9 Reasons Why You Should Consider Being Mentored Before 2022

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From the beginning of time, we've relied on the advice and guidance of others. We always see and hear stories about the benefits of being mentored or mentoring, but do we truly recognise the value being a mentee brings to our lives?

97% of professionals who have a mentor, believe they are valuable and make an immense impact, however, only 37% of professionals are involved in a mentoring relationship. This is a huge portion of people who are missing out on the benefits mentors bring to the table.

We’ve prepared our top 9 reasons why you should consider being a mentee in 2021 for your personal and professional development:

1. Improve your skill set

One of the foremost advantages of being the mentee in a mentoring relationship is having the opportunity to truly develop your existing skillet and also develop your current expertise. As a mentee, you'll work with someone more senior and experienced who can exchange their knowledge with you. Whether it's soft skills such as time management or hard skills such as marketing practices, your mentor will be able to supervise and assist you along the way.

2. Improved communication

Communication isn't solely about talking, it's equally as essential that as an individual we can listen and take in what's being said. Having a mentor with whom you have regular conversations with, can considerably enhance your skills, teaching you how to effectively express your concerns, ideas and perspectives. A mentoring relationship also benefits listening skills as listening to your mentor and giving them your full attention is a part of the mentoring process. Listening to your mentor also helps you improve how you take in information and what you do with it, for example listening to feedback and taking the right direction to improve on yourself.

3. Expand your network

Over the years your mentor more than likely has acquired a network of other professionals in the field or outside of it. Your mentor will be able to provide you with the chance to connect with these individuals on a personal level which increases your chances of having new professional possibilities.

4. Career progression

Finding a mentor can greatly improve the chances of progression within your career with mentees being 5 times more likely to be promoted. Having a mentor comes with many advantages such as improving productivity, seeing from a different perspective and providing you with feedback that can greatly enhance your career progression and work ethic. One of the main reasons people seek out a mentor is to become more successful in their industry and career, having someone there as a council to face any barriers along the way greatly eases the process.

5. Great feedback

A mentor wants to see you succeed, whether that be in your personal or professional life. By being a mentee you can be given honest feedback that directly reflects on your performance in an unbiased way. The feedback given allows you to critically and strategically come up with solutions to the problems with the guidance of your mentor.

6. Learning about career paths

A great perk of being a mentee is the ability to connect with professionals from the same field or a new one. Whether you're switching career paths or a student contemplating your choices, being able to speak to someone within the field is a great start. The ability to obtain a perspective is sometimes what we need to make the change.

7. Encouragement

Sometimes, we all need an extra boost of motivation to solve our problems. Having a mentoring relationship means there’s someone always there to give us that extra boost of encouragement when things get too tough or overwhelming. The positive encouragement from mentors means greater motivation to tackle the obstacles we face in life.

8. Goal setting

More than once in our lives we’ve all made goals and not stuck to them, whether it be managing our time better, getting a promotion or working on our skills. Having a mentor means someone is there to keep you accountable for the goals we set and keep us on the right track to completing them. Your mentor can work closely with you and help configure a solution to help you effectively meet your goals in the timeframe specified.

9. Trusted allies

Transparency in the workplace or our personal lives can sometimes feel difficult. Most people have felt the inability to trust others in the workforce, being unsure of their true intentions. Since mentors are there to help, we know we can fully trust them and be more vulnerable with our concerns and ideas. Mentors aren't looking to judge you, but instead are looking to make suggestions that are both actionable and reasonable.

Conclusion

As seen above, there are endless benefits of having a mentor in your life. Whatever issues you face, a mentor is always there to support and guide you wherever your journey takes you. To find a free mentor or learn more about mentoring, join PushFar - the world's largest mentoring and career progression platform.