Having a career mentor is one of the best ways to have a successful and enjoyable first experience in the professional workforce.
Some companies will assign you a formal mentor, but many will not. Don’t let that stop you from looking for someone to be in your corner, though—all you’re really looking for is someone who has more experience than you and cares about your successes.
You want someone who has failed and then found a way to get back up. Finding that person can do the things for you that a boss or a friend outside of your office might not be able to. A career mentor can:Teach You How To Talk
Obviously, you know how to talk. School has taught you how to participate in class discussions, how to ask for help from professors and how to engage with peers. But very little about schooling teaches you how to interact professionally with colleagues, especially when those colleagues may be so different from you in terms of both work and life experience. It’s sometimes difficult to find that line between professional and cold, or between friendly and casual. Your mentor will model the best way to interact professionally, and they can also help you practice tough conversations that are sure to come up as you get deeper into your field.
Encourage You To Take Risks
A career mentor knows what risks are worth taking, and he or she can encourage you to actually take them. In your first year or two on the job, it can feel like you have to do everything just as instructed. You may feel that you have little flexibility to work or think outside the box. The reality is, best practices are discovered when you try things that may fail. A good career mentor knows your industry well enough to help you decide when things should be done as they’ve always been done, but more importantly, he or she can suggest when a chance is worth taking.
Celebrate Your Small Successes
Your boss probably won’t come over to pat you on your back every time you do something right. That’s a tough transition from college—when you wrote a good paper, you would get a good grade. There isn’t the same positive reinforcement in a professional setting, but your mentor could be there to provide that little boost you need. Small successes add up to big ones, and it’s nice to have someone there who knows what you’ve been working on and can praise you for it, even if it’s in the smallest of ways.
Be Honest About Your Shortcomings
A true mentor will help you identify your weaknesses. As a new member of your industry, it may be hard to identify what you’re not doing so well, especially if your work is acceptable enough to pass by your boss without comment. A mentor, though, will tell you how to truly make your work great. You want a person who will honestly tell you that you can do better, and then give you the concrete steps to make better a reality.
A mentor isn’t there to do the hard work for you. A mentor can’t open doors or get you a promotion, but they can be incredible resources and powerful teammates, which will help you accomplish those things on your own.
Feature Photo via Levo League