What a Mentor Can Do for You

Summary:
Mentors can help you find your way to a successful career, and they can also help you adapt to a new situation once you have a job. These five eSight articles show how mentoring can help you under both situations.

---

There are several words to describe all the things a mentor can be for you as you develop your career: friend, supporter, advisor, helper, champion, connection, teacher, and coach. The original Mentor was the teacher of Odysseus's son in Greek mythology. Mentor was a man of some considerable importance because Odysseus himself was away during most of the young man's life. Today we recognize that everyone needs a mentor, a wise ally to help us know what to do, when to do it, and what to avoid. A mentor can help us reach our goals with fewer delays and disappointments.

In school, your "advisor" may have been your mentor. Or you may have turned to a teacher or coach. One of my mentors was Dr. June Duncan at the University of Alaska's Department of English. She encouraged and advised me as I began to take myself and my abilities as an adult and as a scholar seriously.

Career mentors may be found in a co-worker, a supervisor, or a leader in your profession. In my career, my mentor was Karen Wallin, a manager of volunteers at Seattle Public Library, who helped me see volunteer resources management as a profession and pointed me in the direction of a career promoting high standards in that profession. Wallin once turned me down for a job, but that was, nonetheless, part of the mentor relationship because the advice she gave me helped me strengthen my skills (and marketability) for future opportunities.

A mentor in a work setting is so valuable that many companies have established formal mentoring relationships for new employees. Such mentoring programs help new employees get through the probationary and training periods with the least negative impact on work schedules.

Typically a mentor acquaints you with not only the tasks and expectations of a position but also with the company culture. In addition, a mentor typically answers your questions and gives you valuable feedback about your performance, particularly about how it matches expectations within the company culture.

As a job seeker or worker with a disability, you may especially benefit from a mentor-mentee relationship. Opportunities to learn good work habits may not have been as available to you as they were to others, and a mentor can guide you in quickly developing those habits. You may wish to have just one person you know who can offer you advice so you can avoid looking "needy" to others. You also may need an extra ally in communicating your progress to a supervisor. There really is no downside to having an effective mentor.

Each of the following five articles on eSight Careers Network discusses a specific aspect of mentoring and how to develop and take advantage of such a relationship.

• Start with the "eSight Career Word of the Week" glossary entry for mentor: "a person at a higher level within a company or within your profession who counsels you and helps guide your career. Some organizations have formal mentoring systems, while most informal mentoring relationships develop over time."
  
  
• Get a look at how an employer might regard your need for a mentor and learn about ways to ask for and benefit from the relationship in "Choose the Right Mentor for a New Employee Who Is Visually Impaired."
  
  
• Discover a veritable treasure chest of potential mentors in "Your Professional Association Can Be a Great Resource for Developing Your Career."
  
  
• Gain encouragement and learn from the success of a national event in "Disability Mentoring Day Creates New Enthusiasm, Opportunities for Careers."
  
  
• "DO-IT CAREERS Blends Degree Program With Proven Skills" introduces you to an organization which strengthens opportunities for science and technical students who have disabilities through the skillful use of mentors who are themselves disabled.
  
  

Don't forget that you can find many more resources and other information about the why, how and where of mentoring by using the "Search eSight" link on every page of eSight Careers Network. Perhaps even more important, you can find a mentor by connecting with other eSight members on eSight Careers Network and discussing any number of career topics.

---

Bookmark this article to: