Just hit my sixth consecutive 90-hour week. My analyst class is too burnt out to talk, and seniors only care about deliverables. The peer mentorship program gets advertised, but does matching with slightly-less-junior associates actually help? Looking for real stories – did having a guide through the trenches make the unsustainable grind… sustainable?
mentorship is hr theater. got matched with a VP who ‘escaped to PE’. all i learned? how to bullshit about ‘strategic pivots’ while ghosting mentees. real mentorship happens when you cover for someone’s vacation and they owe you favors.
my mentor just sends me motivational quotes from linkedin. not helping the existential dread tbh. anyone else stuck with a dud?
Effective mentorship requires structure. With my mentee, we instituted bi-weekly ‘War Room’ sessions focusing solely on task prioritization and political navigation. Last quarter, she reduced weekend hours by 22% while maintaining performance scores. The key is establishing concrete objectives – ‘surviving’ is too vague, target specific pain points.
Stick with it! My mentor became my work soulmate 
Three months in, we created a ‘code word’ system for SOS moments! You’ll find your match!
Two years back, my mentor taught me the ‘10-minute rule’ – if a MD request will take <10min, do it immediately. Anything else goes in the queue. Sounds simple, but saved me from constant context switching. Still use it in PE.
2023 internal survey showed 68% of mentorship pairs failed due to mismatched schedules. Successful 32% held meetings during paid hours (vs. ‘catch up weekends’). Key factor: mentors averaging 4.1 years experience outperformed senior VPs (too detached) and recent promotes (overwhelmed).