Mumsnet mentoring: can you help?

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello,

As some of you will have noticed, we launched the Mumsnet Mentoring area a few months ago.

The idea is to leverage MNers' wealth of incredible careers experience to help other MNers who are switching careers, or re-starting after a career break; and also to help MNers who want to advise school-aged/teenaged children on subject choices, tertiary education, training and/or whatnot for their preferred careers.

But - and we're gonna have to put a sad face here - not many of you are filling in the Tell us about your career or become a mentor bit.

So we'd like you to do one of the things that you do best, and give us some full and frank criticism. Why are MNers not using it?

Your views are important to us and we'd really like this to work

Thanks
MNHQ

Mentoring is a specific behaviour,matching two individuals,career and personal development
Telling a stranger online about your career,isn't mentoring

Well said scottishmummy. I volunteered to mentor junior BME people in my field and had to undergo train and monitoring through the official period (though we continue unofficially, but that's another story).

I don't think I would be very valuable as a mentor, but dh mentors engineers - I could ask him - if he'd be allowed...

And here are six reasons not to have a mentor (not by me, I hasten to add):

donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/6-reasons-why-we-dont-need-mentors.html

See e.g. 3. Mentoring is a trap
As Homer actually showed, one person is not enough. To limit your path, in work or life, to one person is to be feeble when it comes to probability. Why choose one person (often that person is chosen for you) when there are lots of good people out there. It stands to reason that a range of advice on a range of diverse topics (surely work and life are diverse) needs a range of expertise. Spread your network, speak to a range and variety of people. Don’t get caught in one person’s spider’s web. Mentoring is a trap.

I agree with that. One thing they tell us at work is that you don't have to have one mentor - if you see someone who has done something well, ask them to mentor you on that aspect of work, being it chairing meetings or whatever else. Then ask someone else to give you some support for handling performance reviews for your team.

People are more likely to be able to commit to mentoring you for a small section of work than an on-going relationship - plus by working with different people, you build your network, so more people get to know who you are. You pick the best of everyone.

Of course, you will sometimes get someone who says no, or someone like my director who says it's all just instinct. Which it might be for him, but the rest of us are normal humans and have to learn about this stuff...

Thanks very much for all the feedback

We'll have a look to see what we can do

@SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius

I don't think I would be very valuable as a mentor, but dh mentors engineers - I could ask him - if he'd be allowed...

Yep absolutely!

OK just a quick bit of feedback: you can edit your mentoring profile so that it doesn't show your MN name. So for those of you for whom that's a turn-off, hopefully there's a solution.