From countless blogs, to hundreds of advice articles, there’s discussions aplenty when it comes to ways of climbing the career ladder. Whilst an unhealthy wedge of the existing advice ismorally barbaric and ultimately fictitious (encouraging young professionals to get ahead of their colleagues via immoral tactics), one point always resonates – the search for a good mentor.
Learning from other people’s experience is vital for a young professional – with the ability to listen and ask the right questions is very precious, if you want to learn fast.
If you have aspirations of being a leader, you can get invaluable advice and experience from being guided by your current superior.
Companies should actively encourage their senior managers to mentor newer members of their team; instilling greater confidence in the company that they are all working for. This will ultimately make their career as an employee have more longevity.
However, mentoring isn’t always easy. Firstly, mentoring is a two-person relationship, not a one-sided dictatorship. The mentor has to want to mentor the mentored, and the mentored must respect the mentor, otherwise the situation simply won’t work.
Of course – there are many occasions where a mentor simply won’t be available to some. This doesn’t mean that they can’t search for a mentor themselves. Naturally, as we get older, our tendencies & desire to pass on knowledge increases, therefore it is perfectly feasible to approach someone yourself. Search for industry professionals online and ask them for their advice. There’s even some young professionals reaching out to potential mentors using social media. LinkedIn anyone?
