Mentoring influences career development, academic success, and personal development. The mentor-mentee relationship is complex, and works well when the faculty mentor has experience, when both participants communicate well, when goals are set, and when the resident takes an active role in the process. Residents choosing an academic career benefit from faculty mentors with expertise and scientific connections. Besides faculty mentors, senior or chief residents’ mentoring roles are valuable. Most residents will identify mentors on their own, but formal mentoring programs result in earlier mentoring, and women and minorities are more likely to find mentors inside of a formal program. Despite possible advantages of matching residents to faculty mentors with a similar background, this is often not possible. Fortunately, resident mentees identify the sensitivity of the faculty mentor as the most important factor in a successful relationship. Research on faculty-resident mentoring is primarily limited to surveys of mentors and mentees, but studies consistently report that mentoring is valuable for most trainees.