As former Chief Warrant Officer 2 Cecil Jackson prepared to leave the Army this past summer, he knew there were some things he didn’t know about the civilian working world: How people talk, how they act, how they might perceive his military background.
He needed an insider’s view, and that’s just what he found in Mike Obamwonyi, a 20-year Navy veteran and sales professional with AT&T. Obamwonyi has been showing Jackson the ropes, giving him a firsthand look at corporate life and getting him ready to make the leap. He has become, in a word, Jackson’s mentor.
The Wall Street Journal estimates some 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies offer mentoring programs, but that doesn’t help a great deal if you’re still in uniform, still waiting to get inside. But as Jackson learned, it’s possible to form a meaningful mentoring relationship even outside a formal corporate program.
Where to Look
Jackson’s first step came through American Corporate Partners. ACP matches veterans with corporate mentors in 27 companies in 17 cities. The free, one-year program is open to anyone who has served post-9/11, with preference going to those who have deployed or been wounded, their spouses, and surviving spouses.
“Some people are looking for a broader understanding of what careers are available, what they might be most suited to do given their skills,” says ACP Chairman Sid Goodfriend. “Some people are looking for networking opportunities. Some are looking for specific career guidance.”
ACP counts 1,200 mentees, or protégés, among its ranks — roughly 70 percent enlisted, 30 percent officer.
The mentoring relationship can take a number of forms.
The mentor may coach the protégé on a specific skill, give guidance on professional issues or help the mentee to build a network, push professional boundaries or discover new interests.
A mentor may be a contact within a professional organization, a fellow alum, a boss from a previous job or simply a contact from within one’s personal or professional network.
Mentors can arise from any quarter. What matters most is not where you find one but who you find.
Any time an aspiring protégé is introduced to someone with shared professional interests, “you are basically going to be interviewing that person, without really saying that,” says Rene Petrin, president of Boston-based consultancy Management Mentors. “You ask about their background in this field, ask what advice they might give you, ask what they see going on in the field.”
If you hit it off, have lunch or coffee to get further acquainted. A mentor will have good rapport, shared interests, a readiness to listen and a willingness to teach. If a contact gives off that vibe, be direct: “You ask them right out, will you consider being my mentor?” Petrin says.
“This all appears to be artificial, but if you have it right, if you have seen them two or three times and had a couple of discussions, this seems much more natural,” Petrin says.
Military mentality applies here: Be prepared. In seeking a mentor, the potential protégé should have a clear and explicit plan in mind. “You want to meet once a month; you want to meet on the phone or in person; here’s what you will talk about,” Petrin says. “You need to frame it that way because otherwise, people might not know what you are really asking from them, and it may seem overwhelming to them.”
The best mentoring relationships become close and personal, and they don’t always evolve along predictable paths. “Most mentorships develop naturally over time, so it’s very difficult to force these. There has to be a relationship of trust that evolves,” Goodfriend says.
Jackson saw the benefits taking shape as the time came to swap his uniform for a suit and tie. He’s still looking for that perfect job, but he’s thankful he’s had help.
“It’s giving me an inside look at things, so I think that will make it an easier transition for me,” he says. “I don’t know exactly what to expect from here, but if I can see how he does it, maybe I can glean from that.”
