Recruiting mentors

[GeeTwo]

Whenever you go out looking for money, material, or fabrication sponsors, also ask about mentors. You're already there, and many companies actually link mentorship and sponsorship. (Likewise, when you get a mentor, after he or she is settled in, ask about sponsorship from the mentor's employer.)

A majority of the mentoring on our team comes from parents of members or former members. Most of the others just showed up, possibly spurred by their employer (e.g. NASA, Naval Research, NDEP) to do outreach. About the only thing you can do here is to advertise the existence of the team. If you're doing outreach events and put up some banners or wear uniform shirts when you do them, that's a great start.

Only one of our mentors was targeted individually. Larry and I attend the same church, and my son recruited him as the team was forming; he had earned a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in then-recent months.

Wherever you're recruiting, never take "but I don't know anything about robotics" for an answer. Counter with something like "but you do know about [electrical systems/building things/organizing a business/managing a project/whatever skills the prospect has], and we need those skills on the team. If you know the person at all, tailor your pitch to their motivators, whether it's competition, teaching, making the world a better place, or building neat stuff. I suspect this is why all of our successful mentor recruitments have been done by someone who already knows the prospect.