If you’re a recent grad looking to develop your leadership skills in order to enhance your career prospects, becoming a mentor could help you achieve that, as well as helping someone else and gaining the satisfaction that comes from giving back. Our guest contributor, Ana, explains the benefits of mentoring, what it involves, and how to get started.
 
 

Photo: Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

 
Being a mentor means you would be answering questions, providing your mentee with guidance, sharing your expertise and knowledge, and helping support their professional and even personal goals. And it can also be a great way to help someone that might have struggled with the same things you did in school/college/uni!
 
Mentorship will not only help your leadership skills, but it can also come with other benefits. Some of those benefits include a higher likelihood of a promotion, increased salary potential, and career fulfilment. Such benefits can help you achieve career success, as well as make you feel more confident in your abilities.
 
If you want to elevate your leadership skills by becoming a mentor, but you are not sure where to begin, here are some tips to get you started:
 

Find out what kind of mentor you are

To become a mentor, you have to start by learning more about yourself. What kind of person are you? What type of mentor do you want to be? Knowing your mentorship style will help you guide your mentee to success. Here are 4 types of mentors:

• The Cheerleader: they will keep mentees motivated no matter what.
• The Search Engine: they have extensive information and are great for answering questions.
• The Master: they have great expertise in the field and will teach everything they know.
• The Advocate: they will connect their mentees with the right people.

Set clear expectations

Just like your mentee, you should also have some goals for the partnership. Making sure to set clear expectations will help you stay on track, and allow you and your mentee to achieve the desired goals and outcomes.

Build connections

If you don’t have the answer to all of your mentee’s questions, building professional connections can help you greatly. Connecting with the right people with relevant expertise will help you not only answer your mentee’s questions but also provide them with extra knowledge and advice.
 
 
If you want to find out more details on how you can elevate your leadership skills and become a mentor, you can check out the infographic below. It provides details of how you can become a mentor, as well as the best and worst qualities to have, and how to make a difference in your mentee’s life.
 
 

How to Be a Career-Changing Mentor

Source: Mint

 

About the author

Ana is a content creator who has a background in PR and marketing and loves helping people. She enjoys covering business, career and lifestyle topics, and loves to share cool infographics. When she’s not producing content, Ana enjoys watching cooking shows and going to the beach.
 

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