Rather than trying to find one mentor, think of your task as building a mentoring team. Carefully selecting a team of mentors that fits your needs increases the likelihood you will benefit from the experiences and support you desire. A team also can serve as your safety net in case any one of the professors you work with leaves the University, or if irreconcilable issues later develop between you and a faculty mentor.

You also should be creative about whom you include on your team. Although this guide focuses on faculty mentors, you can expand your professional network of mentors to include your peers, more advanced graduate students, departmental staff, retired faculty, faculty from other departments, faculty from other universities, and friends from outside the academy as potential mentors. All can help fulfill your needs and serve as part of your professional network.

The team approach you take will likely be an informal one. That is, the mentors you select may or may not see themselves as part of a formal team. Indeed, if you have drawn individuals from varied fields or professional sectors, your mentors might not even know each other, at least not initially. It is up to you to decide if there are advantages to introducing your mentors to each other by proposing collaborative work.