Vocations · Job Skills

Make the half hour count.
Then follow through.

A mentor gives you thirty minutes and what they know. You make it worth their while by coming with one clear goal and a few good questions, and by doing what you said afterward. Log each meeting and the organizer keeps the follow-up from slipping: the thank-you, the actions and the next date.

Add a meetingWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Job search kit, $29 for 34 items.

Your meetings

The worked example is made up: a nursing student’s first meeting with an ICU nurse manager a week ago, and a recruiter meeting next week. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Vocations · Job Skills$5

What you finish with
A record per meeting: the mentor by role, date, minutes, one goal, questions with whether each was answered, what you learned, actions with due dates and status, the thank-you and the next meeting. Counts questions answered, actions done and overdue and days to or since; flags an unsent thank-you, overdue actions, no next date, too many questions for the time and a missing goal.
Who it is for
Students, apprentices, interns and early-career workers with a mentor or informational contacts.
Format
Browser organizer with a saved record per meeting. Prints one meeting, every meeting in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Job search kit ($29) and the Vocations Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Job Skills space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write the one goal and rank your questions.
  2. During the meeting, mark each question answered.
  3. Afterward, note what you learned and the actions.
  4. Send the thank-you within a day or two.
  5. Do the actions and set the next check-in.

Add a meeting

Six steps

Before, during and after1One goalThe single thing you want toleave with2Ranked questionsBest first; about one per 8 to10 minutes3Listen and noteTheir words, not your summary4Thank-youWithin a day or two, namingone action5Do the actionsEach with a date6Report backTell them what happened whenyou check inBefore, during and after1One goalThe single thing you want to leave with2Ranked questionsBest first; about one per 8 to 10minutes3Listen and noteTheir words, not your summary4Thank-youWithin a day or two, naming one action5Do the actionsEach with a date6Report backTell them what happened when you checkin
Mentors keep helping the people who come back and say what they did with the advice.

Good questions

Questions only this person can answer are the best use of the time: what they would do in your place, what they look for in new hires, what they wish they had known. Questions a website answers are better looked up first.

A short thank-you

Two or three sentences are enough: thank them for the time, name the one piece of advice you will act on and when, and say you would like to let them know how it goes.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Labor. CareerOneStop: informational interviews and networking (careeronestop.org).
  2. National Association of Colleges and Employers. Career readiness competencies (naceweb.org).
  3. Kram, K. E. (1985). Mentoring at Work: Developmental Relationships in Organizational Life. Scott, Foresman.
  4. Eby, L. T., Allen, T. D., Evans, S. C., Ng, T., and DuBois, D. L. (2008). Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72(2), 254–267.

The worked examples are made up. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.