From WiseRound to Google Helpouts and basic outreach via LinkedIn, it’s clear that there’s a movement towards career mentoring, but why?
Taking a step back, what are the main learning opportunities for people these days? To name the core 3, you have: university, online sources and professional courses.
These mainstream learning methods do indeed have an array of advantages. But also significant disadvantages which are often under-appreciated.
- University… One word: EXPENSIVE. With university debts sometimes rising to £52k, for many this can be difficult to justify.
- Professional qualifications are not specifically CATERED to your needs. If you need to learn about equity, it’s likely you’ll attend a finance course where only 10% of the course covers equity.
- Finally, online information. Can you really TRUST the source and is ittimely information? It is extremely difficult to separate the people who know what they’re talking about against those that don’t, or against those that are really trying to sell you their “How to make it in Banking”, book worth £150?
Mentoring helps battle against these draw backs.
First, it’s a lot cheaper. A few of hours with a specialist career mentor may cost you around £100. But compared to courses costing thousands of £’s, consider the inside tips you’ll get on how to get your foot in the door, let alone you’d have widened your professional network too.
Mentoring is catered to your needs. The entire time you’re mentor will be discussing where you can improve, addressing the worries you have and providing the knowledge you need.
Finally through sites as WiseRound and Google Helpouts, the mentors are validated through reviews, professional history and feedback from past mentoring sessions – so you know you’re getting the real deal.
Mainstream TV is also helping the move towards mentoring. On Dragons Den, the famous business equity program, entrepreneurs often give up equity for a better mentor (aka. dragon), forgoing deals with others even though it may be more financially attractive.
Even on X Factor, contestants are usually seen to prefer Simon Cowell to the other judges because of the sheer depth of his experience and connections.
So, if you’re not sure how to progress your career, rather than going down the traditional routes to learning – considering getting yourself a mentor!
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