Forums

I am in the military and I am still a few years out until retirement, but I would like to start planning my transition into civilian life and the question I have is about mentorship. I understand that the best way to get in a good mentor relationship is through your network, but I would like a mentor in the field that I am looking to transition into. The problem is that I do not know many people within that field and I am not sure where to start.

Kevin1's picture

Hi there,

There are plenty of casts regarding networking.  One good tip is http://www.meetup.com/

Have you tried them?

Kind regards

Kev

amhess82's picture

Kev,

My takeaway from the networking casts was that effective networking is really just building healthy personal and professional relationships.  I want to approach it that way, but I don't have any relationships with people in the field that I want to transition into.  Volunteering within that field may be the best way for me to build the right relationships.  My only concern is that, I feel like it is a really indirect approach.  

Thanks for the advice,

Alan

VPfreedude's picture

Alan - keep in mind you may not have contacts in that field but if you have warmed your network of contacts as the casts suggest, you can start asking your network if they have contacts you could speak to in the new field.  Quite likely you have someone you know that can and will be happy to help you out.  You just have to ask.  In fact I just did an introduction similar to this today for a person who reached out to me for help.

The second thing is i'm guessing that playing off your military career will give you some good will with people who may be willing to talk to you because of your service and their desire to help out someone.  I say I'm guessing becuase I have never experienced it personally but it seems like that is a thing people would respond positively to.

Best of luck!