be selected for matching with women in a variety of fields.
- Her Mentor Center - A fee-based mentoring service for women for women in transition provided by women who have had similar experiences. Provides support, a safe place for expression, assessment, feeback, and other resources.
- iMentor - Dedicated to improving the lives of young people from underserved communities in New York City. Students and volunteers are matched one-on-one according to their shared interests. iMentor designs projects that mentors and students work on together over email.
- Settlement.Org - A befriending service that matches newcomers to Canada with volunteers from local communities for conversation, friendship, and community integration.
- Toronto Region Immigrant Council (TRIEC) - Volunteer mentors who are professionals in Canada act as mentors to immigrants to Canada who are seeking to apply the professional skills they learned in another country before immigrating to Canada.
- Barbados Youth Business Trust - Provides trained and screened mentors to young entrepreneurs.
- KVINFO Mentor Network (Denmark) - A network matching professional women in the Danish labour market and in Danish society with refugee or migrant women to help them achieve their personal goals.
- Center for Internationlly Educated Nurses (CARE) - Connects Ontario hosptial nurses as mentors with internationally-trained nurses who are interested in becoming licensed in Ontario.
- American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) - Members of this association have access to an extensive number of women physicians who act as mentors to support, challenge and help shape the mentoring partner's future career.
- Physician Mentoring - A service of the American Medical Association Young Physicians Section that is a publication that provides details about finding mentors for pre-med students, residents/fellows, young physicians, faculty, and telementoring options (available to AMA members only).
- American Medical Informatics Professionals Association - Provides mentors for members of this association to improve knowledge of informatics, improve networking, build communication and leadership skills, and learn how to pitch projects.
- Propel - Helps guide the development of formation-stage and early-stage life sciences companies in Illinois by providing entrepreneurs with access to specialized resources and expertise, including coaching and mentoring.
- BioAdvance - Provides funding and mentoring to startup life sciences companies in Southeastern Pennsylvania. They invest in therapeutics, devices, diagnostics and platform technologies focused on human health.
- Manchester Mentoring - Provides mentors to students and graduates associated with environmental studies in the Manchester (UK) area.
- Institute of Engineer and Technology (IET)
- A free service for professional engineers to help each other with professional growth and career development.
- Social Psychology Network Mentorship Program - Matches undergraduates interested in a career in personality or social psychology with mentors who can guide them through the process of becoming a professional psychologist.
- The Wired Woman Society (Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario) - Working with the Women in Trades and Technology National Network, the WWS hopes to build a comprehensive on-line career resource centre with a substantial mentoring component. They plan to to have volunteer women who will act as virtual mentors and answer questions from other women about their jobs. Tel: (604) 605-8825.
- Canadian Women in Communications - With chapters throughout Canada this organization provides one-to-one mentors as well as mentoring groups for women in the communications industry. Mentoring is informal and focuses on coaching, advice and development of leadership.
- Girls' E-Mentoring (GEM-SET) - Connects young women in high school with professional women in science, engineering and technology
- e-Mentoring Program for Kids - Provides opportunities for young people aged 9-14 to connect with responsible business people from a wide variety of careers.
- Webgrrls International - Webgrrl volunteers provide mentoring programs and learning opportunities for women and young girls in locations around North America. Check to find your local chapter contact.
- EducatingJane.com - Provides information and resources to help girls of all ages learn about mentoring and how to go about finding a mentor.
- Small Business Administration (US only) - Emphasizes the SCORE Business Mentor model and provides options for choosing a mentor by email and other opportunities provided by the SCORE model.
- MentorshipOnline - Provides professionals with mentors in business to help solve challenging issues faced while on the job. This is a fee-based online conferencing service and includes assessments and interviews and free materials, forums, articles and business analysis tools.
- VolunteerMatch - A nonprofit service to locate volunteers and potential mentors from all walks of life.
- Forum of Women Entrepreneurs - Provides women entrepreneurs an opportunity to find or become mentors. Focus is in Vancouver, British Columbia and was launched in 2004. They matche women entrepreneurs of high growth businesses with volunteer men and women mentors. Matches typically occur each September. Women who join this group have established businesses that have been in operation for at least one year, are focusing all their energy and attention on this business, are seeking improvement and growth for their enterprise, and know specifically what they would like to learn from a mentor. A small fee is required that provides for a "meet and greet," an orientation session for working successfully with a mentor, a "thank-the-mentor" event, and an educational, topic focused workshop. Participants are required to email monthly progress reports to the Mentoring Coordinator, and meet with their mentors at least once a month. Additional contact information: The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs Tel: (604) 682-8115; email: kim@fwe.ca
- Female Entrepreneurs Mentoring Programme - A variety of European countries have created a Mentor Network to support women in small businesses throughout Europe. The site provides an opportunity to be a mentor or find a mentor.
- W.I.N.G.S. & H.E.R.O.S. (Mentors in Motion) - This organization brings caring women with business and life skills together with those reaching out to achieve these talents. No membership fees. Meetings are organized by chapters and are primarily in Ontario, Canada. E-mail: admin@wingsandheros.com or by telephone: (705) 424-4213.
- The Diversity Connection - Provides minority leadership candidates and health care organizations an interactive Web site with a searchable resume database. to help individuals find mentors in a variety of healthcare settings.
- CharityVillage - A site listing non-profit agencies across Canada that may be able to find a volunteer mentor for you.
- America's Promise - Part of a national campaign in the US to connect youth and mentors.
- Mentors, Inc. - A Washington, DC organization that pairs students in the DC school district with trained, adult mentors.
- Volunteers of America - An organization with a long history of providing mentors.
- National Mentoring Partnership (US only) - This is the best service in the USA to find a mentor for youth. The site provides contact details of organizations that match adult, responsible and screened mentors for youth. Go to the "Be a Mentor" section and type in your zip code and all organizations along with contact information for any location in the U.S. will be displayed.
- Youth Service America - Focused on helping young people help others in their communities.
- Kids Help Phone - Not exactly a mentoring service, but a 24-hour, bilingual phone counselling service for children and youth.
- Advisor.com - Primarily provides written advice articles for persons in many different areas..
- Volunteer Grandparents Society of Canada - A volunteer organization with more than 26 years of experience matching mature and senior adults with families whose children have no grandparents living nearby. Tel: (604) 736-8271.
- MentorNet - A service, typically for university level persons to connect women interested in science, technology and engineering to mentors.
- Prime Stage - A professional theatre organization that provides one to one mentors for writers, designers, graphic artists, and technical personnel.
- Getamentor.com - An organization that provides on-the-job, one-on-one, apprentice and mentor-based training for careers in radio and TV broadcasting, the recording, and film and video production.
- The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative - Pairs young artists in dance, literature, film, music, visual arts and theatre with luminaries in their field for a year of mentoring. Pinchas Zukerman (violinist), Stephen Frears (filmmaker), Jessye Norman (opera singer), John Baldessari (artist), Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (choreographer), Tahar Ben Jellouin (writer), and Julie Taymor (film director) are just a few of the talented mentors involved in this program. Rolex pays each mentor US$50,000 over the course of the year and pays each partner $US25,000 plus expenses.
- Barbara Florio Graham - The creator of the mentoring program for the Professional Writers of Canada also provides mentoring for aspiring writers (fee-based).
- P.H.E.N.O.M. Public Health Expertise Network of Mentors - Mentors are public health practitioners with a degree in Public Health, and have volunteered to provide career and school advice to anyone interested in the field of Public Health.
- Service Leader.org - Provides virtual volunteering resources that yield a listing of email mentoring and tutoring resources and connections that can be used for either becoming a mentor, or finding a mentor or tutor that uses email as the primary means of contact.
Tips for Locating a Mentor
There are a number of ways you can locate a mentor on your own. You may prefer to develop an in-person relationship or you may be quite happy with a relationship by telephone, mail, or e-mail. You might also discover that you do not need an actual person to act as your mentor. As unusual as this might seem, mentoring can often come from something you read or something you experience that can have profound meaning. What follows is a list of some concrete ways you can place yourself in a position to locate a mentor.
- Check with local businesses or organizations to determine whether they have a formal mentor program you can access
- Contact businesses or organizations to find out if they can provide you the names of any retired executives who might be willing to act as volunteer mentors
- Ask your local Chamber of Commerce whether they have created a mentor program or service
- If you are enrolled in a college or university, make an appointment with their student career services to find out if they have a list of volunteer mentors
- Enroll in a college or university extension course to gain access to faculty members who could be potential mentors
- Go to your local library and scan the trade publications associated with your desired area and identify potential mentors from the biographical or topical articles
- Place an ad in a local newspaper requesting a mentor in your area
- Place an ad on an internet site requesting a mentor in your area
- Find the organizations or businesses on the internet that reflect your interest area and contact them by e-mail to determine whether they have personnel who can act as mentors
- Review the list of mentor matching services listed at the top of this page to see if you fit any of those programs
- Connect with exhibit areas of conferences and conventions associated with your field; these are often free admission events staffed by experienced persons who could be potential mentors
- Use your network of friends and relatives to let them know what kind of person you want as a mentor. Ask them to keep alert to someone who could help you
- Visit a retirement or senior citizen center and let them know you are looking for a mentor in a certain area
- Use an internet search engine to find companies and organizations or individuals who are doing what you want to do and determine their interest in helping you
- Go to the library and search out books or articles on your topic; contact their authors
- Read biographies of people who have been successful in your interest area; sometimes their biography by itself can act as a mentor
- Another option is to watch a video on YouTube by famed mentor Jack Canfield where he shares tips on finding a mentor.
Once you've developed a plan to locate a mentor, it's essential to develop a strategy to persuade the potential mentor that it will be worthwhile working with you. The core of any such plan is to be prepared prior to contact by reviewing and making notes about the following (adapted from Scott Allen's "Choosing a Business Mentor and Getting Them to Choose You)":
- Define a list of your top goals for the mentoring relationship
- Brainstorm a list of prospective mentors
- Research available information about them
- Select the top candidates who are aligned with your goals
- Write a letter or email to the mentor prospect requesting a meeting (You do not have to divulge at this time that you are interested in a longer-term relationship with them, just that you are interested in getting their input on what you are doing)
- Call to set an appointment
- Prepare a short list of questions regarding their feedback on your current situation
- Meet with them, and if they're willing to take time away from their office, that's best; you pick up the tab
- Ask them about their history, current situation, and goals
- State your goals and ask your questions and take notes
- If you like their responses, you can test the waters with them regarding an ongoing relationship, such as: "I really appreciate your input on this, and I'd greatly value it on an ongoing basis. Would you be willing to meet with me again next month to follow up on what we've discussed today?"
- Send a thank-you note and perhaps a gift
- Review your notes
- Take action on their suggestions
- Call to discuss the results of those actions and request a second appointment (assuming you're still interested)
- Propose a mentoring relationship. Be sure to spell out your goals and expectations, as well as your commitment to them (a written agreement will show you are serious about the commitment)
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