# Finding a mentor

> The two front doors, what the search actually understands, every filter and sort, and why an unrated mentor is not sorted to the bottom.

Source: https://www.revquix.com/docs/mentorship/finding-a-mentor
Last verified: 2026-09-04

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There are two ways in, and they answer different questions.

|                                                    | Lists        | Use it when                                                          |
| -------------------------------------------------- | ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [Marketplace](https://www.revquix.com/marketplace) | **Services** | You know what you want done - "a mock interview for a backend role". |
| [Mentors](https://www.revquix.com/mentors)         | **People**   | You want the right person and will take whatever they offer.         |

Both reach the same bookings. A third door is a mentor's own page - `/u/<username>/services` - which
lists everything that one person has published.

## The search understands meaning, not just words

Typing "someone to review my system design" finds relevant listings even where nobody used those
exact words. You do not have to guess the vocabulary a mentor happened to write with.

> **Note** - Which is why a long query beats a short one here
>
> "Java" matches almost everything. "Preparing for a senior backend interview at a product company"
> narrows properly, because there is meaning in it to match against.

## Filters

Both listings filter on:

- **Skills and categories** - what the mentor works on.
- **Price**, as a range.
- **Rating**, as a minimum.
- **Years of experience**, as a minimum.
- **Availability** - bookable within 24 hours, or within the week.
- **New mentors only** - see below.

Service type - a one-to-one call, a mock interview, or a package - filters the marketplace.

## Sorting

| Sort                                     | What it does                                                                                                                                             |
| ---------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Relevance**                            | The default. Blends how well a listing matches your query with quality signals. With no query text it falls back to a quality-and-completeness ordering. |
| **Top rated** / **Highest rated**        | Rating, with review count as the tiebreak.                                                                                                               |
| **Price: low to high** / **high to low** |                                                                                                                                                          |
| **Soonest available**                    | Who can see you first.                                                                                                                                   |
| **Most experienced**                     | By years of experience.                                                                                                                                  |
| **Most booked**                          | Marketplace only.                                                                                                                                        |
| **Newest**                               | Recently approved mentors, or recently published services.                                                                                               |

> **Note** - Top rated is never rating alone
>
> One five-star review must not outrank forty at 4.8, so review count is the secondary sort. Without
> it, "top rated" would mean "least reviewed".

### An unrated mentor is not a zero

A mentor nobody has reviewed has **no average**, which is an absence of information rather than a
bad score. They are not sorted to the bottom of "top rated" as though they had scored nothing.

That matters practically: most mentors on a young platform are unrated, and a ranking that buried
them would show you the same few people forever. **Newest** exists so you can go looking for them
deliberately.

## What to do next

Once you have a shortlist, [reading a
mentor profile](https://www.revquix.com/docs/mentorship/reading-a-mentor-profile) covers what the numbers on it actually mean.

## Related

- [Reading a mentor profile](https://www.revquix.com/docs/mentorship/reading-a-mentor-profile) - Rating, reliability and experience.

- [Saved mentors and interests](https://www.revquix.com/docs/mentorship/saved-mentors-and-interests) - Keeping a shortlist.

- [Booking a session](https://www.revquix.com/docs/mentorship/booking-a-session) - When you have picked someone.