The current environment has everyone shifting priorities, creating new plans, and you might be asking yourself, ‘What do I do now?’ One option is seeking out a mentor and to help you kick off this process and understand why now is a great time to seek out a mentor, we have added the Mentoring Relationships resource. Mentors can help you in any number of ways including learning more about your own strengths and weaknesses, and about areas for further exploration for a future career to name a few. The current environment offers new opportunities for you to interact with employers, including virtually, to create networks that will help you in the future.
Mentoring relationships can offer so much more than just a connection to a potential future career field. Individuals from all walks of life have mentors including many names you may recognize such as Oprah, Denzel Washington, and Joe Jonas. According to Joe Jonas (2015), “A lot of people put pressure on themselves and think it will be way too hard for them to live out their dreams. Mentors are there to say, ‘Look, it’s not that tough. It’s not as hard as you think. Here are some guidelines and things I have gone through to get to where I am in my career.’”
But, you might be wondering things like:
- Do I have the time to do this?
- Where do I even start?
- How do I know where to find connections?
- I don’t even know where I might want to work when I graduate, won’t that annoy a potential mentor?
You are definitely not the only one with these types of questions! Over the next 4 weeks our blogs will cover various topics of mentoring such why now, benefits, creating meaningful mentoring relationships and seeking a mentor. Everyone, no matter how long they have been in school or how much experience they have in their career, can benefit from a mentor. These resources will help you to better understand how to find a mentor, build a mutually beneficial relationship, and maintain that relationship.
Joe Jonas quote from Everwise. (2015, February 12). “From Oprah to Churchill: 20 inspiring mentoring quotes.” https://www.geteverwise.com/mentoring/20-inspiring-mentorship-quotes/
