Veterati, the Mentor Program made by Marines, for Marines!

To support National Mentoring Month, the Marine For Life Network hosted a Facebook Q&A session with Veterati. Want to get involved? Here are the things you need to know about Veterati.

1. Veterati is a mentoring program with more than 8,000 users and is redefining mentoring for the modern age.
   Veterati is a technology platform that enables a transitioning service member or military spouse to connect with millions of professionals that are employed in the private sector for conversations, or mentorship in the modern sense. Through these conversations, the mentee finds tactical next steps, epiphanies, and aha moments that:
   • Shift the trajectory of their career journey
   • Creates connections needed to network into the industry and companies they are pursuing
   • Provides a community of Americans that respect the sacrifices service members and spouses have made to protect our great Nation and want to give back tangibly with their advice, guidance, and assistance.
2. Veterati was started by Marines!
   The founder and COO of Veterati, Daniel Rau, served in the Marine Corps from 2003-2008. The idea of Veterati began when Daniel and his wife Diana, an established serial entrepreneur, began an experiment to help six of their fellow Marines transition successfully. Through this experience with the Original 6, Daniel and Diana saw there was a need during transition for discovery conversations, advice, guidance, and connections. This sparked the idea behind the Veterati Platform. When their third founder, Thy Tang, a Marine and Tech entrepreneur, joined the team they were loaded with the tech firepower to get busy building the idea into a functioning platform.
3. Veterati offers flexible mentor opportunities. 
   Veterati believes transition is a dynamic process and the mentor most helpful to you may evolve over time. To support this they allow unlimited mentor connections.
4. Active Duty, Reservists, Veterans, and Military Families are all eligible for Veterati!
   Veterati wants you to know, “if you have put on a uniform and served in the US Military we welcome you to leverage Veterati to support your career journey.”
5. Veterati has stringent terms and conditions agreement with their mentors.
   If a mentor breaks the terms and conditions, they are removed from Veterati forever. After EVERY call users receive a text, where they can participate in a five star review of each  experience. From these reviews, poorly ranked mentors get sorted to the bottom of the mentor list. Veterati also has a chatbot on their platform that is always on real-time for users to message staff directly should any issues arise.
6. Veterati has a unique smart calendar system.
   Veterati’s smart calendar system will pull availabilities from a mentor’s calendar automatically to offer as an availability for a mentee. This is a huge time saver for a busy professional, and still allows the mentor to have the final accept or deny of the meeting request should the time availability conflict with something that isn’t on the mentor’s calendar.
7. Veterati uses an algorithim to match you with a mentor.
   Once you sign up on Veterati, you indicate your desired industry and skills and what you are seeking in a mentor. These then go into an algorithmic match to find an associated mentor that has the expertise you need. There is also a search bar on the platform so you can specifically browse any mentor for criteria of interest.
8. It is very easy to sign up for Veterati.
   • Go to Veterati.
   • Click the red “Access Mentors” or “Become a Mentor” button | Below the video. 
   • Sign in using your LinkedIn credentials - it will populate your profile for convenience.
   • Click through 6 slides of basic info - and confirm your phone via text.
9. Veterati wants you to know you are not alone.
   We asked Veterati what their top success tips were, here is what they had to say: “Start with an understanding that it is ok to not know and to respectfully seek help. Understand that people want to help you and be open to that - You don’t have to do this alone. Ahead of you is a journey-Same as when you began your career in the military. You are going to learn a ton about yourself, about what you are seeking, the new rules of the game outside the Marine Corps.  Your family, brothers and sisters from the USMC, Veterati and many other resources are going to be there – use those.”

If you're ready to connect with Veterati, sign up today!

Still searching for more in-depth assistance with mentoring? Contact your Installation’s Marine & Family Program’s Transition Readiness staff.  Do you want to participate in a future M4L Facebook Q&A? Join the Marine For Life Network by visiting the website and completing the form.

You can also follow Marine for Life on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.