Latest / The Career Mentor Podcast with Fexingo: Finding Mentors, Sponsors, and Career Advisors / How to Find a Mentor When You Are a New Graduate
Transcript
- Lucas: You've just walked across the stage, diploma in hand, and suddenly the career center's warm embrace is gone. You're in the real world now, and the question I hear from new graduates more than any other is: how do I find a mentor when I have no network and no track record? Luna: It's a real chicken and egg problem. You need guidance to build your career, but you need career experience to attract mentors. So how do you break in? Lucas: Let me tell you about a recent grad I know—call her Priya. She graduated last May with a marketing degree and zero professional connections in the city she moved to. Instead of cold-emailing senior execs, she did something different. She identified a mid-level manager at a company she admired and offered to help with a small data project the manager had mentioned on LinkedIn. Luna: So she led with value, not with a ask. That's smart. What was the project? Lucas: The manager had posted about needing to clean up a messy customer survey dataset. Priya had some basic SQL skills from a class, so she offered to spend a weekend organizing it. No strings attached. The manager was surprised—and impressed. Within two weeks, they had a coffee chat that turned into a monthly mentorship. Luna: I love that. It's the opposite of the 'can I pick your brain' email that everyone ignores. She gave before she took. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the core principle for new graduates: don't approach a potential mentor with your hand out. Approach them with something useful—a skill, a fresh perspective, even just a well-researched question that shows you've done your homework. Luna: And if I'm being honest, I think a lot of graduates also overlook the power of peer mentorship. Your classmates who are a year ahead, or even colleagues at your first job who have been there six months—they can be just as valuable as a senior executive. Lucas: Absolutely. Peer mentors give you the insider scoop on things like which manager is actually good to work for, or how to navigate the unwritten rules of the office. And they're often more accessible. Luna: So if you're a new grad listening right now, what's the single best first step you'd recommend? Lucas: Start with your alumni network. Not the formal 'mentor matching' program—those can be hit or miss. I mean the LinkedIn alumni list for your school. Filter by industry and location. Reach out to someone who graduated three to five years ago, not twenty. They remember what it's like to be in your shoes, and they're more likely to respond. Luna: And when you message them, what do you say? Because 'hello, I'd like you to be my mentor' is probably too direct. Lucas: Way too direct. I'd say: 'Hi, I'm a recent grad from and I see you're working in. I'm exploring that path and would love to hear about your experience. Could we do a 15-minute informational interview?' That's a low-ask, low-pressure entry point. Luna: Fifteen minutes is key. Anyone can find fifteen minutes. And if it goes well, you can ask for a follow-up or advice on a specific challenge. Lucas: Right. And here's the thing—most people are genuinely happy to help a new grad, as long as you respect their time. I've seen studies that show about 70 percent of professionals are willing to have a brief chat with a student or recent alum. Luna: That's encouraging. But what about the graduate who feels completely intimidated? Maybe they're the first in their family to go to college, or they're an introvert who dreads cold outreach. Lucas: That's a real barrier. And for someone like that, I'd say start even smaller. Go to a virtual alumni event where there's a panel. Ask one question in the chat. Then follow up with one of the panelists saying, 'I really appreciated your point about X—I'd love to learn more.' That's a softer entry. Luna: Or use your university's career center. They often have alumni volunteers who have explicitly signed up to help. That takes the guesswork out of whether someone is open to being contacted. Lucas: Good point. And if you're already in your first job, your manager can be a de facto mentor. But not all managers are good at that. So you might need to look sideways or even two levels up. The key is to build relationships before you need something urgent. Luna: That's the piece I think new grads miss most. They wait until they're in a crisis—a bad performance review, a layoff scare—and then try to find a mentor. By then it's too late. Lucas: Exactly. Mentorship is like an umbrella. You build it when the sun is shining, so you have it when the rain comes. Start building those connections in your first month on the job, not your twelfth. Luna: And if a new grad is listening and thinking, 'I don't even know what I want to do yet,' that's okay too. You don't need a clear five-year plan to start a conversation. You can just be curious. Lucas: Yeah, curiosity is actually an asset. I'd rather mentor a curious new grad who asks thoughtful questions than someone who pretends to have it all figured out. The best mentoring relationships are two-way streets—you teach me about your generation's perspective or a new tool, and I share experience. Luna: That's reverse mentoring in action. A lot of senior leaders actually value that. They want to understand Gen Z trends, TikTok, whatever's new. So a new grad has more to offer than they think. Lucas: Let me give you another example. A friend of mine, a VP at a tech company, was paired with a new grad through a formal program. He thought he'd be doing all the teaching. But the grad showed him how to use a no-code automation tool that saved his team ten hours a week. Now my friend considers that grad a key advisor. Luna: That's the beautiful symmetry of mentorship. It's not a one-way donation of wisdom. It's a relationship where both people grow. Lucas: And if we've helped you think about how to approach a mentor, or if this show has been useful in your career journey, we'd love your support. A couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these episodes going—buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It helps us stay ad-free and focused on content like this. Luna: Yeah, even a small contribution makes a real difference. We appreciate every single one. Lucas: So back to the grad who's ready to start. Once you've had that first informational interview, what's the next move? Send a thank-you note within 24 hours, and reference something specific they said. Then stay on their radar. Share an article they'd find interesting. Congratulate them on a work anniversary. It's about gentle, consistent presence, not aggressive follow-ups. Luna: And if they don't respond to your first outreach? Don't take it personally. They might be swamped, or your message got lost. Wait two weeks, then send a brief, polite follow-up. If you still hear nothing, move on. There are plenty of other potential mentors out there. Lucas: Exactly. Rejection is part of the process. But the one mistake I see new grads make is giving up after one no. The people who succeed are the ones who treat it like a numbers game—they reach out to ten, fifteen, twenty people. It only takes one yes to change your trajectory. Luna: And when you do get that yes, come prepared. Have a list of three to five questions. Show that you've done your research on their company and role. Respect the time limit. That builds trust. Lucas: One of my favorite questions for a first meeting is: 'What do you wish you had known when you were in my shoes?' It's open-ended, it invites storytelling, and it almost always leads to gold. Luna: I've used that one myself. It works because it's humble and curious. It doesn't put the mentor on the spot to give you a 'right' answer. Lucas: And once you've built a few of these relationships, don't forget to circle back and say thank you again—months later, when you've applied their advice. That reinforcement makes them want to keep helping you. Luna: It's also okay to have multiple mentors for different things. One for technical skills, one for navigating office politics, one for work-life balance. No single person has all the answers. Lucas: That's a great point. In fact, I'd argue a new grad should aim for a 'mentor board of directors'—three to five people they check in with periodically. That way you're not overly dependent on any one person, and you get diverse perspectives. Luna: And as you grow, some of those mentors might become sponsors—people who actively advocate for you when opportunities arise. That's the next level. Lucas: Right. But you don't start there. You start with a genuine connection, a small offer of value, and a respectful ask. That's the formula for any new graduate. Luna: So for the grad listening right now, feeling uncertain: you have more to offer than you think. And the best time to start building those bridges is today. Lucas: Agreed. Thanks for joining us on The Career Mentor Podcast. We'll be back next time with another angle on finding the guidance you need.