[Interview] Mentoring: A Better Way Of Learning

About Abhyank Srinet

The brain behind MiM-Essay and MentR-Me, Mr. Abhyank Srinet, 2016 ESCP Europe MiM graduate. He established MiM-Essay when he was still pursuing his graduation. The main aim behind was no student should suffer the lack of consultancy he had to face. Over the past 3+ years, he has actually assisted over 900+ candidates with getting them into top Business schools around the world.

Interview

Q1. How is mentoring different from instructional models of learning?

Mentoring is done by a professional who has had experience in that field while instructional models of learning are pre-convinced notions stored for future reference.

A mentor is a well-experienced and a master professional who will teach you things that he has learned and experienced himself.

Mentoring approach gives you real-world learnings and makes you ready with a practical approach. Whereas, models of learning can aid you in grasping the theoretical aspects of learning but will give you a hard time in a real scenario.

One-on-one learnings and learnings done from a source create many differences in the upbringing of an employee.

Q2. What is the core idea of MentR-Me? In what way it's helping and to whom?

MentR-Me is a software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company that strives to provide students with everything they need to fulfill their Study Abroad goals.

While the academic world is expanding for students, accessing accurate information about schools, fees, and job opportunities is becoming increasingly difficult. Therefore, we at MentR-Me aim to make the admissions process for our students more informed, smoother, and enjoyable.

Furthermore, we strive to boost students’ competency so that they can be accepted into more competitive universities around the world.

We, as a company, aim to help students who are struggling to find colleges and universities according to their eligibility and other requirements. We try to engage, educate and entertain them.

Here’s how we do it:

School Explore Tool: This cutting-edge AI-based solution eliminates the time-consuming chore of consulting with multiple consultants only to gain a sense of your admission chances at various schools.
Answers Forum: A community of experts, peers, and alumni who can interact with each other to assist you in navigating the study abroad process. If nothing else, hold your hand through it.
Post a project: Connecting with top school Alumni is a task. Well, we have made it easy. You can post your requirements, and we will connect you with your ideal mentor to help you with your admission.
Masterclass Library: We have a huge content library with hundreds of masterclasses conducted by top school alumni to help students navigate their way through and give a peek at life after graduation.
Expert Consultation: We are here for you if you’re someone who needs end-to-end assistance. With just a brief strategy session, we help students begin their admission process with expert advice.

Q3. How can learners find mentors for themselves? What should be their approach?

In creative fields like music, arts, or sports, finding mentors is difficult as these are pretty competitive. And finding the right mentor is quite important as they can give you real-life advice that might save you a lot of time from making bad decisions that might make you feel stuck.

In addition, mentors can make your learning experience quite easy by providing guidance and an insider’s perspective on the whole process.

For learners to find a mentor, they must know what they want out of their career and what skills they wish to learn. Then they can use platforms like LinkedIn or MentR-me where they can connect with people.

I believe that a learner needs to be earnest and honest while connecting with their mentor-to-be. I would suggest refraining from flattery and keeping it short and simple.

Q4. You must have heard, “Mother is a child’s first teacher”. Why not a mentor? Why a teacher? What’s the difference?

Mother is the first teacher of the child because she cares for the child and regardless of the child wanting her to be the teacher, she still is. It’s the mother who guides the child through life in general.

However, When it comes to finding a mentor, it’s more about realizing you want one. You have to search for a mentor, you have to make an effort to find yourself a suitable mentor.

A mentor is the one who guides you through a particular niche or aspect of life whereas a mother will get you through any and every obstacle in life.

Q5. What is the future of mentoring? How digital connectivity is affecting the mentoring culture or process?

As everything has become digital nowadays, mentoring has also taken a turn. Before the digital era emerged, there was a more traditional and profound way of mentoring. Being physically present made it a lot easier for employees to understand and work efficiently.

While if we see, the digital approach has made all the learnings according to a fixed pattern that has been already prepared and the mentor’s work is to now to just present it and the work is done.

While the offline mode, mentors have more power and authority to teach the employees according to the situation and also explain everything without any hindrance. In addition, the mentee is also free to ask as many questions as he wants which he clearly can’t in the digital approach.

Q6. What is one-on-one mentorship? How advantageous it is in learning?

‘One-on-one mentoring’ fosters an environment in which the mentor is constantly challenging his or her mentees. Employees are also encouraged to take responsibility for their actions, which leads to social and psychological development.

In one-on-one mentorship, the mentee gets the chance to interact with the mentor at a personal level. and the mentee gets more comfortable and tends to open up with the mentor, which leads to positive outcomes.

There are many advantages of one-on-one mentorship, the mentor responds quickly to any queries and his whole attention is on the mentee. This model has helped employees adjust to the new environment in a better and quick way.

Q7. How to become a mentor which mentees love learning from? What are the traits of a good mentor?

In order to become a good mentor, it is important to keep a few things in mind. The first and foremost thing is to get clarity on what the mentee needs.

By asking questions, you can uncover more about who they are and what tendencies they have. It is also important to delve deeper into the mentee’s career requirements with probing questions.

The first thing is to figure out why people feel or believe the way they do so that we can help them. This also allows us to see whether there are any potential hurdles to their achievement.
Secondly, you can brainstorm ideas after asking enough questions to grasp a mentee’s objective. This is an excellent opportunity to help them on their journey to self-awareness and collaborate on ideas to co-create the mentee’s future.
Thirdly, a good mentor should be willing to offer constructive criticism or feedback to help the mentee figure out their shortcomings and help them work towards improving them for a promising career.

However, a few traits that one needs to become a good mentor are being experienced in the area you’re mentoring.

Firstly, You won’t be able to be a successful mentor if you don’t have experience in the subject of knowledge that your mentee requires.
Secondly, you should have the ability to teach on a one-on-one basis. Leadership abilities are a must to become a mentor, plus you must be able to tailor your approach to the individual you are mentoring.
Thirdly, you should have a desire to assist someone in realizing their full potential. A good mentor always wants their mentee to accomplish their objectives and feel invigorated.

Besides these, to be a good mentor, it’s crucial to have excellent communication skills and a respectful attitude. You don’t want someone harsh and unconstructive in their criticism, mistreating you, or eventually discrediting you. This results in a collaboration that is both ineffective and frustrating.

So, to establish a successful mentor-mentee relationship, every mentor must have ‘constructive communication’.

Q8. Tell us more about your other startup, MiM-Essay.

In today’s globalized world, everyone is aware of almost everything, and this easy access to information has made it very difficult to stand out from the crowd.

So the first step is to figure out what people want and how you will be any different from those already in the market offering them those products or services. Once you figure out this difference, then that becomes your USP. Then, you can slowly start to build your niche.

That is what I did when I started MiM-Essay. My business model was keeping in mind that the funding market is drying up and that you have to be profitable while sustaining yourself.

Q9. Where do you get motivation from? How do you stay motivated for your startup?

The first step to finding motivation is to recognize what drives you and make it personal. For me, I thrive on seeing my work creating value and constantly finding ways to improve myself and my work.

So I take up a task and do it with utter dedication, sometimes it gets overwhelming and difficult. But when I see the results I feel all the perseverance is worth it. And this is my main source of motivation, seeing my hard work bear fruits, and give unprecedented results.

This may also explain why I get up every morning not just for my work but for my team as well. Because at the end of the day it isn’t just about keeping myself motivated but also keeping my team motivated and then working collectively to make our mark in this competitive environment.