Why You Should Accelerate Your Career Growth With a Mentor
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Over the course of my freshman year of college, I went to the Center City campus at Drexel University every Wednesday to learn how to become an EMT. People always say, "I don't know how you did that, " when they hear about the restless nights, listening for a call to come in, the girl who lost her two front teeth on a chilly March morning, or the first gunshot wound I ever saw.
I'll tell you how. The people around me. The hands you don't hear about. The words I don't say. Yes, I was learning how to become an EMT, but I was also hearing advice I would carry with me for the rest of my life.
Advice like, "the learning begins in the field", "don't tell the patient they're having a stroke" and "sleep with your boots on".
Hands were tying the laces of a surgical gown at 2 in the morning as I entered the trauma bay to see that patient with a bullet in his lower left abdomen.
My mentors were telling me that it was really fine that I had forgotten how to pack a wound in the moment and teaching me how to read EKGs in the hospital or even in the back of a helicopter.
Over time, I became the mentor, not the mentee. That's our little first response secret - or maybe it's not so secret - is that we really do operate as a team. When it's a life or death situation, you need someone to have your back in case you have a moment of humanity, of vulnerability.
Do We Need Professional Mentors Anymore?
Few fields demand the level of dependence on professional mentorships the way healthcare does, but I would argue we need them no matter what field we work in.
With loneliness rising among the generation entering the workforce, and 35% of people working remotely and 41% in a hybrid environment in the wake of the pandemic, we're more susceptible than ever to feeling like we're going it alone at work.
I think a question a lot of us are asking now is this: Do we need professional mentors anymore?
In a world where the job of choice is being a personal brand - selling you for a living - why rely on others for your ascent to the top? Or if you're younger, you may be job hopping - why bother finding a professional mentor?
The answer to these questions demands that we position ourselves in the job landscape of 2023 and take a serious look at how rapidly the job market is changing day to day - and how it affects each and every one of us.
Understanding the Modern Career Landscape
The impact of technological advancements on job markets
To put it more simply, the impact AI is having on job markets. There are other technologies - hell, I write about them - like SaaS, cloud tech, and drones, but they are all leading back to AI. All roads lead to Rome, right?
In the writing industry alone, we've seen the Writers Guild Strike this year and the impact AI has had on freelancers. A year ago, many freelancers I knew were losing clients to AI.
Now, those same freelancers are gaining those same clients back because AI simply wasn't built to replace us - it was built to help us. Yet, there's no denying AI - and other technologies- are rapidly changing the types of jobs available and the skills we need to stay relevant.
Did anyone else panic take a course on prompt engineering this year? No? Just me?
The rise of remote work
Okay, most of my audience works remotely by nature - so y'all are probably like what "rise"? I've always worked remotely! For us freelancers, remote work isn't a new concept. But despite the push to come back to the office, remote work and hybrid work is still a looming reality for a lot of people.
Which raises the question, does remote work impact our career growth? I think not. I think, if anything, the pandemic gave us the skills to make meaningful connections virtually - which is kind of cool.
The real challenge may be leveraging those connections to grow as professionals. In a world clamoring for our attention, how do we decide what - and who- will truly benefit our career growth?
If the last 3 years have shown me anything, it's that we have to be willing to adapt, and quickly while still having our long-term goals in mind. There's an argument to be made that a consistent relationship with a network of professionals has no place in a rapidly changing world, but I think it's just the opposite.
Everything is always changing in EMS. (Yes, I'm milking this metaphor). Treatment guidelines, operational protocols, and what role you're playing. One hour you're telling a family member that their loved one has died. The next you're acting as traffic control. The only constant is the people around you.
I think that's true in our remote, technology-changing, freelancer-driven professional world as well. While the top thought leader on LinkedIn is changing day-to-day, we need one another to stay grounded, stable, and intentional about our work.
Get early bird access to a free month of 1:1 mentorship for new copywriters & freelancers with the code BLACKFRIDAY2023
The Role of Mentorship in Career Development
What is mentorship, and why is it important?
Here's a definition I really like, that believe it or not, dates all the way back to a 1991 journal article.
" Mentoring relationships emphasize helping the individual grow and accomplish goals and include several approaches to doing so. A mentoring experience may provide professional and career development support, role modeling, and psychosocial support; mentoring experiences should include planned activities with a mentor. Mentoring relationships are personal and reciprocal, though online mentorship options are creating opportunities to build virtual mentoring relationships." (Jacobi, 1991).
The word mentor actually comes from The Odyssey. Odysseus, the main character, asks his friend Mentor to advise his son. While we tend to portray mentorships as a positive thing, Mentor's relationship with Odysseus's son was actually quite complicated.
In 2023, over 30 years since that definition was published, many of our mentors are people claiming to have the solutions to our problems. Want to own a business? I've got the answer for you. Want to get more views on your LinkedIn page? Here's my cut-and-dry formula.
What I love about this definition of mentorships and the complexity of the origin of the word is the acknowledgment that mentorship is a relationship between two human beings with the goal of growth, support, and development - and that they're reciprocal.
Everyone gets to benefit in some way - and to me, that already sounds like we're having a positive impact on one another's lives.
Types of mentors: formal vs. informal
If you're on LinkedIn, this is probably not a new concept, so let's cover it quickly, shall we?
Formal mentoring is going to be more structured. It's acknowledged between the mentee and mentor that there is a mentoring relationship in place, and goals will be set for the mentee's growth that aligns with their career goals.
Informal mentoring would be if Carl from accounting teaches you a bit about what he does on a daily basis. You learn a bit here and there from someone in a teacher-like manner, but there's no established relationship.
Mentorships can be in-person or virtual, and this will likely be determined for you based on what kind of job you have if you go into the office a lot, and if you're looking to stay in your industry or at your job or not.
The neat thing is, you don't have to be limited in who you seek out as a mentor - the world is literally our oyster as we're so connected.
Finding the Right Mentor
Here are some guidelines to help you get started(because everyone out there offering to teach you how to be them can be overwhelming):
What's your why? Why do you want millions of views on your LinkedIn post? Why do you want to be Global VP of your company before age 30?
Where you can grow and learn - maybe some areas that people on par with you have already done some professional growth?
Where is your ideal mentor? Do you want to establish a professional mentorship with someone in your industry or a meaningful relationship with someone you look up to online? There's no wrong answer - just the answer that is right for you.
What do you want out of mentorship?
Building a Successful Mentor-Mentee Relationship
Set expectations
How often will you meet? What would you like to learn? When will you consider your work done? Communicate with your mentor what you'd like to get out of mentorship so that they can help you. Be realistic about the goals you set. Mentors can be a huge support, but they cannot do the work for you or solve problems for you.
There's a quote one of my mentors says all of the time:
"No one can do this for you, but you can't do it alone."
Navigating challenges in the mentorship journey
No one gets along all of the time. Particularly with virtual mentorships, keep in mind that it might take some time to establish rapport with your mentor. Having a parasocial relationship with a potential mentor on LinkedIn will not be the same as talking to them twice a month.
With the right mentor, that comfortable rapport will come. If you have communication difficulties, feel unseen by your mentor, or don't feel like you're getting what you wanted out of the relationship, try and communicate clearly whenever challenges arise. (It's an opportunity for professional growth!)
Your mentor agreed to mentor you because they wanted to help you - so let them really be in it with you by clueing them into any challenges.
Mentor Green Flags & Takeaways
There's so much more we could talk about here, but here are some of my final thoughts on the benefits of mentors.
When you establish a mentorship with someone, you gain access to their entire professional network. You become a part of it. Is it cliche to say it's not what you know, it's who you know? Probably. But is it true? Sadly, a lot of the time.
So leverage the who! Leverage your mentorships.
Here are some of my green flags for mentors:
Generous with time & knowledge
Don't gatekeep
Want to see you succeed
Open to questions outside of your shared industry
They're a resource pool! They can connect you to organizations, people, and professional resources.
It's so easy to decide to connect with other people when things are going well in your career - or in the world in general.
Let's not pretend like everything is okay. Let's not pretend the future is certain and certainly happy, like war is not raging in corners of the world and we feel helpless to stop it.
Let's not pretend like we don't need each other. We certainly do, now more than ever, in every corner of our lives - especially the corner we spend 40 hours a week in
