Depending on what you want out of the Petrean mentoring relationship, it doesn’t even necessarily need to be a Petrean working in the same sector as you – it could be a Petrean you want to learn from as a role model for reasons other than the specific skills you use in your day-to-day job.

A good Petrean mentor will take you out of your comfort zone, encouraging you to build upon your strengths, address any weaknesses, and stretch yourself in order to improve your skills and experience and get ahead in your career.

You may wish for a Petrean mentor at various different parts of your own career development to help you develop in a variety of areas.  It need not be the same Petrean mentor each time – indeed you may find better support in having different Petrean mentors at different stages who can support you in different ways.

What to look for in a Petrean mentor

• Be clear about what you want:
  Is it help to hone a particular skill set that you are after?
  Are you looking to develop your experience in a different field?
  Are you changing careers?
  Are you wanting advice on a specific project?
  How much support (i.e. contact time) do you need?
  Are you desperate to meet regularly in person or will Skype do?
  Get the practicalities of the arrangement straight in your own head from the outset, so you know exactly who and what you are looking for. 
   
• Finding someone you want to be like:
  Approach the kind of person you aspire to be like in the future if all goes according to plan.
  Who has the perceived strengths that can help you in those areas where you feel you have weaknesses?
   
• Equally (if not more) importantly, find someone you like!
  A good mentoring relationship is a very personal thing, which works best if there is good chemistry between you:
  Do you respond well to a hard task-master, or do you need a more sensitive soul to guide you?
  Do you click with serious types, or are you happier listening to people who are a bit more relaxed?
  
  The clues to the kind of person you are dealing with will be there when you have your first proper conversation, so just make sure you listen to your instincts. While you can’t necessarily choose your boss, you can choose your mentor!

How to find and approach a Petrean mentor

When you’ve decided who you want to approach based on the questions and guidelines above, a strategy for making contact might look something like this:

Email the Petrean to ask for an informal chat. The main thing is to get a sense of their career path and the experiences that brought them to where they are now, and more basically, whether it feels like you are going to get along.

Once you know you are keen to enlist their help, ask how they would feel about formalising it as a mentor-mentee relationship. You could suggest a monthly check-in meeting, for example, but remember there are no hard and fast rules, so don’t force it and expect them to commit to your ideal schedule.
You need to be proactive in making the best use of your mentor – they will NOT do the legwork for you.

Finally…

Remember that while a Petrean mentor can offer you invaluable advice and perspectives, they are not there to make your choices for you. A good Petrean mentor will leave you feeling empowered, encouraging you to take full responsibility for your own career decisions and the consequences that come with them.
 
The rest of your working life is up to you. Good luck!
 
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