how can I keep my boss as a mentor when she leaves?

A reader writes:

I’m doing an internship at a nonprofit. My current boss is getting a promotion and changing jobs. She was a great boss and I want to thank her and keep the mentorship going, but I’m not sure how to do so without being awkward. Any ideas?

Tell her! Let her know that you’ve really appreciated working for her and why — be specific here about what she’s taught you, if you can — and say that you’d love to stay in touch and potentially even meet up for coffee occasionally.

You could say, “I respect your judgment so much that I’d love to be able to come to you as a sounding board in the future, if that’s something you’re open to.”

From there, make a point of emailing her a few times a year with updates about what’s going on in your career, or times you’ve put things you’ve learned from her into practice (most people love hearing the latter). People early in their careers tend to underestimate how much people senior to them enjoy hearing this kind of thing; it’s easy to figure they’re too busy or important to care about your updates, but usually people really love this stuff. (And the fact that your boss has been a good mentor to you up until now says she’s probably someone who would really enjoy it.)

You can also suggest coffee occasionally. Aim for once a year but look for signs she’d be open to doing it more often.

One secret key to making this work is being openly appreciative when you talk to her. The people I’ve spent the most time mentoring are the ones who make a point of telling me how it’s helped them; that feels great and is a real motivator to continue being generous with people.

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