There are many ways that you can help mentor a young person, and the beauty of mentoring is that you can be the change that you want to see.
The key to great mentorship is direction, which involves helping a young person to come up with tangible and measurable goals that they can work towards in their career, whether they are short or long term. Making sure that these are realistic is important as the last thing anyone wants is to feel discouraged because the challenge that lies ahead of them is too big. Breaking it down into small steps is the best way to do this!
Whilst it’s important to listen and let the young person tell you what they want from mentorship, you can also tell them how you want to help. You likely will have find something out along your journey that you wish you knew sooner – why not tell them about it?
You can be the change that you want to see. Think about your strengths, your weaknesses, how you want to help them and how you best think you can make a difference. This may be through things like setting tasks and giving feedback for practical learners, by talking through emotional reactions to professional scenarios, finding innovative ways to build confidence. You have an opportunity to place a step underneath your mentee’s foot, and the step that you place will help them on their way up.
Holly Peacock-Goodwin wrote a piece for The Telegraph on why men shouldn’t be afraid to mentor women, and this can in fact help change one’s perspective; Viv Groskop wrote on how mentoring is one of the most feminist things you can do in the workplace.
You have the opportunity to help shape a young person’s career at its formative stage – so be the change you want to see, think about what you can bring to that young person (and don’t forget what they can teach you, too – we’re looking at your TikTok skills…) and teach an intern to fish!