How to Be a Good Mentor: The Dos and Don’ts

Tips for becoming a good mentor

• Set expectations upfront. Determine how often you will get together and what you each look to get out of the relationship. Setting these expectations early on is imperative to begin in the best way possible.
• Be genuine in your interest. If you’re taking this step to become a mentor, you mean it and plan to deliver along the way, even if that means helping your mentee surpass you. You have to love helping people.
• Commit to building trust. Share your experiences, and be willing to reveal your success secrets at all costs. Ensure the relationship is built on a solid foundation of trust and that it exists on both sides. Always be honest and open with all that you’re sharing.
• Don’t always try to direct the path. Let your mentee ask for the help and advice they need, and avoid setting too many directions. Open your connections to the mentee and share your network with them.
• Celebrate their achievements. Be present for that along the way, in both their work and personal life.

Additional resources

• How to Start a Workplace Mentorship Program
• Strategies for Upskilling and Reskilling Your Workforce
• Empowerment in the Workplace: What it is and Why it Matters
• Ways to Invest in Employee Development

Transcript

Pete Newsome  00:14
You’re listening to The Hire Calling Podcast, your source for all things hiring, staffing, and recruiting. I’m Pete Newsome and I’m joined by Ricky Baez once again today, Ricky, how are you?

Ricky Baez  00:24
I’m doing good Pete. How are you doing, sir?

Pete Newsome  00:26
I’m doing wonderful. It’s a beautiful Monday morning in Florida. How bad could life be?

Ricky Baez  00:31
It? Not bad. Here’s how good life is. Guess what I did Friday.

Pete Newsome  00:37
What did you do?

Ricky Baez  00:38
I got to go to the Jacksonville Jaguars threat on Thursday. Jacksonville Jaguars draft party. That was awesome. I just gotta say, that was awesome that big. I’m about to get beat up here.

Ricky Baez  00:50
I’m not a big Jaguars fan. I’m more of a Tampa Bay Buffalo Bills Giants fan. But let me tell you man that that whole Duval thing.

Pete Newsome  01:01
you have to embrace it while you’re there. You know, I was at the Jag’s home playoff win last year where they were down. I think Lauren started with four interceptions, I believe in the first half and then they came back in one, and let’s just say the Duvall chats were plentiful.

Ricky Baez  01:19
Oh, yeah. They were trust me. So that’s a new thing. So I’m embracing it. I’m embracing a great weekend.

Pete Newsome  01:26
Good. Well, well, today we’re here to talk about how to be a good mentor. This is something that from your HR, heart, and profession, you know quite a bit about I think, and probably have some thoughts on.

Ricky Baez  01:41
I do. I was actually talking about this at the Jacksonville Sherm annual conference on Thursday.

Ricky Baez  01:46
I was talking to them on how to revamp their employee lifecycle and how you and I were talking just before we went live, you know, its organizations tend to spend so much time on attracting and recruiting talent, and then nearly enough time to cultivate that talent to keep the talent in.

Ricky Baez  02:05
So a mentor, a good mentorship program is a great way to start your employee off on the right foot.

Pete Newsome  02:11
So let’s just start at the top with that, and what is a mentor in the professional world.

Ricky Baez  02:19
So a mentor does the same thing as a leader is supposed to be doing with their employees, but a little bit more personal, right?

Ricky Baez  02:28
Because a leader is supposed to make sure that the person’s work is up to par and make sure that they give the proper motivation to the employee.

Ricky Baez  02:37
What a mentor does, is focuses more on the employee than the work and it makes sure he or she makes sure that the employee has everything they need to be successful internally right within themselves and make sure to do good within the organization.

Ricky Baez  02:51
It’s a more personal touch.

Pete Newsome  02:53
Understood. And so yeah, when you you’re talking about it from the perspective of an employer, and employee relationship, but a mentor relationship really supersedes that, doesn’t it?

Pete Newsome  03:03
It doesn’t have to be, you can have a mentor from a different organization, or you can have a mentor that isn’t tied even tied to your industry. And in some cases, right?

Ricky Baez  03:14
That is true. Actually, I just took on a mentee a couple of weeks ago when she was in the finance industry. You know, she just wants to get to know more about human resources.

Ricky Baez  03:24
So you’re right, the relationship does not have to be within the same four walls of the organization. It can be just any other relationship that the people might have outside of those walls.

Ricky Baez  03:36
And they have not understood goals. So yes.

Pete Newsome  03:38
So it’s a that’s a commitment to take on the right, especially when it’s not part of your job description, so to speak. So let’s kind of go through what your responsibilities are in that role.

Pete Newsome  03:51
As a mentor, what do you look to deliver to that person who needs your help and advice?

Ricky Baez  03:57
Well, just what I did with this other person a couple of weeks ago, we went to lunch and had a great conversation, I just asked her, where do you want to be in a year? What is it that you want to do in 12 months from now?

Ricky Baez  04:10
Because we’re going to meet once a month? Where do you want to be in exactly 12 months from now that this whole relationship is going to help you get there?

Ricky Baez  04:19
And then I work myself backward? Right, I reverse engineer to see what kind of sessions we need to have up. That was she was on the right path to be to hit that goal in 12 months.

Ricky Baez  04:29
So I started off with a meeting, just laying out what the goals are, what the main goal is going to be, and then each milestone every month what those are going to be so we could track it pretty well.

Pete Newsome  04:41
Okay, nice. And then so those traits that to be a good mentor, let’s go through some of those.

Pete Newsome  04:48
So, one of the things that you should feel responsible for is to offer insight from your own personal and professional experience. Right. And that’s sort of the basis of the relationship is it not?

Ricky Baez  05:00
You know, correct? I mean, if somebody’s looking for a mentor, that means that you’re looking for somebody that has the breadth, of knowledge and experience that you don’t have that you’re looking to gain for yourself. Right.

Ricky Baez  05:11
So it’s so you’re looking to learn from that tree? Or eat from that tree? Ah, I’m gonna put that on a T-shirt. So, but yeah, you know, there has to be that experience there.

Ricky Baez  05:23
I have yet to see a mentor in any industry that has less than a year of experience in that specific industry.

Pete Newsome  05:35
You’re not gonna recommend someone who goes to a mentor who is a junior in their profession, right? Are relatively new, you want to go after someone who has, has some number of years and has done a lot and seen a lot, hopefully, right?

Pete Newsome  05:50
And so we hate to put a number on something like that.

Pete Newsome  05:53
But there has to be enough seniority for it to really count or you’re or you’re not going to get much value from that relationship.

Ricky Baez  06:01
Oh, absolutely. And be well respected in their field. Right?

Ricky Baez  06:05
You, as a mentee, or a mentee-to-be, should spend just as enough time trying to find the agreed mentor, a mentor, thus to a mentee, right, same thing with a candidate looking for a job.

Ricky Baez  06:18
There’s that interview process where you get to know each other pretty well. And you decide whether this is the right relationship to go forward with? Yeah, there’s a lot.

Pete Newsome  06:25
Back to the responsibility of being that mentor, you’re not only going to have to share your advice and experience and but it needs to go beyond that you’re going to be in a role where you’re encouraging and supporting and giving, giving tips for how to go forward, right?

Pete Newsome  06:44
I mean, it’s a lot more than just, hey, Ricky, tell me what you’ve done. If the relationship is going to count, you need to help provides some guidance for that mentee going forward.

Ricky Baez  06:57
100% Spot on.

Ricky Baez  06:58
But also you have to be really, really authentic and honest with the person because if the person is making a mistake, or he or she is going down that wrong route, you’ve got to have that backbone of the people skills to pull him back and saying, What are you doing?

Ricky Baez  07:13
Don’t go that route. Don’t do this. Don’t do that.

Ricky Baez  07:15
And it may be information that the mentee is not going to like, right, but you have to have that backbone to let them know what they’re doing because that’s valuable information.

Ricky Baez  07:25
Can we step back real quick, I think we’re forgetting one thing, or mentioned that Pete and I think I gloss over. And I apologize for that is the time commitment, you have to agree to that time commitment.

Ricky Baez  07:39
Because this is just that same conversation I had I told her lip, I am willing to carve out an hour and a half of my time every month to sit here with you, I’m not going to have any other distractions, we’re going to have a conversation to help you get to your goal, I need the same from you.

Ricky Baez  07:54
So if I hear oh, I can’t because of this, I can’t.

Ricky Baez  07:57
Because of that, I’m done. I’m not going to continue with this relationship. Because it’s I’m carving time out of my day and time to make sure that I meet with you. I would appreciate the same thing now that she’s going to do that. But you got to have that conversation.

Pete Newsome  08:13
It makes sense.

Pete Newsome  08:14
I mean, you need to set some ground rules up front, right? And that is been a benefit to both sides, where if those expectations aren’t aligned, someone could easily get frustrated or disappointed and have something that should end up being a very good thing.

Pete Newsome  08:30
And I believe there’s a lot of reward for the mentor as well. I mean, we generally as humans like to help people and it makes us feel good. And we learn while helping in many cases.

Pete Newsome  08:39
But so the upside on both sides of this is in theory, that there’s potential for it to go wrong if you don’t set those expectations accordingly.

Pete Newsome  08:48
So that’s a good point to bring up for sure. You know, when you’re going through this, this commitment, do you have any advice on what it is?

Pete Newsome  09:01
How often should someone someone meet a really should it be specific to the situation itself? Whether it’s weekly, monthly, or more often? Less, less frequently? What do you recommend there?

Ricky Baez  09:13
So it depends, on the experience and the time commitment of both people involved, right? Because, in my situation, this person was one of my students.

Ricky Baez  09:23
So she has some experience in HR, but she wants to get more experience.

Ricky Baez  09:27
So we decided one time a month is perfect. That’s perfect for this relationship.

Ricky Baez  09:33
But let’s say that experiences aren’t there on the mentee side that you may want to meet more often and have a more consistent cadence maybe once a week or every other week.

Ricky Baez  09:44
Because if, if the HR foundation from my perspective is not there, right, and if I’m meeting once a month, chances are that person is going to forget whatever information we talk about from month to month, so we may have to meet more often.

Ricky Baez  09:59
So really depends on the spirits of both. And the kind commitment, the time commitment of both to be able to decide how often you should meet, but you need to get to hash those out at the very beginning of that relationship.

Pete Newsome  10:12
And you said something that, I think is as important as anything else in this where you have to be willing to share the information that you believe needs to be heard, not necessarily wants to be heard in Ricky, I think that comes up in almost every conversation we have these days, where you and I are giving advice.

Pete Newsome  10:34
Most of the time, but not always. But most of the time, we’re talking to a younger audience, people who are newer in their careers, and we want to be sure to give that real-world advice.

Pete Newsome  10:49
And it’s not always popular, it’s not always taken well. But it’s an absolute necessity to be effective. And I think we’re very much on the same page with that.

Ricky Baez  10:59
No, we are, you know, it makes no sense.

Ricky Baez  11:02
Or it doesn’t help anybody, if you sugarcoat everything in that conversation, because again, the goal is not to be personal not to attack the person personally.

Ricky Baez  11:11
But the goal is to hit your milestones every month, which moves your bigger goal to your annual goals.

Ricky Baez  11:17
So yeah, you have to be okay with Nick. I don’t want to say negative information, you have to be okay with information you don’t like.

Ricky Baez  11:24
And you have to do what I like to call having conversations with yourself. When you feel like you’re upset because somebody told you something, go to the bathroom.

Ricky Baez  11:33
Look in the mirror, what are you really upset at? What are you really upset about? Or you’re setting yourself? Because this is something you should have thought of before?

Ricky Baez  11:42
Are you upset at the person or how she he or she delivered that message? Take a look at yourself and don’t take things too seriously.

Pete Newsome  11:49
Well, we’re talking about professional advice. Generally speaking, I think the line probably crosses sometimes into personal advice, or these things blend together often in the conversation that you would have as a mentor.

Pete Newsome  12:07
How do you what do you think the biggest challenges are right now for younger people who are hearing from those who are seasoned veterans, so to speak?

Pete Newsome  12:19
Because we know that society continues to evolve and that there have been generational changes this is also what comes up often during our conversations on subjects like this.

Pete Newsome  12:30
So do you have anything in particular that comes to mind in your role as a mentor? Student, I don’t, I probably shouldn’t make this assumption, but I will that it’s a younger person who has a lot a long way to go in their profession, what are the challenging things you think you’ll have to deliver in terms of this price?

Ricky Baez  12:49
So this person is in the middle, right? So here’s what I found, Pete, what I found is, I find the easier this is going to come out that I find it easier to mentor a younger person that doesn’t have any other responsibilities outside of work.

Ricky Baez  13:07
Because I have found that it’s difficult to mentor not difficult, but it will Yeah, you know, I’ll say that it’s difficult to sit to mentor somebody who’s a little bit more established in their personal life.

Ricky Baez  13:18
Because you as a mentor, don’t only have to deal with what’s happening in their work, you have to deal with what’s happening at home as well.

Ricky Baez  13:27
And then sometimes you have to communicate, you know what, the reason you’re not excelling at work is that x, y, and z is happening at home.

Ricky Baez  13:34
So sometimes you got to put on that psychological therapy, and then have that conversation.

Pete Newsome  13:41
There are a lot of considerations that come with that.

Pete Newsome  13:44
So let’s go through a list we have a few points that we think makeup you know if you answered how to be a good mentor, what would be at the top of that list for you?

Pete Newsome  13:55
And we’ve covered some of these broadly. But let’s get a little more narrow.

Ricky Baez  14:00
How to be good you have to meet the things that stand out to me. You have to be a good mentor. You have to love to help people.

Ricky Baez  14:11
And I know to some people that that that comes across with Da Ricky VESA given Pete, you know how many people I’ve met that hate helping people.

Ricky Baez  14:19
And you know, how many of those are in the healthcare industry? I’ve met some nurses that should not be nurses. But I’ve also met some nurses that are amazing, and they love to care for people.

Ricky Baez  14:29
So all I’m saying is, is that you have to have a genuine interest in truly helping that mentee. Even if that mentee a couple of years later surpasses you in your career. I’ve seen that happen too. And then some people get upset at that.

Pete Newsome  14:45
Even though that shouldn’t be the goal, right? If you’re forced into this role, then that should be what you strive for. Is it to help that person ultimately be better than you are?

Pete Newsome  14:56
But I can see where that would depend on the situation if it worked for the same company and a senior and junior role that started if that flipped. Yeah, I could see that.

Ricky Baez  15:08
We’ll be happy though I will be happy if my employee, if because of how I helped my employee, and they got a promotion somewhere else, their VP? And I’m a director, I’d be happy with that. You wouldn’t?

Pete Newsome  15:19
I hope I would, right? But I can see that you know, that that may not always be could hurt. That’s easier said than done at times. I’ll say it. Again, human nature to some degree.

Pete Newsome  15:32
You want to you we all should we all shouldn’t be so noble. Right. But I don’t know that that’s always possible.

Ricky Baez  15:44
So we are human. So yeah, you’re right, I get it.

Pete Newsome  15:46
But I think that plays into it, it’s a good segue into one of the other points that we believe, make a good mentor, which is you have to be genuine in your approach, right?

Pete Newsome  15:59
So if you’re holding back information for that reason, then that’s not genuine at all. You’re not being a good mentor, you really have to be willing to share all your secrets, so to speak, don’t you? It is all your secrets and your connections, your connections as well.

Ricky Baez  16:16
This reminds me of that one scene in The Godfather when the guy comes over to buy his political influences, right? He wants to buy the politicians that the Godfather has in his pockets. I mean, at least that’s how it comes back to me.

Ricky Baez  16:30
From a mentor’s perspective, obviously, if you have that much experience, you have a wide network, you have to be able to share that network, and you have to be able to introduce your mentee to everybody in that network. And here’s why you should do that. Right?

Ricky Baez  16:45
Maybe we should have led off with this, Pete. If you’re going to take on a mentee, you’re going to be a mentor, you have to understand that that mentee now is a representative of you, they’re going to represent you. So you have to be able to pick the right mentee.

Ricky Baez  17:04
And you have to be able to pick somebody that represents you in the light in which you want to be seen out there. So yes, you’ve got to be able to pick somebody not only who’s really witty, who’s really smart and has a hunger for the field, but somebody who carries themselves with the same goals with the same core values as you want to be seen out there as well.

Pete Newsome  17:25
A little bit of a change here of direction.

Pete Newsome  17:28
But what happens in a relationship where you realize those values don’t align? What because that’s a real situation that I’m sure occurs where the mentor and mentee at some point, it’s all looks.

Pete Newsome  17:43
It looks great on the surface, right when you’re coming into a new relationship with someone the honeymoon period, if you will.

Pete Newsome  17:49
But once you start to go down the road a little bit, you may realize that you’re not in alignment with your ideals and beliefs.

Pete Newsome  17:56
And that is, is it okay to acknowledge that or is it necessary to acknowledge that and just say this, let’s stop the journey before it continues too far?

Ricky Baez  18:08
As soon as you realize there’s a misalignment, stop, have a meeting, and recalibrate.

Ricky Baez  18:15
And it’s important to understand, actually, it’s important to never assume the reason for the misalignment, right? Maybe the person is doing something different.

Ricky Baez  18:25
And they didn’t realize that the core values are misaligned. But you got to stop it as soon as you find out about it, and just have a conversation to recalibrate.

Ricky Baez  18:34
Because if you don’t do that you get you’re going to continue to go the opposite way. And then people are going to start to wonder, are they really a mentor-mentee relationship there?

Ricky Baez  18:43
Because they’re, they’re talking very differently from one another. So yeah, you should stop immediately and then recalibrate, to see if continuing is the best option or not.

Pete Newsome  18:53
Okay, and I know you’re a Star Wars fan. So of course this this reminds me, of how you know how these relationships start off great, right may not may not always end up. Well, you haven’t seen you know, you’re right. Later along the way.

Ricky Baez  19:13
Oh, hold on. I didn’t even think about that. Could you imagine if you and I had a mentee, and they ended up being really successful, and they end up being the one that completely disrupts the business in a negative way?

Pete Newsome  19:28
Well, I mean, I think again, it’s, I don’t want to equate it to raising a child. But that is there are some similarities there. Of course, not nearly the same depth and closest but you know, sometimes children stray.

Pete Newsome  19:41
Sometimes they take information and interpret it differently than intended and go off in a different direction. And I think that’s a natural thing to happen in life.

Pete Newsome  19:51
And again, there’s the generational changes are so real in a situation like this and the different perspectives where it’s I think for a young person, to or less experienced person, I don’t mean to associate with age.

Pete Newsome  20:05
So a less experienced person to hear advice from someone who’s, who’s done a lot of whatever there is, or sharing advice on.

Pete Newsome  20:13
But they did it in a different era, they did it in a different time and place in the world. So it’s not always going to be perfectly in sync. And that’s okay.

Pete Newsome  20:24
But it doesn’t mean learning from the past and learning from someone who has experience, from a different perspective isn’t equally valuable. It just means it may not always be as relevant today as Right, right.

Pete Newsome  20:38
I mean, trust me, my kids remind me of that all the time, when I’m giving them advice. that no longer exists. And I get that.

Ricky Baez  20:47
I cannot wait for my nine-year-old to start talking back to me that way. There’s another thing p here that really, it’s hitting me right in the chest and it’s perfect. celebrate their achievements.

Ricky Baez  20:59
So this is from a mentor’s perspective, this is crucial, right?

Ricky Baez  21:03
Because the mentee has something going on in their life they have something going on at the end, at their work life that you may not be able to see or even attend when I’m saying this is that, although that’s not in your radar, as a mentor, you have to show up for those things.

Ricky Baez  21:19
If they got a promotion at their job, you got to be there to celebrate, if something happened at their job, or even at home, you have to be there to separate, separate, celebrate, and to separate to actually celebrate.

Ricky Baez  21:35
So you know what else Pete? Especially for people with families, this is a bonus tip that I want to give people. If you’re mentoring somebody that already has a family, chances are you’re going to enter and the mentoring the entire family. You’re because you’re gonna get to know them. Right.

Ricky Baez  21:53
And you have to get to know their families because you have to know what’s happening at home as well. Right? And also, this helps, because, look, you you’re gonna want to know, where your spouse who your spouse is hanging out with, right after hours.

Ricky Baez  22:08
Holy sighs right? So you have to be around the family as well.

Ricky Baez  22:12
That way, when you’re no longer there, give them advice, that you want your mentee to go home and have a support system who believes in that relationship enough to be able to support them at home so that way they can hit their goals. Right.

Ricky Baez  22:28
So you’re not mentoring just one person. You’re almost mentoring an entire marriage.

Pete Newsome  22:33
That’s a deep commitment, though. That’s, you know, you’re so yeah, this is not something you should take on lightly is what you’re saying?

Pete Newsome  22:42
Because that’s a commitment, not many people will be willing to make it half-time to make it. It’s, it’s a big deal.

Ricky Baez  22:51
I had to do just one a year if that.

Ricky Baez  22:53
And this mentee that I just started with met her husband and her son, and we had a good conversation to make sure that he is fully aware of what we’re working on and that we he knows how to support us at home as well. So yeah, it is a huge commitment. But you know what Pete? I love it.

Pete Newsome  23:13
so one of the other important points, I think it’s absolutely necessary based on everything you just said is to make sure the relationship is built on a solid foundation of trust.

Pete Newsome  23:24
Oh, yeah, absolutely. That has to be in place on both sides. So be honest and open with all that you’re sharing. Which, again, is also a huge commitment to make to someone. Because we don’t always do that in our relationships in business or in life.

Ricky Baez  23:42
You know, it’s weird because it’s free, nobody pays for this right? This is a time that you’re both investing in that you both deem valuable. So yeah, it’s now that I’m thinking about it, it’s a lot.

Pete Newsome  23:59
It is a lot you should consider carefully.

Ricky Baez  24:03
You’re talking me out of it.

Pete Newsome  24:06
It’s a great thing to do. There are benefits as we’ve established on both sides. But what we haven’t talked about are some things not to do. What do you what should you avoid in this relationship?

Pete Newsome  24:21
And what are the things to just not do ever?

Ricky Baez  24:24
I learned this one early on, and I’m just going to come out and say it is assumed you are the problem solver.

Ricky Baez  24:33
I learned this one a long time ago, a long time ago where if somebody was to come to me with you know, in a meeting and they bring an issue I incorrectly assume that they wanted me to solve it.

Ricky Baez  24:44
And what I’ve learned throughout the years is you know, sometimes you should be the problem solver. Sometimes you just need to be the soundboard. Just take a step back, and listen to what they have to say.

Ricky Baez  24:55
Do not be judgmental. That is the biggest way to transform Barry off it to be judgmental. Now, there’s a big difference between being judgmental and recalibrating. Right?

Ricky Baez  25:08
So recalibrating is just hey, let’s come back, let’s meet again to make sure that our priorities are still the same judgmental as talking down to somebody because they did or didn’t do something that it’s that’s not going to help that relationship at all.

Ricky Baez  25:23
So, again, the biggest mistake you can do is to assume that you have to solve everything and be judgmental, from my perspective.

Pete Newsome  25:30
Okay. That makes sense, right?

Pete Newsome  25:34
I think one of the most important things if you make this commitment, after all, we’ve talked about as you have to be accessible, oh, yeah, if you’re going to make that commitment, you need to pick up your phone, when it rings, you need to answer the text when it comes.

Pete Newsome  25:48
And because if someone is going to rely on another person for help, and advice, you can’t forecast or predict when the needs are going to arise. And just look at a parent with a child your phone’s always on, right? And so have to be accessible always.

Ricky Baez  26:06
Here’s my problem. Pete, I answered every call, whether it was pre-girl is how late it is. And you know, and I know, this is my problem, I have to draw boundaries.

Ricky Baez  26:17
Because even if a call comes in at 1 am, I’m looking at it and I’m like, okay, is if I ignore it, this person knows not to call me this late. This is an emergency and I answer it.

Ricky Baez  26:29
But this is that’s a line I have to draw. I’m not saying that happens all the time. But you do have to draw a line to make sure when it’s appropriate to call them out to call.

Pete Newsome  26:39
Ricky, I think I think you just gave the equivalent of answering in an interview, what are your biggest weaknesses? And you just said, I’m too good at what I do. I’m too much of a perfectionist.

Ricky Baez  26:48
I think I think I think that’s why I have a hard time saying no.

Pete Newsome  26:54
I go above and beyond constantly, and I can never stop.

Ricky Baez  26:57
Right, we need to do alive about all of those answers. What are the worst ways to answer that question?

Pete Newsome  27:04
Well, so that’s great. I think the last point thing not to do is don’t try to steer the direction too much. If you are volunteering to help someone you need to help where they need it. And not make assumptions there. Either you agree with that point?

Ricky Baez  27:23
Agreed. 100%, you need to be the employee’s GPS system, a GPS system on your phone or in your car has a lot of information have a lot of different addresses.

Ricky Baez  27:34
But somebody has to point where they want to go, and you have to create that path for them. That’s what a mentor is.

Pete Newsome  27:43
I like that. I like that. That’s a good visual for us.

Ricky Baez  27:47
I’m gonna, I’m gonna write that down too. For a T-shirt. Yeah, yeah, multiple T-Shirt Days. I’m gonna start a business and watch a t-shirt business.

Pete Newsome  27:55
So last question on this? Do you think that it makes more sense to have a mentor in your same organization? Or does it make sense to seek one? externally?

Ricky Baez  28:11
Good question. And woof, you caught me off guard with them when they repeat. So here’s, here’s how I’m going to answer that.

Ricky Baez  28:22
If you are looking to move up in your organization, if you’re looking to stay in your organization, it would be a good idea to find a mentor, who’s a couple of level on level up the new, more experienced than you, obviously, but more senior than you in that organization, because that person is going to have keys to a lot of doors you’re not going to have.

Ricky Baez  28:44
So I think if you’re looking to move up in a specific organization, I think it’s a good idea to find a mentor in that organization. Now, remember what I said about going home and having a conversation with yourself?

Ricky Baez  28:56
Okay? Go home, look in the mirror, and I am, I’m being serious here. But ask yourself, do people like you? Because if people don’t like you, nobody’s gonna pick nobody’s gonna mentor you. Right?

Ricky Baez  29:12
I’m just being serious. And if you go up there, and everybody tells you, no, you’re gonna have to have another conversation about why doesn’t anybody want to mentor you.

Ricky Baez  29:21
So you have to take a look at your own toolbox and how you’re coming across to see what you need to tweak to be mentored. Will. I just made that up. Right? Because you’ve got to be measurable. And if you’re not doing that, it’s just not gonna happen.

Pete Newsome  29:36
Alright. So be likable. That is, that is a trade.

Ricky Baez  29:41
That is now if you’re looking to just improve yourself and move up elsewhere go somewhere else, but I would do I would find a mentor in an organization or in a position you want to be in. Right.

Ricky Baez  29:56
And that is when the quality of your relationships really relationships on LinkedIn and social media are such great tools for that.

Ricky Baez  30:03
Because if you build that relationship with somebody, let’s say if you want to work for Apple, and you want to be an HR director of Apple, you build up a relationship with a recruiter there is somebody there senior director there to the point that, hey, they’ll take you as, as a mentee, go for it.

Ricky Baez  30:19
Absolutely go for it. So it really depends on where you want to go in your career.

Pete Newsome  30:23
You responded nicely to that one, I put you on the spot. And so I think they’re off the hook for the rest of this episode. But let’s wrap this so not day. Not today.

Pete Newsome  30:35
Now the day is not even 11 am. But let’s summarize what we talked about in terms of how to be a good mentor.

Pete Newsome  30:44
Number one, set expectations up front, in terms of how often you’re going to get together what you each look to, to get out of the relationship that is imperative to begin in the best possible way.

Pete Newsome  30:57
Number two, be genuine in your interest.

Pete Newsome  31:00
Make sure if you’re taking this step, and you’re making the commitment that you mean it and you plan to deliver along the way, even if that means helping your mentee surpass you.

Pete Newsome  31:10
And the role in the profession. I like that you brought that up because it is something that we all can’t do easily but should consider if we’re truly trying to help in the best possible way, right?

Pete Newsome  31:24
It’s an important thing to commit to building trust. That’s huge. Share your experiences, share, and be willing to share your secrets of success at all costs, right? That’s another one.

Ricky Baez  31:40
And failures and your failures. That is something people do not do constantly because they’re ashamed of it. And yes or no feels that because I’ve made my mistakes, I’m sure you have, we’ve all have.

Ricky Baez  31:53
But one of the best ways I learned Pete is by picking up a biography of somebody it because you’ll be able to see that that person has some of the same failures, as you’ve experienced, and next to you know, you’re more relatable.

Ricky Baez  32:07
And they see that you’re not such a big machine a superstar. So you got to be good enough with yourself to share the good and the bad that way you can have somebody else with it.

Pete Newsome  32:15
I love it. And also, I believe very strongly that learning comes from failures, much more so than from success. Because when you succeed, you can make incorrect assumptions that you’re doing things in the best way or in the right way, when realistically, you may just be getting lucky.

Pete Newsome  32:36
So when you fail, you learn from it, and you improve from it. Well, that’s, that’s more meaningful, right? Especially to someone who you’re trying to help MIT to avoid those pitfalls and mistakes himself.

Pete Newsome  32:50
So that’s a great point to bring up. The other highlights from this are, don’t always try, to direct the path, right? Let your mentee ask for the help that they need the advice that they need.

Pete Newsome  33:07
Don’t always try to set too many directions. Open your connections to your mentee, that’s one that you have to be willing to commit to upfront. And then the last one is to celebrate their achievements.

Pete Newsome  33:22
That’s right. Be present for that along the way. And you know, because you never know, maybe no one else is for that individual. So commit to playing that role as well. Did we leave anything out? Ricky?

Ricky Baez  33:34
No, I don’t think we did. I’m looking on here and Oh, teach them how to cook the perfect ribeye steak. That’s, you know how to throw that in there. That was in my notes really big and bold.

Pete Newsome  33:48
Alright, well, we have to cover all the bases and I think we have now.

Ricky Baez  33:54
Absolutely. We get your request.

Pete Newsome  33:56
Thank you for your time. As always, thank you for listening to this episode of The Hire Calling Podcast. Rate us review us give us feedback and also, we love taking requests for new episodes.

Pete Newsome  34:07
So if you have anything to share, we’d love to hear from you. Ricky, thank you have a great rest of the day.

Ricky Baez  34:12
Thank you. You too. Have a good one folks. Drive safe!