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Writer's pictureJulie Schmitz
Mar 42 min read

3 Tips for Finding Your Mentors This Women’s History Month

As female founders in a heavily male-dominated field, Nicole and I are passionate about paving the way for other women in payments and banking. This Women’s History Month, we’re thrilled to highlight our passion for mentorship and talk a bit about why it’s vital for women to see themselves in positions of power in the field. 

1. Know what a mentor looks like and find multiple!
We think the most important thing women in payments can do to advance their career is to build relationships with multiple mentors. One is not enough! It’s also important to have a clear understanding of what a mentor can and should look like. There are the basics, like finding someone in your field that understands your role and appreciates what you bring to it. Additionally, a mentor should help show you how to plan for your future and think strategically about the next steps in your career. One of the reasons it’s so easy for women in payments and banking to feel stuck in one place on the career ladder is because they may have fewer senior colleagues and executives in their company who look like them. Having an advocate in your corner, who sees your potential to excel, is an important and necessary step in getting women in higher positions of power within banking and payments.
 
2. Build out your roster of champions.
A champion is someone who may not be your regular mentor but that understands and sees your unique talents and value. They are people you can tap into when you need a reference or an introduction. While a mentor has more involved conversations and strategy sessions with their mentee, a champion is someone who also believes in you and can help grow your network in a way that is less time-intensive for them. Think about the people in your professional life who may not be close colleagues but have encouraged you along the way and shown an interest in your talents.  The more champions the better!
 
3. Always be “building your dream job.”
We advise our mentees to keep a running list of what they like and what they don’t about their current and previous jobs. This is such a helpful tool for someone to understand where they might want to go next with their career. Sometimes just the exercise of writing this down can help build clarity. We also recommend keeping a "highlights" reel of one’s work. What are the big projects you've completed or the cost savings initiatives you've been a part of? Keep a running list of your accomplishments, and the more tangible the better. In addition to revisiting it when you may need a confidence boost, it's a wonderful tool to use when updating your resume, and to refer to with examples when interviewing for new positions. 
 
Take a peek at our Mentorship page for specifics on what we offer, some of our favorite resources and recommendations, and more kind words from our wonderful mentees.

We are so appreciative to our many amazing mentors and champions! Please know you've helped us build our dream with S.S. Scale. We are committed to keep paying it forward.

Happy Women’s History Month!
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