We spoke to three of our Femme Palette mentors working in HR roles — Olga Castillo, Becca Garner, and Nicolas Bowles — about why companies hire people with mentoring experience.

Mentoring can take shape in many different ways — from informal career chats and advice to internal programs at your company or global mentoring programs such as Femme Palette. No matter the format, being a mentor has many benefits including further developing your active listening, leadership, and feedback skills, just to name a few. However, sharing experience across companies, countries, and cultures provides even more value to both the mentor and mentee. 

Lisbhit England signed up for our Coaching and Mentoring program. After working with a coach first, she got matched with her mentor Lucia Belkova and they clicked instantly. And despite this being Lucia’s first time mentoring fully online, they managed to overcome this challenge through transparency and building trust. In their interview, Lis and Lucia open up about their mentoring journey, what surprised them, what they learned and what were their favorite parts of it all.

Sharing your experience is an important part of mentoring and is an easy way to give back. Even with just a few years of experience, you’ve likely gained a lot of knowledge during that time that you can use to help inspire and guide someone through their personal and professional development journey. ‍However, simply giving a monologue about your life and hoping it encourages your mentee to take action isn’t the best approach. Here are a few tips for sharing your experience so that it has an impact.

Mentoring is a two-way learning experience that can be a great way to improve your leadership skills. Anyone who has been in a leadership position knows that being a good leader isn’t always straightforward. While it’s important to understand your own leadership style and what motivates you as a leader, you’re not the only person involved in the equation. A big factor in being a great leader is how you work with other people to meet their needs. Mentoring outside of your immediate environment is an excellent way to learn more about how other people think, how they work, and what they need. 

We asked Femme Palette mentor Danial Hassan for his recommendations and here are some of the top books he suggests mentors (and anyone looking to improve these skills) check out.

When mentee Glorybeth Castillo got laid off from her job, it was a major blow to her self-esteem. However, she decided to turn things around and signed up to the Femme Palette Mentoring program where she was matched with mentor Lucie Chmelikova. And within a few sessions, things started looking up. 

Mentoring is a great way to give back by sharing what you’ve learned throughout your career and helping guide a mentee toward their goals. Maybe you’ve thought about being a mentor but aren’t sure where to begin. The good news is that you don’t need any formal mentoring experience to start, but there are several ways you can build up your mentoring experience and strengthen the skills you’ll need to be a great mentor. Here are a few ideas to help kick of your mentoring journey.