If someone would have told me at the beginning of my career to find a mentor for my role, I would have told them they’re thinking wrong and I’d walk away with my own ignorant thoughts. The further I got in my career I learned it would have probably been a good idea to have someone guiding me through what would turn out to be some difficult things to deal with some time. I look back and understand that it’s typical for someone that early in a career to think they have all the answers. Although, that is something that a mentor would be able to straighten up for them. Having a mentor early in one’s career can really help them gain perspective on what to expect going forward and how to approach situations they’ll see in their day to day.
Once I learned that, aside from direct managers, co-workers, and friends, a person needs a professional relationship, I found a mentor. A mentor can help navigate your career with you. They have been there, hopefully at the time that they were there, they had a mentor as well. They have made the same mistakes you are going to make soon in your career. A mentor will be able to tell you the decisions they made and help you come up with the correct decisions you should make. Mentors are easy to find. My first one at the bigger company I was at was in a business development role and we actually were matched by the young professional's program in that company. I was looking for my entrance into sales positions at my company and thought he was the person to talk to. He had plenty of sales experience and sounded encouraged to help me find my niche. Unfortunately for that company, they never even entertained the idea of hiring me for a sales role. If the company for which you work has one of those mentor-matching programs, it would be a good idea to look there for your mentor first.
Once you’ve found your mentor it’s important that you’ve established not only a professional relationship but balance it with either informal settings or a friendly session outside of the offices. It still bothers me to this day that I was only ever allowed to meet my mentor in his office. Had he wanted to go out for drinks after work one or two days of the month, I’m fairly certain I would have stayed at that company. It’s important to have a mentor that not only sees the professional relationship but can open up to you on a personal level. If the two of you are more comfortable with each other, you can share things that tick you off about work without fear of reprisal. Typically meeting either weekly or bi-weekly is key for mentors to establish a bond and understand the goals of each other better. The mentor should be able to guide the mentee and offer different points of view from someone that has experienced what the mentee is about to experience.
