How to be a good mentee?

Some of the most common advice I hear for someone who wants to last in banking/finance is that you need mentors to be in your corner and help demystify the journey to the top. I’ve networked pretty extensively with a very senior banker at BB that I’ll be interning at next summer and they seem to eager to keep the relationship going. Since accepting my offer, they made sure to schedule a few follow up meetings leading up to the internship — I am taking this as a sign that they’d like to be one of my mentors.

My question is, how do I navigate this situation? There’s tons of info on how to be a mentor but not as much on how to be a good mentee? What questions do I continue to ask on our recurring calls, or is it just time to shoot the breeze? How do I develop this relationship professionally and use it to the best of my advantage to be well prepared for the internship? Any and all advice/stories/tips would be very welcome.

3 Comments
 
Most Helpful

- prepare good questions

- plan both short-term and long-term goals

- ask for feedback (what was good/bad)

- ask for introductions that can be a win-win situation within the business

- do not ask, but get a feel for what they would get out of this scenario; are they securing new headcount, what is the plan for the department, who is leaving the firm/who is joining, etc

 

can you elaborate a little more on asking good questions? how do you suggest avoiding the "boilerplate ones?

 

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