How to Ask Someone to Be Your Mentor: An Email Template

Asking someone to be your mentor is serious stuff – but that doesn’t mean you should shy away from it. Sending an email might feel cold and a little awkward, especially if your prospective mentor sits 3 metres away from you, but an email is definitely your best bet – it gives them time to digest the proposal and they won’t feel like you put them on the spot.

---

Subject line: 

Will you be my mentor?

Body

Hey Lucy,

As you know, I’ve reached a stage in my career where I want to [specialise in XXX/ move into management/ take my skills to the next level].

I’ve always admired the way you handle yourself as a professional and deeply respect your [incredible knowledge of XXX/management style], so I was wondering whether you’d be willing to mentor me.

I’d love to [summary of what you’d like out of the mentorship, e.g. shadow you once a week during XXX task/assist you with XXX project/catch up with you once a month to get feedback on XXX].

I understand that this isn’t a small request, so please take your time to think about it. Please also know that I take this proposal very seriously. As a mentee, I promise to be open to feedback, as I am very keen to work on my weaknesses.

I’d also be keen to help out with [insert specific project] as a way to build my skills and reciprocate the time and effort I know you’d put into being my mentor.

If you’d like to chat, let’s grab a coffee whenever you’re free =)

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,

[Your name] 

---

Not sure of the benefits of a mentor or why you may need one? Read this! Or if you’ve been asked to be someone’s then be sure to do them right with these 5 Tips on How to be a Good Mentor.

Struggling with writing a tough work email? We wrote 10 awesome email templates so you don’t have to.