How to find a mentor

Updated 27 October 2026

You’ve decided you need a mentor – great! The next step is to find the right person for the job.

Your ideal mentor will challenge your thinking, boost your confidence and help you navigate your career path. This could be someone at work, someone in your wider network or a paid professional. They might support you for a short time, or form a longer-term relationship. With so many options, it’s worth spending some time finding someone who is a good fit.

This is a guide to what you should consider when looking for a mentor.

1. Write a mentor brief

As with planning a marketing campaign or recruiting a member of your team, your starting point should be to write a brief. This will give you clarity on why you need a mentor, the type of person you are looking for and what you are hoping to achieve.

What to include in your brief:

Why do you need a mentor?

This is a question which a potential mentor should ask you, so it’s good to get your intentions clear before speaking to anyone. Has this decision been triggered by a particular event such as missing a promotion or a conflict at work? Has this decision come from you or somebody else, such as your manager? Do you want to be better at a specific aspect of your job?

Is mentoring the route you want to take?

A mentor is an experienced and knowledgeable person who offers support and guidance. If you need to achieve a goal with hands-on support along the way, then a mentor will be a great fit. If you need to learn a skill such as SEO, then a training course might be a better option. It’s also important to note that the support a mentor offers should be strictly business, so if you’re having a tough time personally, then a therapist would be a better fit.

I’ve written a guide to the difference between a coach and a mentor – scroll down the article to see a table which explains the difference between mentoring, coaching, consulting, training and counselling.

What do you want to get out of mentoring?

If you’ve decided it’s definitely a mentor that you need, the next step is to think about your goals. What are you hoping to achieve? Do you have an end goal in mind, such as stepping up to a more senior role or being a better manager? Do you just need a sounding board and second opinion?

Write your goals down. They don’t need to be perfect – a good mentor will help you refine them – but they will help you explain what you’re looking for and recognise the right person when you meet them.

What type of mentor would suit your needs?

Once you know what you want to achieve, you can start to picture the person who could help you get there. Think about:

• Experience – have they done the job you want to do, or faced the challenge you’re facing now? Someone a few steps ahead of you can often relate to your situation better than someone at the very top of their career.
• Sector – do you need someone who knows your industry inside out, or would a fresh perspective from a different sector be more valuable?
• Specialism – is there a particular area you want to develop, such as leadership, strategy or managing stakeholders?
• Style – do you want someone who will push you hard, or someone who will give you space to think things through?

Do you want to be mentored by a work colleague or an external mentor?

Many organisations run internal mentoring programmes, so it’s worth checking with your manager or HR team. An internal mentor understands your company, its culture and its politics, and can help you get noticed by the right people.

The downside is that you may not feel able to be completely open, particularly if your challenge involves a colleague or your manager. An external mentor brings an outside perspective and a safe space to talk honestly, without any worries about how it might affect your job.

Is there a budget?

Mentoring doesn’t have to cost anything. Lots of experienced professionals are happy to mentor people for free, and many professional membership bodies run mentoring schemes for their members.

A paid mentor, on the other hand, gives you more choice over who you work with and usually more structure and commitment. If you’d like a paid mentor, ask your employer whether it could come out of the training or development budget – mentoring is an investment in your skills, so it’s a reasonable request.

How much time and energy can you dedicate to mentoring?

Mentoring works best when both people are committed. Think realistically about how often you can meet – monthly is a good starting point for most people – and whether you’ll have time to prepare for sessions and follow through on the actions you agree. If you’re asking someone to give their time for free, it’s especially important to respect it.

Have a chat with others about their experience of mentoring

Talk to friends, colleagues and people in your network who have had a mentor. What worked well for them? What didn’t? How did they find their mentor? You’ll pick up useful tips, and you might even come away with a recommendation.

2. Start your search!

With your brief in hand, you can start looking for potential mentors. Good places to start include:

• Your workplace – an internal mentoring programme, a senior colleague in another department, or someone your manager recommends
• Your existing network – former managers, ex-colleagues, and people you’ve met through work or at events
• LinkedIn – look at people whose career paths you admire. You can search by job title, sector and location, and check whether you have any mutual connections who could introduce you
• Professional and membership bodies – many offer mentoring schemes, networking events and member directories
• Industry events – conferences, talks and networking groups are a great way to meet people in a more relaxed setting
• Paid mentors – search for mentors who specialise in your field and look at their testimonials, experience and qualifications

Don’t limit yourself to people you already know. Make a shortlist of two or three people who match your brief, so you have options if your first choice isn’t available.

3. Approach your potential mentor

Asking someone to be your mentor can feel daunting, but most people are flattered to be asked. Keep your first message short and specific:

• Introduce yourself and explain how you found them.
• Say why you’ve chosen them in particular.
• Explain what you’re hoping to achieve.
• Be clear about what you’re asking for, such as an hour a month for six months.
• Suggest an informal chat to see if it’s a good fit.

Make it easy for them to say no. People are busy, and someone who turns you down now may be happy to help in the future or point you towards someone else.

If you’re approaching a paid mentor, get in touch through their website and ask how they work, what it costs and whether they offer an initial consultation.

4. Arrange an initial meeting

Before you commit, meet for an informal chat. This can be over a coffee or a video call – whatever suits you both. Treat it as a two-way conversation: you’re finding out whether they’re right for you, and they’re finding out whether they can help.

Make sure you have a good rapport

The relationship between a mentor and mentee is built on trust, so you need to feel comfortable with them. Do they listen properly? Do they ask good questions? Do you feel able to be honest about your challenges? A good mentor will be genuinely interested in you and your goals, rather than talking at length about themselves.

5. Make a decision

After your meeting, take some time to reflect. Did you leave feeling energised and understood? Did they challenge you in a way that felt helpful? Do they have the experience to help you reach your goals? Look back at your mentor brief and check whether they tick the most important boxes.

Trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s fine to say no – thank them for their time and keep looking. It’s much better to wait for the right person than to commit to a relationship that isn’t working.

6. Start your mentoring relationship

Once you’ve found your mentor, set your relationship up for success from the start. Agree the basics together, ideally in writing:

• Your goals and how you’ll measure progress
• How often you’ll meet and how you’ll get in touch between sessions
• What’s confidential
• Any boundaries, such as topics that are off limits
• How long the arrangement will last and when you’ll review it

Then make the most of it. Come to each session prepared with what you want to discuss, take ownership of your actions and give your mentor feedback on what’s helping. Mentoring is led by your goals, so the more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it.

And remember that mentoring relationships don’t have to last forever. When you’ve achieved your goals, it’s perfectly normal to bring things to a close – and don’t forget to say thank you.

Do you need a marketing mentor?