Tips for working with a mentor?

[roadchickindisguise]

I have been in my "career" for 2 years post-uni and have recently been offered the place of getting a mentor (my work formally interacts with a regional business network/charity thing which does mentor matching as part of its remit, especially for minority groups). This is intended to be a long term thing (2 - 5 years was the guideline my contact suggested is normal) so is not conditional on me being employed where I am at the moment, though.

I've excitedly accepted, and I have my first coffee chat with my mentor planned for the end of next week.

After I introduced myself via email, my mentor suggested I have a think about where I am, where I want to go, what kinds of things they can help me with, and although I know from a high level point of view where I want to be in, say, 5 years, I'm not sure about how to present some of the other things that are scheduled for discussion. How much detail to go into, that sort of thing.

Bearing in mind that my mentor has over 25 years in the field, and is currently employed in a formal/official capacity as a mentor (they are a spokesperson for another, very similar charity organisation which operates in my sector)... I just want to ensure that I get as much value out of this opportunity as I can. For the record, I'm a minority in the sector I work in, which is typically white, middle aged, male and a haven for business golfers

So if anyone can offer me any advice as a mentee, such as pitfalls to avoid (I can imagine the obvious ones - don't waste my mentor's time, be careful about setting boundaries so that I don't become overly familiar, stick to agreed schedules/action lists - naturally!)... I'd be very grateful!

I'd be interested to hear from both sides what makes a good mentor/mentee relationship? There must be lots of MNers who've been involved in this type of thing...

I have but not at his level

I would say be prepared to go into more detail but remember that you need to be saying what you want to get out of it. You'll feel less uncertain after your chat.

LovesBloominChristmas - thank you for the reply. You're right - things will become clearer after the initial chat - I suppose that's what the initial meetup is really for - to clarify this sort of thing. I'll go in with a few notes and I'm sure that my mentor will be able to guide me, as they do have extensive experience of this, both in their day job and as spokesperson for the charity they represent.

In the meantime, if anyone does have any further advice, bring it on

I recently started being a mentor for the first time, having actually applied to be mentored (odd turn of events).

I asked my mentee much the same questions as you have been asked (which is reassuring!), and we had our initial meeting in a coffee shop not in the office so it was pretty relaxed and we could chat. The mentee had done a good amount of prep, knew what they wanted to get out of the opportunity and was flatteringly interested in what I had to say. I spent a lot of the time observing and listening to how they presented themselves, to try to get to know what sort of person they are not just from what they said about themselves.

Awful no's would have been unprofessional behaviour, no prep, and not taking it seriously.

My experiences in trying to acquire a mentor haven't been great. One cancelled 3 times after an initial meeting so I took the hint. This time I've been made a mentor rather than getting mentoring. Think I'll just keep going with the informal methods.

I am a qualified mentor/clinical coach and we are encourage to use the GROW model with our mentees. So we encourage you identify your Goal, then look at the realities, the options and the way forward. As a mentor it is all about getting the mentee to make the plan you are merely a facilitator and your mentor sounds like they are going about it in the right way.
We are also encourage to spend 20% of the time and 80% listening.
I am about to get my four and fifth mentees now and am still working on the listening thing.