As movements like #publishingpaidme reveal the true extent of prejudice in all kinds of industries, more and more professionals are taking the time to pass the ladder down, aiming to help young marginalised people climb up and over the barricades to their success. There’s simply no better time to find a mentor — but once you’ve got one, how can you ensure that you’re getting as much as you can out of that relationship?
For those of you who’ve been lucky enough to grab a diverse mentorship opportunity already (and those of you who’re still looking), we’ve gathered a few tips that will help you make the most of it.
1. Find a Mentor who Shares Your Marginalisation
You might have seen this tweet floating around:
https://twitter.com/beckybrooker/status/1270129567865483266?s=20
Look, when push comes to shove a neurotypical white cishet male mentor will probably be better than no mentor at all — but when you’re a marginalised person, what you really need is a mentor who’ll understand right off the bat that prejudice, not lack of talent, is what’s keeping you from advancing your career.
If you’re a woman, you’ll want a mentor who won’t suddenly start debating you on the existence of the gender pay gap. If you’re neuroatypical or chronically ill, you’ll want a mentor who can empathize with your zero days and provide tried-and-true coping strategies.
The long and short of it is that a mentor who shares your marginalisation will require less emotional labour, less explaining and less overall exhaustion on your part, which can only ever be a good thing.
2. Go Beyond a Portfolio Review
One thing I’ve seen a lot of mentors offering is a ‘portfolio review’ — a way to see whether the work you’re handing to potential employers is really your best stuff.
Sure, if you’re a fresh-faced graduate looking for your very first job, a portfolio review could be invaluable — but how many of you actually fit that description?
In the following days, these mentors discovered that, overwhelmingly, the quality of work they were seeing in their mentees’ portfolios was more than up-to-scratch. The problem you face as a marginalised freelancer is that you’ve got plenty of work to show off, but it’s not getting recognised as it should.
So instead of asking your mentor to help you present your previous work, ask them to help you get paid for something new. That could mean anything, from talking about what kind of niche you should focus on, to pointing you in the direction of some diverse publications. It all depends on your career goals, your mentor’s capabilities, and your industry.
Make this the topic of your first meeting — it’s good to establish expectations on both sides early.
3. Ask the Right Questions
A good mentorship can be the opportunity of a lifetime, but that doesn’t mean it’s a life-long thing. While your mentor will always be just a catch-up email away, they might never again be able to commit to the same level of support that you’ll see during the advertised mentorship period. You’ll need to use your time with them wisely, and focus on asking questions that will genuinely help your career.
Be wary of falling into the trap of only speaking about the problems you face as a minority. If you’re lucky enough to have a mentor who shares your marginalisation, it’ll be tempting to sit and set the world to rights about how badly you’ve both been treated over the course of your careers. That doesn’t mean that you can’t complain at all — but try to steer the conversation in a more constructive direction. Add the phrase “How did you handle that?” to your toolbox.
Don’t forget to think about your personal development, too — that is, after all, what a mentorship is for! If you don’t know how to negotiate a rise in your rates, if you’re debating which union to join, if you have no idea what your strengths are and how you can build on them — then those are all great places to start your inquiries.
4. Get the Naked Truth
The most valuable thing you can get from any mentor is brutal honesty. It hurts at the time, but if there’s a glaring issue with the way you do business, you’ll want to know about it sooner rather than later.
The thing is, as a minority, how are you supposed to differentiate between honest critique and unconscious bias at work? Well, if you paid attention to point 1, you’ll know the answer: get yourself a mentor who gets you. This is your chance to find out if you’re actually intimidating, or if that’s just something men say when you speak up more than twice in one meeting.
Then comes the hard part: actually taking that critique on board, and putting in the work to improve. It’s tough, but at least you’ll know you’re not labouring to fix a problem that never really existed.
5. Ask for Recommendations
By far the biggest problem facing marginalised people at the start of their career is that we just don’t have access to the same networks that the more privileged do. That’s an extra painful truth when you’re a freelancer, because so much of your income relies on who you know, rather than what you know.
The single biggest thing any mentor can do for you is introduce you to their network. It’s a big ask, and don’t expect them to hand over their client list for you to plunder — but that doesn’t mean they can’t point you in the direction of an industry slack channel, or invite you along to an event.
Beyond invitations, though, mentors can provide those all important recommendations that will get you better gigs. At the end of your mentorship, be sure to ask them for one — if you have a LinkedIn, they can post it on your page, but if not you can always get a quote for your website.
It’s also worth asking your mentor to recommend you when they’re next offered a gig they don’t have time for. It’s not guaranteed that they’ll actually do it, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never know!
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A mentorship is an incredible opportunity to learn from the very best in your field. I hope these tips help you to get more from your mentors — and if they do, go ahead and leave a comment below!
