The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2022 - 17

their directors or internship
coordinators to express your
interest in being a mentor.
Programs offered privately/
outside academia may also
have internship or practicum
requirements.
If you work for a company,
talk to your manager or
director about whether your
company could become an
internship site for students.
(An article about this
appeared in the January/
February issue of The ATA
Chronicle.6
interest, make it known
that you're happy to answer
questions and offer advice
to others. In short, although
you can't force a mentoring
relationship into existence,
you can create opportunities
for it to form and flourish.
Reflect on Your
Motivation
) Similarly, indicate
your interest in taking on a
preceptor or mentoring role
for new hires. If you're a
contractor or freelancer with
an agency, let the agency know
you're interested and willing to
serve as a mentor for students
placed by a training program,
or for new contractors on the
agency's roster.
Another option for more
formal/structured mentoring
experiences is to join a
program sponsored by a
professional organization.
For example, ATA has a
mentoring program that
you can learn about at www.
atanet.org/career-education/
mentoring.
If you're primarily interested
in less formal/structured
mentoring relationships, be
patient and allow time and
space for such relationships to
form. An important step is to
open the door, metaphorically
speaking, to the possibility of
such relationships by being
active within the profession,
meeting and interacting with
people, and letting others
know that you're available
and willing to offer support.
Exist and engage in the world
in a way that makes it clear
you're approachable and
encouraging. If you have a
particular strength or specific
www.ata-chronicle.online
It can also be helpful to
consider your motivation for
becoming a mentor and the
strengths and weaknesses
you bring. You'll also want
to consider what type
and scope of mentoring
relationship will work best
for you, both personally and
professionally. For example:
y Are you well-suited to
working with students in
a more formal/structured
relationship that will
likely require more time
and energy?
y Do you want a mentoring
relationship that's less
structured or timeconsuming?
y
Do you have insight to
offer in a specific area or
domain of expertise, such
as expanding professional
networks or learning to use
a specific technology?
Your experience as a
mentor will be richer and
more enjoyable (and thus
likely to last longer) if there's
a good match between your
strengths and preferences
and the type of mentoring
opportunities you seek.
We hope this brief overview
of mentoring has piqued your
interest and will motivate
you to consider how you can
contribute to the profession
and enrich your own practice
by mentoring others. To
conclude, we offer three brief
pointers and reminders:
1. Being a good mentor isn't
something that one just is
or that just happens on its
own. Mentoring is a skill
to acquire that requires
hard work, learning, and
practice, just like any
other skill.
2. Developing our skills as
mentors requires sustained
self-analysis and critical
reflection. This is not
always an easy process,
but it's a valuable one.
NOTES
1
2
3. As mentors, we must be
humble and open. For
example, rather than
attempting to save face in
an awkward situation or
trying to always seem
perfect in front of a
mentee, we must be able
to use difficult situations
as learning experiences
and discuss our work
honestly and openly.
Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mentor.
" What Is Mentoring? " (National Consortium of Interpreter
Education Centers), https://bit.ly/NCIEC-mentor.
3
" The Science of Mentoring Relationships: What Is
Mentorship? " In The Science of Effective Mentorship in
STEMM. Edited by Angela Byars-Winston and Maria Lund
Dahlberg (National Center for Biotechnology Information,
2019), https://bit.ly/NCBI-mentoring.
4
" Conscious Competence Learning Model-Martin
Broadwell, " https://bit.ly/Broadwell-learning.
5
" Conscious Competence Learning Model-David Baume, "
https://bit.ly/Baume-learning
6
McKee, Mary. " Reflections on Running a Micro-Internship:
Making a Difference by Starting Small, " The ATA
Chronicle (January/February 2022), 19,
https://bit.ly/McKee-internships.
Rachel E. Herring is the director of the
Translation and Interpreting Program at Century
College (Minnesota) and works as a per diem
interpreter at Children's Minnesota. She has
an MA in translation and interpreting from the
Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
and a PhD in interpreting from the University of Geneva.
She has presented on interpreting and interpreter training
in a variety of venues, both nationally and internationally.
rachel.herring@century.edu
Doug Bowen-Bailey is an instructional
designer with the CATIE Center at St. Catherine
University and works as a community interpreter
based in Duluth, Minnesota. He has also
mentored American Sign Language>English
interpreters for over 20 years. He has an MA in interpreting
studies and communication equity from St. Catherine
University. dfbowenbailey@stkate.edu
American Translators Association 17
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mentor https://www.bit.ly/NCIEC-mentor https://www.bit.ly/NCBI-mentoring https://www.bit.ly/Broadwell-learning https://www.bit.ly/Baume-learning https://www.bit.ly/McKee-internships http://www.atanet.org/career-education/mentoring http://www.atanet.org/career-education/mentoring http://www.ata-chronicle.online
The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2022

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