If you’re driven and want to work towards developing your career, finding a career mentor can make the difference in achieving your ambitions. “A career mentor is someone who agrees to share their skills, knowledge, expertise, and professional contacts with you,” say Idealistcareers.com. “People with mentors earn higher salaries, are promoted more frequently, and report higher job satisfaction than those without mentors.”

Below, we explore some of the biggest benefits of finding your own career mentor.

Stay focused

Having a career mentor can help you keep your career goals focused, and help you stick to them. We all suffer from distractions, but by expressing and sharing your goals with a mentor you are allowing yourself to be held accountable for achieving those objectives,” say Admore Recruitment.

Access to career opportunities

Your mentor can provide insider access to your industry, and may find out about new opportunities before they reach the open market, as well as introducing you to important people or providing recommendations. “It is highly likely that they will know what is happening within key organisations and this information can help guide you,” Admore Recruitment advise.

Learn from their experience

“This must be one of the greatest benefits that accrue to a mentee who has the chance to learn at the feet of an experienced individual in their aspired career line,” say Potentash.com. Choosing a mentor with years of experience allows you to learn from both their mistakes and their triumphs.

Impartial advice

“The fact that a mentor is independent and not involved directly in any particular situation allows them to provide you with an impartial viewpoint,” explain Admore Recruitment. This may be better than asking a family member, for instance, as your mentor may be able to more easily take a step back and look at the wider picture of your career.

Develop a critical approach to your career

Having a mentor also makes it easier for you to take a step back and look at your career as a whole. They can help you plan your career more thoroughly, look at aspects of professional development you wouldn’t otherwise, and challenge you to look more closely at your job and career.

Networking

You can take advantage of your mentor’s extended professional network, and hopefully add them to your own. “This extended network, if managed correctly, should provide valuable connections throughout your career,” say Admore Recruitment. What’s more, your mentor could be able to get you invitations to important industry events.

Shared success

“A mentor is not only someone to provide you with support and advice, but it is also someone to share your successes with,” suggests Admore Recruitement. “This makes the whole experience rewarding for them as well as for you.” Being a mentor can help revitalise their own careers, helping them stand out to employers, develop management qualities, reflect on their own careers and create a legacy by nurturing talent in their industry and passing on their skills and values.