The role of mentorship in career development used to be a lot more prominent once upon a time but we’ve grown more individualistic with the passing years, fully committing to the “every man for himself” ideology. Those who have worked with mentors for their career development will be able to tell you that the insights they have received have remained invaluably throughout their careers. A mentor remains a more experienced source at an organization with extensive experience at the company in particular, or in the field in general. They bring knowledge of both the highs and lows in their career and become part of your learning experience too. The benefits of mentoring on career development cannot be understated and if you don’t have someone to learn from already, we’d recommend you start looking soon.

MENTORSHIP IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT: WHY DO YOU NEED A MENTOR FOR YOUR CAREER GROWTH?

When you join a new company at the start of your career, your onboarding team or immediate managers often show you the ropes and point out what your job role involves at the company. By working with them and mimicking your colleagues, you soon find your groove at the company and settle down into your role. At some point over the next few months, you might start feeling like you know your job well enough to stop asking questions and turning to others and begin working independently handling tasks on your own. While that is a great start at taking responsibility for your work, consider this—do you truly know everything that there is to know about your job? Have you faced roadblocks that you struggled to overcome that you’re sure your seniors must have encountered already?

The role of mentorship in career development is not a necessary one—you can likely manage to keep moving forward just alright without it—but it does make the learning curve pass by more quickly and reduces the number of roadblocks you encounter. Learning by doing is useful but learning by listening can also save you a lot of grief from problems that have no reason to be as inconveniencing as they are at work. There are many benefits of mentoring in career development and you might find yourself enjoying your work a lot more when you have someone to confide in and trust within your workplace. The other advantages include:

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