How Can a Mentor Help You Get Ahead in Your Career?

No matter where you are in your career, someone with a fancy job title has already been in your shoes.
As with every job, these people had to navigate their fair share of struggles to get to where they are today, but they persevered.

There’s no better way to navigate your career than with guidance from someone who’s already been there. Asking a seasoned professional in your field to mentor you can be a career-changing experience. The right mentor has a wealth of knowledge that would take you years to figure out on your own, effectively expediting your ascent up the ladder.

Learn five ways a mentor can give your career a major boost.

Put You on the Right Track

There’s no guide book that maps the route to your ideal job. Finding your way involves many twists and turns, making it easy to get lost along the way. When you have a mentor, they’ll help you get on the right track by telling you what skills you need to learn, the types of jobs you need to find and any additional education or certification you should obtain to increase your chances of success.

Hold You Accountable

Setting career goals is easy, but actually achieving them is another story. When left to your own devices, it’s easy to procrastinate these objectives into oblivion, but a mentor won’t let you get away with that. They will force you to attach deadlines to these aims, and if you fail to deliver, you’ll have to answer to them.

Deliver the Honest Truth

When it comes to giving you honest feedback about your career, friends and family members are too close for comfort. Most — if any — probably don’t have experience in your field, and even if they do, they don’t want to point out areas where you’re lacking. On the other hand, a mentor is both an expert in your field and very willing to supply the brutal truth. If you’re doing something that needs improvement, they won’t hesitate to tell you.

Help You Make New Contacts

Experienced professionals have spent years developing their networks, so it’s pretty safe to assume your mentor has a list of contacts that pull serious weight. As their mentee, they want to help you succeed, so any mentor worth your time will be happy to share their own network with you. This will give you the opportunity to meet contacts with the ability to change the course of your career.

Provide Valuable Advice

One decision can change the course of your career, so having someone who’s been there weigh in on big choices, like job offers, can make a world of difference. Rather than having to go it alone, you can consult your mentor before making potentially career-changing decisions. They can serve as a sounding board and offer beneficial input that will allow you to feel more confident in your choices.

A mentor is an incredible asset to guide your career growth, and when paired with assistance from a job placement service, there’s no limit to the success you can achieve. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you find your next behavioral health position, contact us today at (513) 651-9500 or by email at [email protected].

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