Mentors in your career

Stheno

Something that struck me lately, as I've become a mentor (officially) having done it for years in the past.

Do you use them?
If you do, does it matter to you if they are male or female?
If you don't why not? Are they not available, is it not encouraged etc?

I've almost always had mentors to guide me, some official, some unofficial, they have never been afraid to point out my good and bad points and support me.

They have all been male as I work in IT however!



Thoughts?

Acoshla

Never had a mentor, barely know what it means tbh in relation to careers, never heard of it but then I've never worked in any big industries etc, maybe they're more common there than in retail, service, design areas that I've worked/work in.

el Bastardo

I never had any, it wasn't the done thing. I worked for a very large, multi-nat firm tht didn't seem to do it as standard (but the rare, golden-circle-type, graduate management trainees did get something along the lines of mentoring and structured training).

beks101

Not in any official sense, that would just seem weird as I work in a newsroom where everything is a potential opportunity for a slagging!

But I've had work colleagues over the years who inspired me in terms of their standards and pursuit of great journalism and some of them would have taken me under their wing, either consciously or unconsciously, as I tried to better myself as a journalist.

I tend to hone in on people whose traits or skills I admire and position myself so that I end up working alongside them. I've done it with a veteran tv host who's won countless awards for her work and who just has this relentless pursuit for truth and a dog-with-a-bone sort of energy when it comes to news that I just find so admirable. Another is a senior producer who has this amazing way with people, this really personable nature that draws people in and puts everyone at ease, whether it's work colleagues or outside sources.

If I could bottle both of those traits and copycat them in my own day-to-day work I'd have one hell of a career!

Ophiopogon

I have a very unofficial one at the moment but he also is linked with us as well and my understanding of mentors is, is that it is best to have one from outside your own business.

I was only just talking to my sister about this actually as she is a big believer in official mentoring, not just someone you can have a chat with but more of a structured meeting.

Mine would most likely be all male as well but this doesn't bother me in the slightest. Tbh I don't know why it would, I can't think of any work based questions you would be asking that only one sex could provide.

This thread has reminded me to go out looking for one.

Chun Li

I work in IT aswell and have always had mentors, mostly unofficial but I would make sure to give positive feedback on them in my reviews to feed into their ratings/bonus.

I think it should be more official (where relevant) so more junior members of the team can utilise the experience and knowledge of the more experienced people without feeling they're being a burden.

What happens when it's unofficial is that people in need of mentoring often go to the same person which is pretty unfair.

nadey

when i was on work experience i had one for each placement

my 2nd mentor was a cow i hated her she hated me never listened to her because she was crap and rude

my 1st and 3rd were great help and now i work with my mentor she thought me well