Not to nitpick, but if your tag line says "Get career guidance from your future self", it shouldn't probably sit on top of an image of an older man talking to younger woman :)
Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
31–40 of 58 posts
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#32It is an excellent idea. Congratulations Nitin/Sumit and all the best!
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#33Within a couple hours of creating my profile, I've received three emails from recruiters, all for positions unrelated to my actual field. I love the idea behind mentii, but this kind of thing could tank it early if it gets out of control.
Jayson - thanks for the feedback. We will have to tackle the spam / irrelevant messaging problem soon. We would love to reach out to the recruiters who messaged you, and understand their need better -- could you send us more details at support @ mentii.com
I'd love to sign up... but recruiters should be hellbanned from this.
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#34Just putting it out there that my account on mentii is https://mentii.com/mentor/shane.armstrong and I'm seeking a mentor.
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
Jayson - thanks for the feedback. We will have to tackle the spam / irrelevant messaging problem soon. We would love to reach out to the recruiters who messaged you, and understand their need better -- could you send us more details at support @ mentii.com
I'd love to sign up... but recruiters should be hellbanned from this.
I think the most effective short term way would to to provide a tertiary recruiter type account and have users be able to opt in or out of messages. Some people who are actively seeking work would be able to get the content they were after on your site and the recruiters would be able to pick from applicants who most importantly wanted to receive their messages.
For recruiters who take the method of making a normal account and using it to recruit to people who have opted out you could have a report ticket based system, even algorithmic-ally limiting the account abilities of people who repeatedly break the rules should they have a certain comment/report ratio.
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#36I've been a mentee, and I now mentor.
What I want when I see web sites like this is to see an understanding that mentoring isn't Q&A, and it's not "a chat over coffee".
The most successful mentoring arrangements I've seen have always had a clear agreement between mentor and mentee, a mentorship contract with specific goals and hopes outlined over a specified period of time, and a clear commitment to meet and stay on topic, discussing what needs to be discussed.
Training for mentors is therefore critical, giving a clear guide to them as to what they should and should not do (knowing when not to give advice is important, a mentor shouldn't feel they need to fix someone's life).
For mentees, who generally enter into this from the cold and with little experience... having a good mentor matters. And that is far more about having a person who is able to shape and manage the mentorship process rather than just a specialist in a field.
I would suggest going beyond just match-making, and helping to give online training, advice, and a mentor's forum so that they have a support network... such that you can really offer a strong benefit to mentors, and as a result have such high quality mentors that this becomes a key selling point to the mentees.
It is much harder to find mentors than mentees after all, so building an attractive proposition to those wanting to give time is critical.
PS: As an example of what mentors go through, I've uploaded the notes that were the outcome of the last training session I attended: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a9c832pvsz2tn4j/zAEgACdZ8_/Mentor... . I think online training for mentors, education for them, would enhance the offering... it becomes clearer to them that they can do it, and will be shown how and have support to do so.
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#37Why can't I delete my account?
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#38I've been a mentee, and I now mentor. What I want when I see web sites like this is to see an understanding that mentoring isn't Q&A, and it's not "a chat over coffee". The most successful mentoring arrangements I've seen have always had a clear agreement between mentor and mentee, a mentorship contract with specific goals and hopes outlined over a specified period of time, and a clear commitment to meet and stay on…
I couldn't agree more, and to expand: what I've found so far on the path to finding a mentor is that initial contact is simply awkward and too much pressure is put on you in the first five minutes.
Finding someone who you think "yeah, I could totally put my faith in this person to give me advice and not me a jack ass" is pretty hard from a two paragraph introduction and a list of all the jobs they've ever had.
It's a great idea from a site but it could fail under the insurmountable challenge of making people feel comfortable around each other for that initial encounter.
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#39Not to nitpick, but if your tag line says "Get career guidance from your future self", it shouldn't probably sit on top of an image of an older man talking to younger woman :)
If I were an old man I would be delighted to find that my future self was a young woman.
Re: Show HN: Find a mentor, Become a mentor
#40Great platform. I already got someone to guide me. :)
Is there any difference between the normal messages and the "Request Meeting" feature?