My 7 Suggestions for Mentees

Here's my list of things to think about. I'll be writing on each one of these in the next few postings.

Be proactive - and also be reactive.

Use your networks, but don’t abuse your networks.

Always ask. The most they can say is NO - but don’t be defensive when they do.

Make sure you know what’s out there. Take control of YOU.

Walk on water and do windows. Be prepared to do lots of windows – but remember that you get to look into them at the same time.

It’s more than a job title. Read all the words in a job ad, not just the headlines.

It’s a 2-way street – just because I want you doesn’t mean you want me – and that’s OK.

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Mentor: Barbara Rawlins, Monitoring and Evaluation Team Leader, Maternal and Child Survival Program

Another feature of this blog is bringing you advice and perspectives from people who mentor, by answering 3 questions. Here are Barbara Rawlins ’ responses: What are mentees looking for? · Career guidance · Technical advice · Moral support · Advice on how to negotiate politically-sensitive or controversial situation What 1 piece of advice do you give every mentee you work with? Figure out what they want to do (in the long term) and what steps they can take to get there Why are you interested in mentoring? To support younger colleagues, especially women, to help attain their career goals

A mentor is like a mirror: Even a senior (expert) needs - and wants - mentoring #mentor (SueMentors.Blogspot.com)

I haven’t been posting for the past 3 months because of an extremely busy time. But I have been mentoring – and in ways that were surprising to me. In July-September, we at Social & Scientific Systems (SSS) were unexpectedly were facing the sooner-than-expected project close-out, and it meant that several staff needed to be looking for new jobs. I wasn’t surprised that some of the staff – mostly those still early in their careers – were asking for my help in updating their resumes. I was more surprised to have two very senior and experienced professionals ask for my help. When they gave me their resumes to review before we met, I realized that both were examples of why a mentor can be useful, no matter how far along you are in your career. One had an illustrious and varied career and many qualifications prior to coming to SSS two years ago. But her resume read like someone who had just finished graduate school. She was very detailed in listing all the things she did (both in her SS

A Decade of SueMentors Mentoring!

The just-finishing 2019 marks a decade of my “formal” SueMentors mentoring. As I reflected on the decade over the last months of 2019, I realized I have learned so much – but haven’t always let mentees and other supporters know that. So I went back to my program-evaluation career and put together an infographic to summarize the 10 years. This shows you what I’ve learned from mentees, the ways mentees have shaped my delivery of short- and longer-term mentoring, and how I’ve been able to expand from 1-to-1 mentoring to more 1-to-many methods that meet people where they are. Many thanks to the decade of mentees I’ve worked with directly: Mentees who connected through a mentoring program or a “self-referral” or a referral to me from someone else S everal of you who “discovered” me from an online source S ome who I’ve met in person at conferences or by happenstance (like waiting for ride-shares) T hose who have re-contacted me And a special thanks to Kristina Davis,

Sue Mentors: Jobs, Careers, Lifework...

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