Mentoring is a relationship that is established with someone who is an expert in their field. The mentor is usually older and more experienced than the mentee. The mentor shares their experiences, and the lessons they have learned. But the relationship benefits both the mentor and the mentee. The mentor benefits from the opportunity to strengthen their leadership skills. The mentee receives career guidance and helpful career advice to prepare for the next level in their career.
Many companies have formal mentoring programs in place for matching new employees with those already established in their career. If you are choosing your own mentors here are five tips to ensure a successful relationship:
1. A good career mentor:
- Is knowledgeable in their field
- Is generous and honest with advice
- Is a good communicator
- Is committed to the relationship
- Will get to know their mentee: her/his capabilities, interests and goals
- Will make recommendations for the mentee’s career development and path
- Will create learning opportunities and heighten the mentee’s career
- Will introduce the mentee to key people and professional organizations
2. Choosing a career mentor:
- Choose someone you admire
- Look outside your immediate work area – maybe your boss’s boss.
- Choose someone in another area of your organization who has had a career path similar to your goal.
- Find multiple mentors (I have clients working with more than one mentor in a formal relationship).
To find a career mentor outside of your organization, join professional associations where you can meet senior people and executives in your field.
3. Setting up the Mentor/Mentee Relationship:
- Before seeking a mentor’s assistance, make a plan. What do you expect from your mentor? What do you want to focus on? How much time do want to commit to this relationship? It is important for you to be clear about your expectations for your own benefit and in order to communicate this to your potential mentor.
- Invite the potential mentor to lunch or coffee to discuss your intention. Mentors appreciate the recognition, and are willing to share their knowledge and wisdom.
- At the meeting, effectively communicate your need for a mentor, your vision of the future. Define the relationship and why you would like this person to be your career mentor.
- Find out how involved the potential mentor wants to be in this relationship.
- Give them a chance to think about it – tell them you will get back to them in a couple of days.
4. The Relationship:
- Set up the parameters of the relationship together, how often, when & where you will meet, and the length of the meeting.
- Respect your mentor’s time. Show up on time for your meetings. If you have to cancel your meeting, give at least 24 hours notice.
- Set up boundaries for phone calls. Between meetings call only if absolutely necessary.
- Use your scheduled meetings effectively by organizing your materials and the topics you would like to discuss.
- Pay for your own meals and drinks or offer to pick up the tab for your mentor’s meal.
- If you are given an assignment, complete it on time.
- Show your appreciation by offering to help your mentor in any way possible. Send a thank-you e-mail communicating how this relationship has helped you or send a gift to recognize a special day for your mentor.
- Recognize when the relationship is winding down, communicate this, and wrap it up. If you would like to stay in touch with occasional updates of your career successes, clear it with your mentor at the end of the relationship.
- Obtain approval from your mentor before using them as a reference.
There are many benefits to a career mentorship, for both parties. Mentees gain the benefit of someone’s experience to help them navigate their career development. Mentors have the opportunity to reflect on their careers. Having clear goals and communicating these will ensure that the experience is positive and productive.
Copyright 2007, Cecile Peterkin.
Watch the video related to mentor mentee
Maria & Nelly, a mentor/mentee pair in the iMentor program, discuss their experience in the program and the impact iMentor has had on their lives.
Help answer the question about mentor mentee
What does a mentor expect from a mentee?or alternatively, what can a mentee expect form a mentor? I'm thinking of joining on of these programs…
About Author
Cecile Peterkin is a Certified Career and Life Coach. Feeling stuck in middle management or mid career? Take a FR-EE Assessment at our career guidance website.
Tags: Get, iMentor, Mentor, mentoring, non-profit, NYC, volunteer, youth
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I have been a mentor for both men and women. There is no truth to the idea that women are attractive to mentors due to their "allure." But, women are comfortable asking me to be a mentor, and are actually looking for growth. That makes it easier for them. Does your organization have a formal mentoring program? If not, think very carefully what you want from a mentor, and then expand your thinking to both the men and women in your organization who seem to have the ability to help you as you wish to be helped.
I would also say that mentors are over-rated. The person who you think is you 'mentor' can turn out to be someone who is using and abusing you – especially if they steal all your good ideas or take credit for all you work. I've had it happen to me a couple of times, so mentoring has left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Hey your supposed to ask questions, I did not know the answers were multiple choice or true/false.
1. Growing due to increase government requirements.
2. Just a guess that college graduates start around 40K, but will get much more with large companies.
3. Accounting degree, then got a job as bookkeeper with at bank.
4. College courses, hands on training early in career. I think the larger companies will send employees out on seminars and other training.
5. In the corporate world, for me, it is either reconciling a trial balance account, or preparing a report for management or regulators. (Balance Sheet, P&L, annual regulatory forms, etc)
6.Completing a hard report, getting something cleared out, resolving an old matter.
7. Common sense, basic accounting theories like substance over form, understanding materiality. This may sound strange, buy my experience is that most accountants don't know how to do a bank reconciliation. I can, and this has helped.
8. Learn to get along with people and understand industries, and now more than before understand technical regulations.
9. I wish I had developed better people skills.
Very inspirational. I am going through a rough patch at the moment and the speach is exactly what I needed. The major lesson that I learned is that the man clearly does not take credit for himself for the role that the group played in the success that the company achieved. Although he was a major contributor to its success, he shows humility and with that wisdom. This is crealy a turning point for me as he did many decades ago when he went to the library to read up on the suggested papers. His philosophy is similar to mine. I too believe am a custodian, only when I achieve my goals.
Okay. Here goes. You've got a few grammatical, punctuation, phrasing, and paragraphing errors. Best of luck with your report.
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We all have strengths as well as weaknesses, but too often we dwell on our weaknesses rather than build upon our personal strengths.
Good reasons for identifying our personal strengths include the ability to make better decisions, to better handle stress, to develop better study skills, to join clubs, and to choose a major–all issues that college freshmen must deal with.
Once these strengths are recognized and acted upon them, success can be achieved not only in college, but in all areas of daily living.
After I took the Strengths Quest Test, the results showed that I already do possess many valuable skills.
My results were enlightening and indicated I possess the following skills:
*Restorative: Being adept at dealing with problems.
*Responsibility: Taking psychological ownership of what I say I will do.
*Analytical: Searching for reasons and causes.
*Adaptability: Preferring to “go with the flow.”
*Relator: Enjoying close relationships with others.
In the brief descriptions for all of my themes, I have found that many phrases accurately describe my personality. For example, the Restorative theme states that "It is a wonderful feeling to identify the undermining factors, eradicate them and restore something to its true glory." This is true for me because I often challenge myself with difficult problems that sometimes feel burdensome, so it is a relief when I ultimately work out the problem.
This theme also correlates with the Analytical theme, which is described as follows: “You peel the layers back until, gradually, the root cause is revealed.” Again, this is true for me because I enjoy this part of problem solving.
"Whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion,” describes someone with the Responsibility theme. This is personally true because integrity is something I value, and I feel required to fulfill my duties, but I often feel bound to keep my good reputation.
One theme I am unsure about, however, is the Relator theme. A person with this theme is described as not shying away from meeting new people and enjoying turning strangers into friends; I don’t think these qualities quite illustrate my personality. I have always considered myself as private and reserved and as one who takes a significant amount of time to form relationships. So for this to be one of my themes was a bit of a surprise.
A theme of mine that I once considered negative is Adaptability. Someone with this theme is portrayed as enjoying living in the moment and as having an easygoing attitude. (My mother would describe this as being lackadaisical.) But, now I can use this as strength. People with adaptability are able to expect the unexpected and remain calm under stress. Now that I realize this is actually a strength, I can apply it to my life.
Now that my strengths are revealed, I will use them to face the challenges and rewards of being a freshman.
One challenge many freshmen face is choosing a major. I can use the Relator theme to speak with mentors about career planning. I can research different careers that incorporate all five themes.
In college, developing good study habits is extremely important. Since there is always room for improvement, I can use the Adaptability theme because I am flexible and capable of remaining calm under stress.
With the Analytical theme, I naturally dissect ideas and examine them carefully, which is a useful tool for study sessions.
In terms of extracurricular activities, I can use the Relator and Responsibility themes in organizing or joining a club to build and to enhance relationships. Also, these themes can aid me in selecting and performing humanitarian work with an organization that shares the same values as I do. I can also utilize and sharpen my analytical skills by joining a debate team.
Identifying one’s personal strengths is encouraging. These strengths can be utilized to enrich and contribute to one’s personal and spiritual life. Not only can we utilize our strengths, but we can further build all existing strong points.
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I am a medical transcriptionist, and I do a lot of editing that makes the doctors sound brilliant. I also have had 7 textbooks published when I was a technical training instructor for the USPS.
Take a look at the paragraphing used. Whenever you have a change of thought, use a new paragraph.
Also, consider the idea of grammatical parallelism in your sentence structure. Make sure the forms match: to make better decisions; to handle stress; to develop; to join; to choose. All the verb phrases must be the same.
It could have been written like this: making better decisions; handling stress; developing; joining; choosing.
The use of either the infinitive form of the verb or the participial form of the verb is correct. Just don't mix the two forms. Choose one form and follow that throughout the sentence.
"…reason for identifying our personal strengths is to make better decisions, handling stress, developing better study skills, joining clubs, and choosing a major…"
Good luck with your college career! I wish you the best of success! You certainly have the traits and skills needed to do so!
you ascribe to the maxim it isn't what you know, but who you know. it should actually be when you should know to use the ones who do know. example: you don't have your account represent you in a criminal case, you get a crimanal lawyer. you have your accountant keep your financial records correctly. using that will get you further than expecting others to help you if they like you. the powerful of today don't do anything that isn't in their best interest. if they think you'll be a competetor in something that could be profitable for them, you'll be given enough to make it, but then they'll haul out the fine print and you get the boot, and they get what you thought was yours. always check the fine print, it'll save you every time if you balk at the bad deal they insert to get you out of the way!
obviously it isn't who you know, that gets you up,but when you know to let others do what they know best. you don't need a mentor, but you do need to know when to get the best advice.
remember, it's all in the fine print, just be sure you know what the fine print says. if you don't know find out from someone who does then make your own decision. don't be afraid to ask for help from anyone, if they know what you are wanting help with. advice is only as good as the one who gets it from the right source.
I'm a woman who has worked in financial services for the past 11 years. I'm had a few mentors, but the one who has worked best for me is a man who is a bit more senior than me. He used to work in a job close to my team, so knows all of the key players as well as the type of work that we do. But he moved jobs internally, and is in a completely different area at the moment. I think that the situation works well because he can offer unbiased advice, based on his own relevant experience and knowledge of the people in my area. I've also learned from him about his new role, which helps me evaluate next steps in my own career.
I would recommend trying out a few different formal or informal mentors. Not everyone will mesh with your personality or be available enough to meet regularly. And you need that person to be there for you as well as be knowledgeable and get on with your personality. You don't always get it right the first time, but persevere — you'll enjoy the professional relationship when you find the right person.
Good luck!
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