As you progress in your mentorship journey, you'll likely develop a sense of the types of mentees you enjoy working with and the challenges you're best equipped to help solve. So, how do you attract those mentees? Here are a few strategies:
1. Optimize Your Profile
Clearly define your expertise in your bio by listing 3-5 areas you love mentoring in. For example, mention specifics like “Long-term career planning,” “Transitioning between engineering roles,” or “Best practices in software development.” This helps potential mentees understand the scope of your mentorship and ensures those seeking help in these areas are drawn to you.
Be upfront about what you won’t mentor on. If there are topics you don't enjoy (like portfolio reviews or CV feedback), mention them. This prevents misaligned requests and allows you to focus on areas that bring you the most fulfillment.
2. Utilize Custom Questions
Before accepting a session, ask mentees to complete a brief questionnaire. Include questions about their long-term goals, their readiness to focus on career development, and what they hope to gain from the session. This will help you filter for mentees whose goals align with your expertise and interests. Set up your custom questions here and learn how to create better questions here.
3. Customize Your Session Types
Creating custom calendar session types with specific purposes is one of the best ways to attract the right mentees. When you define clear session objectives, you ensure that mentees booking time with you are aligned with your expertise and mentorship goals. Here's how setting up targeted sessions can help you connect with the types of mentees you want to support. Learn more here.
Consider offering recurring sessions rather than one-offs. This will attract mentees looking for a long-term relationship and deeper engagement, which can lead to more meaningful mentorship.
4. Be Clear About Expectations
Set expectations early. Make it clear in your profile and pre-session communication what types of mentees and challenges you’re looking to work with. By doing this, you’ll naturally attract individuals who resonate with your approach and areas of expertise.
By fine-tuning your profile, screening mentees through thoughtful questions, and offering customized session types, you'll attract the right mentees who are eager to learn from your experience and fit well with your mentoring style.