Whether you’re just beginning your career journey, making a pivot, or are looking for guidance on what steps to take next, having a strong mentor in your career journey can be hugely impactful in your overall success. As an employee looking to gain a mentor in the workplace, developing purposeful and action-backed relationships can help enable your growth both personally and professionally. If you’re in the early stages of your career or you’ve recently made a career pivot, identifying a mentor on your team, at your company, or within your professional network can be a transformative step in learning the ins and outs of your job and industry you work in, and the career trajectory you plan to follow. Whether in-person, hybrid, or remote, we’re sharing four ways to make the most out of mentorship.
Explore Your Network
The most important part of beginning your mentorship is to first identify your mentor! While this may seem like a tough feat, finding your mentor should begin with asking yourself what you want most out of this professional relationship. Do you want someone that works within and understands your organization? Are you seeking someone with a certain number of years in the industry? When exploring your network, keep a running list of potential mentors as you brainstorm, as this will help you narrow down who would be the best fit in correlation to your goals, both long and short term.
The Formal Ask
Once you’ve decided on who would be the most ideal fit for you, you’ll need to reach out and ensure that this person is interested in engaging in the potential role as a mentor. In doing so, make sure you prep for this conversation before you reach out. You’ll want to prepare talking points such as why you believe this person would be a great mentor for you, admirable achievements in their career that have stood out to you, industry similarities, and career trajectory guidance if applicable. It’s best to first reach out via email so this person has a chance to think things over and from there set up a time to discuss. Once you’ve made the match, a strong foundation to start the relationship on is setting career goals and working one on one with your mentor to help define how they can help get you to where you’d like to be professionally.
Define the Relationship
While your mentor may be someone you feel you can be open and transparent with, ensure that the relationship is a professional one, rather than a close friendship. Maintaining a professional pathway of communication between you and your mentor will allow you to stay focused on your career goals and objectives, whereas once a friendship blossoms, that primary focus can often be lost. We recommend achieving this by having structured conversations that promote goal setting, milestones, and career planning which can also be kept consistent by scheduled meetings and times to connect.
Reach your Goals and Celebrate the Wins
One of the most rewarding aspects of having a mentor throughout your career journey is knowing you have someone rooting for you along the way! As mentioned above, a mentor can help provide experience-based knowledge and advice as you take impactful steps in your career. Once you’ve taken those steps and achieved set goals, your mentor will be there to celebrate those wins with you, having known just what it took for you to get there. Having someone in your career corner makes hitting those goals and reaching the much-anticipated milestones even greater.
Not only will having a mentor present in your career journey help guide you through the world of nine to five, but will likely position you to be a mentor one day as well, continuing the cycle of positivity and strong relationships in the corporate space. Whether you’re just beginning your career journey or are ready to find a new opportunity, 24 Seven is here to help! Check out our additional career insights here, and if you’re ready to make a transition in your career, take a look at our open jobs today!