This week I received an article from my friend, Faith, which she described as ‘must read.’ When Faith sends me a ‘must read’ article, I jump on it! This article was an excerpt from The Complete Guide to Building Your Personal Brand, a book written by Neil Patel and Aaron Agius. Actually, the article is chapter 6, How to Connect With Mentors.
The article begins by stating that “74% of hiring managers, believe that job seekers need the support of a mentor, counselor, or job coach whereas, only 40% of job seekers actually have a mentor to help them through the process.” They quoted Madeline Slutsky, Chairman of the Career Advisory Board and Vice President of Career Services at DeVry University who stated that “job seekers are doing themselves a huge disservice by ignoring the wealth of guidance and insight a mentor could provide.”
They quoted Rachel Louise Ensign of the Wall Street Journal who said that “a mentor can help a young worker answer tough questions about his or her career path and get perspective on the industry. The relationship may even help you eventually land a new job.”
After the setup and further prose on the value of mentors, the article laid out a systematic approach to identify a mentor, how to engage the prospective mentor, and the need to formalize a structure for a productive relationship.
This post was clearly meant for someone beginning their career, a primer as it were, which is fine. It’s an important topic, worth discussion. There’s so much to learn about navigating organizational cultures that one needs a mentor or coach to help accelerate their learning.
I find it useful to distinguish between the work of a coach and mentor. Although there may be some overlap in their approach, there is a difference. A mentor is more of a strategist and generalist whereas a coach is more tactical and specific. This point is a generalization, of course, as mentors can be strategic or tactical, depending on the situation. In my experience, mentors are people you call on to better understand the dynamics of a situation. They are guides. They don’t tell you what to do but help you learn by providing options to consider. A coach, on the other hand, helps you develop skills and provides feedback and encouragement. Another important distinction is that coaches are often paid for their services. Mentors are volunteers who gain satisfaction by giving back.
The situation is relevant as well. A mentor or coach appropriate for career development on the job may not be suitable to help you during a job search. A career coach experienced in job search will provide relevant tactical support for resume preparation, networking effectiveness, and interviewing skills, to name a few.
I couldn’t help but think that finding a mentor is a subset of building a network to support your career. That thought sparked my thinking on a broader level. Faith’s recommendations tend to do that. I was reminded of the chapter I’d just read from Strategic Connections. Those authors speak about the importance of creating teams to accomplish different objectives. They say that, depending on the nature of the objective, different personality types are required to achieve the objective. They identify 14 different archetypes as follows:
- The Sponsor
- The influencer
- The Cheerleader
- The Wise Elder
- The Novice
- The Heart
- The Wizard
- The Brain
- The Critic
- The Guru
- The Sarge
- The Promoter
- The Creative
- The Global Citizen
Thinking about the issue further, finding mentors and coaches is part of building your network. You’ve probably been on different teams from time to time, both at work and play, so you have experience. To achieve important goals, we often need to assemble a team. Depending on the nature of the objective, the team may be broad, or it may be small.
From a broader perspective, the issue is about building a network of people with diverse skills and perspectives who can be a resource to you. I believe it’s about developing relationships based on mutual respect and interests. You’re not only developing a team to support your needs; you’re a member of your contacts’ teams. Expect to be called on when they need you. Make sure to answer their call.
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