Finding a mentor

Mentors sometimes emerge out of existing relationships without any formal introduction or statement as such. However, if you are actively seeking a mentor outside of the student-advisor relationship, then be cautious and use common sense throughout the process. Be mindful that your mentor is not a substitute for your advisor, and the two ought not to be pitted against each other. The relationship with your mentor is a complimentary one for your own growth and development. So while some of the supports that you receive from your mentor may overlap with those you receive from your advisor, they should not conflict with, or undermine, each other.

Other tips for finding a mentor:

• Seek out supportive faculty and foster professional relationships with them.
• Discuss your personal and/or professional goals. Are your goals deemed interesting and meritorious?
• Determine if you share similar values and ethics, particularly in the domain that will be mentored. 
• Discuss work ethics. Do you admire and respect their work ethic and vice versa? Is their work ethic too demanding or under demanding compared to your own?
• Discuss expectations for frequency, duration, method, and boundaries of meetings. Are your expectations in alignment?
• Assess the quality of communication you have with this person. Is the communication respectful, do you understand each other?
• Determine if they are knowledgeable about the area in which you want to be mentored or in or in your particular field of study. Do they know about resources, funding sources, and scholarships?
• Determine whether they support you applying your skills and knowledge in a broad context (i.e., work outside of academia), especially if your goals go beyond the academic arena.
• Determine their stances on student issues. Do they advocate for students to have scholarships, bursaries, national funding, conference opportunities, presentation experiences, and publication credit?
• Determine if they are willing to help you cultivate a professional CV.
• Discuss things beyond ‘the work’.  Mentors often care about your overall well-being and personal development.

These are similar questions that you ought to have reviewed with your advisor prior to commencing your research relationship with him or her. As such, very frequently well-suited advisors are also well-suited mentors. However, the interests that you have at the outset of your academic program may not be the same ones you have in the middle or end of your program. Moreover, the student-advisor relationship can change over time leading you to search for a different mentorship style or specialty of field than you originally thought was necessary.