Quote:
Originally Posted by Katie_UPS
One quick tip for recruiting female mentors: Don't recruit female mentors, recruit mentors.
"We want you to mentor our team because we want a lady mentor/positive female role model" is way less inviting than "We want you to mentor our team because of your X, Y, and Z skills." The former makes me valuable only because of my gender (something I have no control over) and the latter makes me valuable for the set of skills and knowledge I have worked to acquire and improve upon.
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And to add to this, it's entirely possible for women to be awful mentors too. If you're recruiting female mentors just for the sake of having a female mentor, you're not going to gain anything unless they also have the skillset you're looking for in a mentor, and the skills a mentor needs to be a good mentor are independent of gender.
I've never had a strong female mentor*. Not in high school, not in college, not now as a full-time engineer. I have worked with and learned from many, many wonderful men and women (some in a technical situation, most not), but the only mentors* I have worked with in a consistent, daily/weekly capacity (like in FRC) or a 1-on-1 long-term capacity (like in college/careers) have been male. I greatly appreciate the support these men have given me and wouldn't trade them for the world.
Having only male mentors has worked for me. I might not work for every girl out there. Not all high school girls are comfortable approaching men (or they may be, but not for all topics), and for this reason, I think it's important to have a diverse set of mentors on an FRC team if possible. But, every mentor should be respectful and supportive, regardless of who they are and who they are mentoring.
*Everyone's definition of mentorship is different. I consider a mentor of mine to be someone I work extensively with and receive advice from regularly. As said above, I have worked with and learned from many fantastic people, but not always for a continued period of time. I consider them important influences in my life and greatly value they support, advice, and inspiration they have provided me, but would not necessarily define them as "mentors".