A mentorship is a unique opportunity for college students and new grads to gain valuable knowledge from an experienced professional.
A good mentor is a window into the kind of world you’re hoping to step into, providing firsthand knowledge of the ins and outs of your chosen field. (Click here to tweet this thought.)
Mentoring is a positive force in many ways. Besides just providing insight, mentors also become close, supportive friends. They’re there to actively help you, to inspire you and to show you new possibilities for professional and personal growth. In many cases, mentors can even recommend you to companies, using their influence to open doors in your job search that might otherwise remain locked.
The Relationship Between Mentoring and Success
Many of the most successful people credit mentors as a vital component of their lives. Richard Branson is a strong supporter of mentoring, and believes that the presence of a mentor can make or break a business person. He’s incorporated mentoring programs as a major part of Virgin Atlantic.
“If you ask any successful business person, they will always have had a great mentor at some point along the road,” Branson says. “If you want success, then it takes hard work, hard work and more hard work. But it also takes a little help along the way. If you are determined and enthusiastic, then people will support you.”
Oprah is another innovative, powerful figure in whose life mentoring played a prominent role. In true Oprah style, she elegantly describes the impact a mentor can have in a very personal way.
“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself,” she says. “A mentor is someone who allows you to know that no matter how dark the night, in the morning, joy will come. A mentor is someone who allows you to see the higher part of yourself when sometimes it becomes hidden to your own view.”
And let’s not forget how Luke Skywalker ended up after being mentored by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
What Makes a Good Mentor, and How to Find One
The best mentors for a college grad or student are often professors, though not always. In other cases, professionals at work in your industry of choice are a good option, but they don’t always have the time to mentor properly. Most companies you might join have some sort of mentoring program that can last either for a short, introductory period or for an extended amount of time.
You should feel a sense of rapport with your mentor, a feeling of trust and of having common interests. You’ll have many mentors over the course of your life, so it doesn’t always matter if your current mentor is doing what you want to do in the future. Family and friends make good mentors and, more recently, entrepreneurs and bloggers do, too. For professional and academic mentorships, however, you should look for a mentor who’s doing something you want to do and is something like the person you want to become.
Many colleges and educational institutions have some sort of mentoring programs you can apply to, but you can also find a mentor on sites like Student Mentor.org, which provide mentoring services to college grads.
Getting the Most from Your Mentor
Once you get a mentor, you want to spend your time with them valuably. Start by agreeing on some sort of schedule or frequency of contact, as well as how you’ll be communicating. Also determine some clear goals for the relationship you both would like to see accomplished.
Pay careful attention to what they do and how they do it. Be inquisitive, but don’t get too nosy, and respect their time by not asking an excessive amount of them. Be sure to show how thankful you are, in whatever way you can.
Ask your mentor about their life, what inspires them to do what they do and what their influences were. Ask them about what they’re working on and what they hope to do in the future. Try to get as many book recommendations as you can, and read them.
Above all, speak from your heart — the more personal and honest your relationship with your mentor, the more rewarding it will be.
Have you had a great mentor in your career? How did you find them? How have they helped?
This post was originally published at Collegefeed.
This post is written by Sanjeev Agrawal, Founder and CEO of Collegefeed, a personal career assistant that guides students through the job search process and helps them land a great job.
Image: Flickr
