Emailing your mentor can be an intimidating experience. You want to make sure you’re sending the right message, but you don’t want to come across as pushy. To help you nail the perfect email to send (and get a response), we put together these nine tips for improving your odds:
| Key Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Craft a compelling subject line to grab their attention. |
| 2. Personalize your email to show genuine interest. |
| 3. Clearly state your purpose and what you’re seeking. |
| 4. Highlight your achievements and relevant experience. |
| 5. Keep your email concise and easy to read. |
| 6. Express gratitude for their time and consideration. |
| 7. Provide options for how they can help you. |
| 8. Respect their time by keeping follow-ups respectful. |
| 9. Be patient and understanding in your correspondence. |
1) Provide Context
You want your mentors to help you. You want them to know that you want their help, and that they should provide it. But first and foremost, they need to know why they are reading an email from you in the first place.
This is where “context” comes in: giving your mentor a clear sense of what’s going on with you, what is important to you, and how this request fits into the larger picture of your life goals.
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2) Make Your Point Clear And Concise
Use bullet points. They make it easy to read, and they’re more likely to stick in the mentor’s mind.
Write short sentences in your emails: Keep them between 5-7 words on average, including punctuation. The shorter the sentence, the less time it takes for your mentors to understand what you mean and you want them to waste as little of their valuable time as possible!
Use short paragraphs: Again with this “short” stuff! Short paragraphs are easier to read than long ones (which can be exhausting).
Plus, if there are too many ideas per paragraph or even sentence, that might mean that some of those thoughts aren’t good enough for a whole paragraph all by themselves . . . so keep things simple where possible and try not to overcomplicate things!
3) Ask Your Mentor For Help
Emailing your mentors for help is a delicate process. You want to ask for what you need, but not be too imposing.
You don’t want to scare them off by asking for too much, but you also don’t want to leave it up in the air and look like a flake by not asking at all mentors are busy people with their own lives and may not have time for questions that aren’t pertinent to your project or career path.
It’s best to be as specific as possible about what kind of help you’re looking for when emailing your mentor(s).
Because otherwise they might be left wondering whether they should just give advice on whatever came up while reading your email (which is fine if it was specifically requested) or simply ignore the subject line entirely because they think the message is unrelated (“Oh God! This person wants my help with their journalism career?”).
If there’s no way around this confusion due in part to ambiguity over what exactly constitutes “help,” make sure both parties agree beforehand on what kinds of questions would constitute appropriate assistance before sending off any requests whatsoever.
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4) Convey Gratitude
In your email, express gratitude for the time and effort your mentor has put into helping you. Tell them how much their advice has meant to you.
Thank them for being there for you when things got tough. Acknowledge that without their support and guidance, your career would not be where it is today.
Mentors indeed help students learn new skills and gain experience in their field but they also play an important role in bolstering confidence and encouraging students’ dreams of working in a particular industry or job function.
Mentors can provide essential encouragement during periods of self-doubt or imposter syndrome; they’re there to listen when no one else will; they’re advocates who help open doors to internships, jobs, conferences…and ultimately careers.
5) Get Personal
You’re not emailing your mentors to get a job, you’re emailing them because you want their help. And if they care about you and want to see you succeed, they’ll offer that help.
So next time you find yourself writing an email to one of your mentors or any professional contact for that matter consider getting personal. Ask about their kids, how their weekend was, what novel they’re reading (or how good the movie adaptation is).
You might not get an answer right away (the mentor might have been at a boring event like a work conference).
But as long as you show interest in who they are as people rather than just as contacts on LinkedIn or business cards at conferences, it will come across in your tone and make them more likely to respond positively when asked something specific later on.
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6) Research Your Mentor
Make a list of every question you can think of, and ask yourself if it’s likely to be something your mentor might not want to answer. If the answer is yes, try rephrasing the question in a way that doesn’t make it feel like an interrogation.
For example: “How did you get started in your field?” is an okay question because it’s open-ended and lets them tell their story.
But “What do you do for work?” or “Where do you work now?” are both closed-ended questions; even if they don’t mind answering them, they will give only limited information about their interests and ambitions.
If possible, go with an open-ended question instead of one that requires a simple answer like this it’ll give both of you more information and help build rapport between the two you!
7) Send Your Email At An Ideal Time
Don’t email your mentor when they’re busy. If you know they are going to be in a meeting, traveling, or on vacation, wait until the time is right.
Mentors are busy people who work full time and have personal lives outside of work as well. Emailing them while they’re in a meeting is only going to annoy them and make them feel like their time is being taken advantage of.
Don’t email your mentor when you know they aren’t interested in helping you out at all (e.g., if we’ve already discussed that there’s not much I can do for you). If we’ve already talked about what I can do for you and decided that it’s not worth my time or effort, then don’t keep asking!
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8) Know When Not To Email
When your mentor is too busy to respond. If a mentor has a heavy workload, it’s best not to email them if you know they’ll struggle to get back to you.
When your mentor is on vacation. You should also avoid emailing during their annual leave period.
Although other people might think this is an ideal time for contact, mentors tend not to respond well when they’re on holiday because there’s no urgency or purpose behind the exchange so why make yourself more stressed?
When your mentor is sick or injured and in recovery mode. If this happens during a crucial time in the relationship building process (e.g., after several emails have been exchanged).
Then it may be necessary for you both parties’ sake that nothing further happens until they are better again and back at work full-time so that their response times will be more manageable than when dealing with an inbox full of unanswered messages from various sources simultaneously (again).
When your mentor has just returned from any kind of business trip abroad where he/she was away from home for several days/weeks at least once already this year;
Especially if there were problems which arose during those trips…and even MORE especially if those issues weren’t resolved satisfactorily before returning home again after each trip!
9) Follow Up
Finally, it’s important to remind yourself that the mentor holds all of the power in this relationship. If you don’t hear back from them after a few weeks and you have questions about what your next steps should be, feel free to send another email.
Just make sure that it doesn’t come across as overly aggressive you want your mentor to know that you’re serious about learning from them!
If they still don’t respond after another email or two, don’t be afraid to reach out again to other mentors if necessary (and make sure not to burn bridges with any of these people).
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Conclusion
The key takeaway here is that emailing your mentor can be a great way to build and maintain a relationship with them. However, you need to do it the right way.
If you approach this as an opportunity to get something out of your mentor, you’ll probably get rejected or ignored. Instead, view it as an opportunity for them to help you grow as a person and professional.
Then make sure that you give them enough information about yourself so they feel comfortable responding in kind!
Further Reading
9 Ways to Engage Mentors and Get the Work You Want
Discover effective strategies for engaging mentors and leveraging their expertise to advance your career goals.
9 Tips to Land a Great Mentor: How to Ask a Stranger for Career Advice
Learn valuable tips on how to approach strangers and ask for mentorship to receive valuable career advice and guidance.
How to Ask Someone to Be Your Mentor
Get insights into the art of requesting someone to be your mentor and creating a mutually beneficial mentorship relationship.
And here’s the FAQs section with semantic-based questions and answers:
FAQs
How can I effectively engage mentors to achieve my goals?
Engaging mentors effectively involves understanding their expertise and needs, seeking their guidance, and providing value in return.
What are some tips for approaching strangers to ask for mentorship?
Approaching strangers for mentorship requires genuine interest, clear communication, and showcasing how their expertise aligns with your goals.
How do I ask someone to become my mentor?
Asking someone to be your mentor involves expressing your admiration for their skills, explaining your goals, and proposing how the mentorship can be mutually beneficial.
What’s the importance of providing value to mentors?
Mentorship is a two-way street. Offering value to your mentors, such as sharing your progress or assisting with projects, helps build a strong and lasting mentor-mentee relationship.
How do I ensure a mentorship relationship is productive and respectful?
Productive mentorship involves setting clear expectations, actively seeking advice, and respecting your mentor’s time and insights throughout the relationship.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.