The Professional Relationship That Will Take You Places: Mentorships
Going into the “real” world can be intimidating. School has prepared you in lots of ways, from how to become more independent, to discovering what subject piques your interest. But some things are still unknown as you start your adult and professional life. Just as you have family and friends to turn to when you’re unsure, mentors can be a guiding light in a complex, chaotic world. Essentially, a mentorship is a professional relationship between an experienced person (mentor) and a less-experienced person (mentee). Whether you’ve just graduated from high school, college, or have been a working in the industry for a while, there are always new things to learn and grow from within a mentorship.
Mentee Benefits
As you maneuver through your work life, being a mentee comes with many benefits. Just like in other parts of your life, you have goals that may initially seem far-fetched. Having been in your shoes before, mentors can make goals look more attainable. They provide you the tools and guidance needed to reassure yourself that you’re more than capable to accomplish whatever comes your way. Say you’re a writer working on a piece at your job and recently, you’ve hit a rut and don’t know what direction you should take it in. As a mentee, you can turn to your mentor and ask for help. Maybe they’ll give you advice for when they’re stuck or will read over your piece and give you a fresh perspective. This will ultimately help you deliver your final product. Mentors look out for you, introduce you to influential people in your field, and can even serve as a connection for your dream job.
Mentor Benefits
There are endless advantages to being a mentee, but sometimes it’s difficult to locate the right mentor. Luckily, there are often mentorship programs offered through your job or school that do the legwork for you. And hopefully, they can find a professional that fits you. With all these benefits, why not become a mentee?
One thought that might come up is why would a person be motivated to become a mentor if the advantages seem to only benefit the mentee? Initially it may seem like this, but there are plenty of positive features that result from mentoring. For one, spreading goodwill will get you far in life, so becoming a mentor because you genuinely want to see others succeed is a great reason in and of itself. Additionally, investing in your mentee’s future not only benefits the industry by increasing your mentee’s knowledge, but it also benefits you. Like how you can offer your mentee a fresh perspective on their work, your mentee can do the same for you.
Odds are, they’ve been in school more recently than you. Therefore, they may have learned new, modern techniques or simply look at the industry from a different angle. Varying viewpoints are beneficial in attaining a richer understanding of how you think about your work. And this expands your expertise. Furthermore, even though being the expert may seem intimidating, once you get to a point where you’re comfortable advising your mentee, you’ll have an elevated sense of confidence in your work. This increased confidence can help lure you out of your comfort zone and perhaps lead to new work relationships. In addition to all of this, an increase in knowledge in your field will help keep your industry relevant in an ever-advancing world. This brings job security to you and your colleagues and makes sure your common goals are always attained.
Mentorships are a win-win(-win) relationship, so if you have the opportunity to be in one, do it! Odds are, it’ll lead to a happier and more fulfilled professional life. And who doesn’t want that?