What are good topics to discuss with your mentor?

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Usually once I kick off our meet and greet and they know me/my current role, I work with the following topics:
1. What career progression options are available from where I am today
2. Map tasks to prepare for one or two of those options that I really like
3. Ask them to assess my personality and work style and see if they recommend other progression options (sometimes they see more in us than we do)
4. Shadow them to learn more about their and their team reportee roles
5. Initiate conversation on what I can do (learn, certification, tasks, next steps) to get them to go from mentor to sponsor

I keep these topics in my pocket. Sometimes the mentors have their own system, way and plan so I adapt to it. Sometimes they don't and I start with these until our relationship evolves and we can move past to other topics based on how things go.

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This list is really helpful. Thank you for sharing this.

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I always ask for constructive feedback if it's a workplace mentor!

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I try to ask a lot of questions about the path they took since I admire them and would like to follow in their footsteps. Then I try to flesh out what some realistic goals would be for me in the short and long term, what they think my strengths and weaknesses are, or what I can work on to improve. Don't be afraid to ask tough questions as long as you can handle honest answers. My mentor was brutally honest with me and it significantly improved my work life.

Where is the industry shifting, and how can you pivot to where you want to go? How to make more money? How to get promoted faster? Don't be shy; ask anything you want.

1.How do they see the industry 5 years from now. 2.Tips 3.Feedback

Ask questions on how to improve your career. Pick up some questions from the flow of your conversation. Just make it spontaneous. Also try to ask him for constructive criticism and learn things from it.

Difficulties at work, industry news, opinions on new tech tools and trends

Ask questions about your career growth. However, I suggest that you should be mindful of your tone and words. You don't wanna give him the idea that you wanna outdo him in the future.

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