WHY DO I NEED A MENTOR? 5 Ways Having a Mentor Boosts Your Academics and Career

17th January is International World Mentoring Day, a day set aside to appreciate and create awareness about mentoring.

Do you have a mentor? Or are you yet to have one? In this article, you will learn 5 ways through which having a mentor can boost your academics and career.

What is Mentoring?

Mentoring or mentorship is a professional relationship which usually involves a more knowledgeable person sharing wisdom or experience with another. The person offering guidance is called the mentor, while the person being mentored is called the mentee. Mentorship has a wide scope and can occur in different spheres of life. These include academics (school), career (industry) or employment (workplace).

Who is a Mentor?

A true mentor is a dignified, experienced and knowledgeable person who helps you discover the truth about your own self and encourages you to reach your full potential. By having a mentor, you gain insight into how you can succeed in your chosen academic or career field.

Your mentor can help you achieve your dreams by offering advice on how to select the right course of study, internship placements and job opportunities, as the case may be. Hence, you can look up to him or her as a role model and guiding personality.

5 Ways Having a Mentor Boosts Your Academics and/or Career

There are many ways through which having a mentor can boost your academic performance and career prospects. Here, we will outline 5 key ways:

Role Modeling

As mentioned earlier, a mentor can serve as a great role model for a student or career enthusiast. You will be able to look up to your mentor to learn the necessary skills, attitudes and behaviours that are necessary for succeeding in a particular field or profession.

Guidance, Feedback and Support

Mentors typically give constructive feedback to their mentees. A mentor will guide and support you through your academic and career struggles by keeping focused on your goals. That is why mentors usually give out tasks which they later give feedback on. Wouldn’t you want to prepare yourself for the career world? With a mentor, you can have a guiding light all the way!

Networking Opportunities

Networking and building solid connections are very important, especially in career development. A mentor will help you to get connected in the right places during internships, industrial gatherings and even social media.

Exposure to New Ideas and Perspectives

A mentor will help you broaden your vision and think innovatively. This way, you will understand your field better and hence boost your academic performance and career prospects.

Increased Self-esteem and Confidence

Are you the shy, nervous type? A mentor will help you overpower your insecurities and help boost your confidence. With the help of a mentor, you will overcome your weaknesses and fight procrastination by meeting deadlines.

Rules of Engagement for Mentorship Programs

Are you now ready to dedicate yourself to a mentoring relationship? That’s great, but you should also know that the mentor-mentee relationship is bi-directional (give and take). For it to work, it is important for both parties to understand their roles and responsibilities.

On the part of the mentee, it is a golden opportunity to gain confidence, learn from the experience of predecessors and boost performance. On the other hand, the mentor gains the satisfaction of being part and parcel of the success story of the mentee, among other things.

Below are some guidelines that affect the mentors and mentees respectively:

Guidelines for Mentors

The mentors should:

1. Be able to give unbiased guidance.
2. Possess the ability to speak frankly, honestly, and directly.
3. Be willing to sacrifice the needed time to invest in the mentee.
4. Provide constructive criticism/praise.
5. Realize and maintain the boundaries of the relationship.

Guidelines for Mentees

The mentees should:

1. Not take undue advantage of the mentor just to “get ahead”.
2. Be fully engaged in the learning and development process.
3. Adhere to the agreed timeline for the mentorship sessions.
4. Have the desire to learn from experienced minds.
5. Respect, trust, and be receptive & grateful to constructive criticism/praise from the mentor.
6. 6) Understand boundaries and not impose on the mentors by requesting for financial aid, etc.

Conclusion

The benefits of having a mentor as a student or a young career professional can not be over-emphasized. When you look around you, you’ll find out that almost every successful person had a mentor at some point, and is now mentoring others. And so, the cycle continues.

Therefore, don’t be left out!

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