No. 4: Seek out a mentor to help you on your career path.

The best way to land a job is through a personal referral. Yes, you can find a job by flooding the market with unsolicited resumes or by applying for every opening that comes available. But when you do so, you become part of the nameless, faceless crowd vying for a position.

A personal referral, on the other hand, automatically distinguishes you from the competition and places you in the “second review” pile of resumes. A personal referral is a differentiator that can help you along the pathway to professional success.

Working with a mentor can help you generate personal referrals. Mentors come from many different stations of life. Your mentor might be a professor, a friend’s parent, a work colleague, a neighbor, a fellow congregant, or a former classmate. You might even reach out to someone you admire from a distance.

How do you convince someone to be your mentor? The answer is simple: Ask. Most people are willing to give meaningful advice if you will ask.

Ask your mentor for referrals for your job search. Does he know anyone who is hiring? Ask for recommendations and career advice. What groups and associations should you join? Ask about your preferred job niche. How can you distinguish yourself in that niche? Ask for advice, then follow through on that advice.

Several years ago, I received an unsolicited email from a woman who was a third-year law student in another state. She advised that she was interested in practicing employment law in Phoenix and referenced another lawyer in town – a graduate of her alma mater – who had suggested that I might be able to give her some guidance on the job market.

Note that she did not ask me for a job, she asked me for advice.

I respect the attorney who had given her my name. I was flattered that this student thought that I could give her meaningful assistance in her job hunt. And I was impressed that she had formulated a career plan and that was taken the initiative to implement her plan.

We agreed to meet the next time she was in town. I explained that my firm did not have any job openings at that time, but agreed that we could talk about the job market and general advice for a job search.

When we met a few weeks later, I was impressed with her qualifications. She was smart, articulate, and outgoing. She presented herself well and asked good questions. She was receptive to my comments and suggestions for her job hunt.

She followed up with me several weeks later. By then, we were getting busier at the office. My partners and I realized that we could use an associate shortly. We invited her in for a second meeting so that she could meet some of my partners. They were as impressed with her as I was.

Several months after our first meeting, we made her a job offer. Fortunately, she accepted. She has become an invaluable member of our team. And she has made me look good many times over.

I have tried to be a good mentor to her. I involve her with my cases whenever possible. We regularly meet to discuss litigation strategy and skills. She is not relegated to writing research memos and reviewing stacks of documents, but instead regularly meets with clients, argues in court, and handles her own cases.

We have developed a genuine friendship and respect for one another. But none of this would have happened if she had not taken the initiative to reach out and ask me for advice.

Seek out a mentor who can help you on your career path. You’ll be glad that you did.

(To be continued)