Why Should I Have a Mentor?
Why would I want a mentor?
You might be wondering about the benefits of mentors. I think there are many reasons to have a mentor, but the main ones for me are:
- Having a preview of a career,
- Developing professionally, and
- Gaining a strong advocate.
Career Preview 🔍
Each mentor I have interacted with works in different types of roles. One was a human resource (HR) employee, another was in sales, and one was my professor, in education. These perspectives allowed me to appreciate each role and understand the daily tasks required of them. For example, my sales representative mentor explained her day-to-day work schedule where she would call prospective buyers to pitch her company’s product. My mentor in human resources, more specifically program management, explained that she was in charge of onboarding new employees, such as orientation and training. I also worked closely with my professor where I saw and participated in course planning.
Through these mentors, I explored their different careers and lived vicariously through them. Their different experiences helped me decide what kind of career I wanted to pursue. If you are doubtful on what type of career to go for, then having a mentor can reduce that uncertainty because you can ask them questions about their role and daily tasks. This will help you imagine what their job is like and decide on your own career path.
Professional Development 👔
Besides providing their perspective of a certain role, these successful individuals all have different stories explaining how they got to where they currently are. They will have tips that can help you grow professionally. For instance, all my mentors gave me professional advice during my job hunting process. My professor mentioned writing all of my projects down to review over what I could talk about during an interview. When I had two full-time job offers where decision deadlines overlapped, my HR mentor explained that being transparent about other pending offers is helpful for both companies to know. Through her advice, I was able to extend my decision for one offer about a week later. My sales representative mentor gave me a detailed explanation on how to review my resume for readability, such as two to three bullet points for each experience and staying consistent throughout my resume with either bullet points or paragraphs.
Their advice helped me prepare for any new surprises in the professional world and I am grateful I could meet these strong women, who have helped me get to where I am.
Strong Advocate 🥇
Sometimes after you establish rapport with your mentor, they may become your strongest advocate. This will make it easier when future hiring managers ask for references. Most importantly, positive word of your work ethic may be passed around if these individuals work in the same field as you. This usually happens naturally as you work with these people, but it is more difficult to achieve if you only have a surface-level relationship with your mentor. Your mentor also has to be willing to put in the work to grow your relationship together. This might sound a bit opportunistic, but remember that staying genuine and being yourself will gradually draw in individuals who are willing to help you grow professionally. Instead of seeing these relationships as one-way transactions, remember that they are reciprocal and some day if your mentors are struggling to find a job, then you are there to help them too.
While having a career preview, growing professionally, and gaining a strong advocate may be some of the reasons to have a mentor. There are definitely other benefits I may have missed. If you have had a mentor before or want to provide some additional insights on how mentors can assist you, then please comment and let me know.
Now that you know why having a mentor can be beneficial, I will briefly discuss how to find mentors in the next article…
