Today’s professionals are increasingly turning to career mentors to help them make informed yet ambitious decisions about their career journey. Career mentors, like other kinds of mentors, give focused, personalized advice draw from personal experience, but they focus specifically on the professional life. When the relationship is a successful one, professionals with a career mentor avoid more of the pitfalls of the working world while achieving their career goals faster. So how do you find a career mentor of your own? Here’s how to start your search.
Identify Your Own Expectations
Before your look for a career mentor you need to spend some time looking at yourself. Reflect on your past, present, and future professional life and determine just why you want to work with a career mentor. Is your goal to make more money? Achieve a better work/life balance? Transition into a new profession? Once you understand your own expectations you can seek out career mentors that are uniquely equipped to give you guidance.
Cast a Wide Net
You’re probably inclined to start looking for a career mentor that has the same job as you, works for the same company, or is already in your professional network. And while there is nothing wrong with this, and this strategy often produces great mentors, it’s important not to limit yourself. Your ideal mentor might be someone in academia, someone in your social circle or family, someone with an unrelated job, a retiree, or even a professional counselor. The quality of your relationship is just as important as the mentor’s credentials.
Plan an Initial Meeting
Once you have identified a potential mentor, set up an initial meeting with them. It’s important to spend some time together before committing to anything long term. If you know the person already, discuss how your mentoring relationship will be different than the one you have already. If you don’t know them, give them a rundown of your past and talk some about your goals/plans/concerns moving forward. If the relationship is a good fit, both of you will know it.
Define the Terms of Your Relationship
Ever mentor/mentee relationship takes a different form. Some last a few months, other last for years. Some are very hands on while others have a casual character. The right strategy is whatever strategy works for both you and your mentor. At the start, define how often you will meet, how closely you will be in contact, and what you expect your mentor to be doing for you, and vice versa. If you want this relationship to be a positive one it’s crucial to start out on the same page.
If you’re interested in career mentors, you might also be ready to make changes in your professional life. Contact The Squires Group, and start the conversation about your future. Experts in employment for over 20 years, we have the skilled team of recruiters on hand to help you advance your career. Contact us today for more information!
