Found a way to get my old coworker to mentor me without asking directly

I wanted to switch from data entry to project management but nobody would give me a chance. So I started asking my coworker specific questions about his projects like 'how did you handle the budget overrun on the Johnson account?' after I noticed he wrote the report. After three weeks of that he offered to let me shadow his next project. Has anyone else gotten a career boost by asking targeted questions instead of straight up asking for help?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahpark10d ago

Personally I think this is kind of a sneaky way to go about it. Like you're basically tricking someone into mentoring you instead of just being upfront about what you want.

richardh449d ago

Yeah because everyone's totally lining up to teach you their secrets for free. Next time I'll just walk up to a master mechanic and say "hey you wanna be my unpaid personal trainer for the next five years?" That'll work great. The sneaky part is just common sense really. If someone's gonna show you the ropes you gotta make them think you're just casually interested, not gonna drain all their time and energy.