Why getting a mentor is the smartest thing you can do for your career

The power of mentorship is an incredible thing.

Sure, you can study and get straight A’s in school, but how do you successfully implement everything you’ve learned when you enter the workforce? It’s possible with the guidance and support of a mentor.

In fact, having a mentor can hugely help the success of your career. Some of the most influential global figures credit their success to mentors. Richard Branson notes the importance of Sir Freddie Laker in helping him get Virgin Atlantic off the ground, and the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs cited his mentor and Apple board member, Mike Markkula.

Mentors help you realize your strengths and weaknesses, and they’re not afraid to tell you the truth. With that being said, we’ve rounded up the top four reasons why mentorship is exceptionally important.

Learn life lessons

There’s a great amount of vulnerability involved with being a mentor or a mentee. You’re working directly with another person and in order to maintain a good relationship you must have respect for the other person and trust them. The result? A blossoming mentorship where both parties learn valuable lessons.

Motivation

When you’re just starting out in your career or even changing career paths at a later stage, you’ll want to be motivated to succeed. By working closely with a mentor, you can find out how they made it in their career as they were once just like you. A great mentor will inspire you to work hard and push you to achieve.

You’ll get honest feedback

It’s often hard to see faults in your own work, but a mentor can help you get past that. They provide you with customized advice, from a neutral perspective, and they’re not afraid to tell you the honest truth. When you do a great job they recognize your efforts and your ability to progress in your career.

Learn from mistakes

Learning from mistakes is a huge element of mentorship. You’ll learn from both your mistakes and those of your mentor because this is how you grow. Success is failure turned inside out and everyone experiences both highs and lows in their career. Your mentor will advise you on what has worked for them and what hasn’t.

If you’re interested in finding a mentor to help you in your career, the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade runs the Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) mentorship program. LOT connects top post-secondary students with leading industry professionals, and it could help you in the areas of leadership, networking, and volunteerism.

Santa Ono (fifth left) with event attendees/Greater Vancouver Board of Trade

Find out more about the LOT mentorship program by visiting the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade now.

See also

• How this group of local business pros can prepare you for success
• How Vancouver-based pet services company GoFetch is going global
• This Vancouver mentorship program helps students get unrivalled experience

Daily Hive is a proud media sponsor of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade