The partner who was officially assigned to be my mentor is someone I was actually excited to work with. Our practices overlap, and I worked with him quite a bit earlier in my career, so when I was asked about my mentorship preferences, I told him directly that I’d love to work with him.
He responded that he doesn’t work with associates at my level.
The thing is, I’ve since heard through the grapevine that he does work with an associate who is one year above me — and that associate is completely new to the area and doesn’t have any background in these issues.
So now I’m wondering: should I read his response as a polite way of saying he just doesn’t want to work with me? And if so, should I take the hint and stop pursuing the mentorship?
I don’t want to overthink it or make things awkward, but the explanation feels a little odd given what I’ve heard.