Finding a Mentor & Interview

A faculty mentor has the most vital role in preparing you for your future career. The American Psychological Association lists characteristics of effective mentoring to include:

• Acts as an experienced role model
• Provides acceptance, encouragement, and moral support
• Provides wisdom, advice, counsel, and coaching
• Acts as a sponsor in professional organizations, supports networking efforts
• Assists with the navigation of professional settings, institutions, structures, and politics
• Facilitates professional development
• Challenges and encourages appropriately to facilitate growth. Provides nourishment, caring, and protection
• Integrates professional support with other areas such as faith, family, and community
• Accepts assistance from the mentee in the mentor’s professional responsibilities within appropriate limits
• Enjoys the opportunity to pass on their wisdom and knowledge, and collaborate with early career professionals

Selecting the best faculty mentor requires some thought and investigation.  Here are some useful questions for consideration.

Questions for yourself to consider

• What are my strengths?
• What type of training do I want?
• What skills do I need to develop?
• What kinds of research or projects will engage me?
• How much independent versus teamwork do I want to do?
• What type of career do I want to pursue?

With this reflection in mind, start by reviewing open postdoc positions, and if there are no positions of interest, review Yale departments and units for your discipline/related discipline, and when visiting that department/unit webpage, look for specific faculty in the disciplinary or research area you’re interested in. Start a list of which faculty align with your research and professional interests. Take a look at their recent publications, their lab, unit, or personal webpage, etc., to learn more about their academic work and the values they bring to it.  

Once you have a short list of faculty, reach out via email. Share that you’re searching for postdoctoral research opportunities and briefly, how your research interests align with theirs. Then ask if they’d be willing to meet to discuss postdoctoral position opportunities.  

The interview is where you can continue to grow your understanding not only of the role to which you are applying, but your potential faculty mentor’s expectations and mentorship style. It is important to understand if the work aligns with your goals and whether the expectations complement your own for the role, including the kinds of professional development and mentorship you would receive. 

When you prepare for the interview, prepare how you will share why you want to work with them and why you feel you’d be an ideal candidate for the role (e.g., your past experiences, skills, knowledge and motivation). 

You should also prepare questions to help you similarly understand what it would be like to work with your faculty mentor, what the role will entail, and the kinds of support you will receive. Here are some ideas for the kinds of questions you might ask in an interview or in follow up conversations:

• How does this role fit into this unit/lab/department?  
• Who else works in this unit/lab/department? What opportunities exist for collaboration? 
• What are your day-to-day expectations for this role?  
• What are your broader expectations for this role (i.e., by the end of the postdoctoral position, what do you hope I would have accomplished/learned/developed)?   
• How many postdocs have you mentored and what kinds of roles did they go on to after their postdoc? 
• What is important to you in terms of mentoring?  
• What do you find helpful in setting up a productive mentor-mentee relationship?  
• How do you evaluate performance and give feedback to mentees?  
• How often do you meet with mentees?  
• How long is funding guaranteed for a role like this?  
• Is there funding for professional development opportunities like traveling to present at a conference? 
• What kinds of professional development opportunities are available (such as conference presentations, conference attendance, publication, grant writing, etc.)?  
• How do you support postdocs in their professional development and next career step?  
• What kinds of resources are there at your institution for professional development?  
• How do you manage conflict in your unit/lab/department?  
• What do you think will be most challenging for the person who takes on this role?  
• What do you see as the greatest benefits for someone taking on this role?