What are common career goals you can set with a mentor?

Three common career goals you can work on with a mentor: 1. Skill Development: You can aim to improve specific skills or acquire new ones that are essential for your career. 2. Career Advancement: If you want to move up the career ladder, your mentor can assist you in setting goals for promotions, raises, or new job opportunities. 3. Work-Life Balance: Balancing work and personal life is important. With your mentor's support, you can set goals to manage your time effectively, reduce stress, and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Remember, your career goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) to ensure you can track your progress and stay motivated.

When thinking about the value of mentorship, three key areas of support can be: 1) Clarifying your true career interests and values to develop a career action plan. Not what the mentor wants you to do, but rather what aligns with your actual interests/values. 2) Identifying gaps in your knowledge, skills, and experience- helping you to recognize the areas to address in order to pursue your career goals productively. 3) Connecting you to the right networks/communities which will help you achieve your career action plan.

Its pretty basic but one of the most common mistakes people make is not using a basic goal setting system e.g. SMART. This means making your goals Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time bound. Speific -> Make it as narrow and unambiguous as you can. Measurable -> How will you know if the actions you are taking are yielding positive results, not just in a year from now but say in 1 week? Attainable -> "By next month I'd like to drive a Ferrari, have all my hair to grow back and live forver" but thats not going to happen is it? Be ambitious but dont set goals you have little chance of achieving Relevant -> Are the goals aligned with your end game? Time -> When will your plan start and end? This will help!

Make sure you build an authentic networking plan. Connect with people you can learn from and who you can contribute to in return. Make it a daily habit to give to others and build a circle of influence, trust, support, and opportunity sharing. But most importantly, be a contributor. Help them and in time, your efforts will be rewarded.

Some great ideas and suggestions in the comments. What I think can also be helpful is to explore purpose and how it anchors what you do and gives meaning. The power of your WHY. I've had many mentees ask for strategies for building professional relationships and being able to persuade and influence without yet having power or authority. I always like to explore understanding personality style - reviewing strengths and development areas and how to identify the styles of others in order to connect better. This enables the mentee to build their own strategies for success. Navigating the transition between roles and how to bravely embrace the learning curve also helps reduce anxiety and fear of failure.

Also, asking a mentor to walk you through a key piece of work - perhaps a report, presentation, important meeting - they have recently delivered can be practically insightful alongside recommendations for books, courses, etc. This can provide scope for the mentor to breakdown how they have approached things, what skills helped them, and for the mentee to ask specific questions to probe further.

Once you have a fair idea of Where you are (Self Analysis) and Where you want to go (Goals), you should focus in mindful upskilling. Go through the Job Descriptions relevant to your career goals & check for the skill gaps. Learn implementable skills rather than pursuing courses just for certification. learn, Apply & Share.

I believe that mentoring relationship should involve an effective communication from both sides. The goals that should be set with your mentor start with: *Communicating your vision for your career path *Understanding and identifying your strength areas and areas to be developed *Exposing all challenges that might come along your way *The keys for success that include Hard Work and most importantly the will

Working on job applications (CVs, cover letters) is another way to contribute to the mentoring process. This helps to build skills in analysis and interpretation and enhancement of writing skills - i.e. matching skills, competencies and knowledge required by the vacancy announcement with what I possess as a candidate and communicating same clearly and succinctly to be successfully screened in an Application Tracking System (ATS) or to grab the attention of those recruiters who are still screening manually.

After you have gone through your career plan and discussed you current and past professional experience with your mentor then the mentor can assess your skills and knowledge. Based on the mentor’s assessment your skills and knowledge a strategy can be formulated to address the gaps in your skills and experience.

This is tough because a lot of mentors are not in the same geographical area. That said, there are still ways to direct you to activities, groups, and even volunteer ops that will grow your network. Interview your coach on this topic so you can choose one that extends their services in this way.

Personal branding is key for visibility, especially in this social media. A Mentor can share its own web profile and resume, can provide tips on what to write and not to write based on their experience in selecting candidates, and so on. This is particularly relevant to students about to step from Uni into Job Market, and I found mentees often unprepared and therefore really interested in these matters.

Strong relationships are extremely important to career development, and they are one of the most critical parts of a mentoring program. The mentor-mentee relationship is what helps the mentee thrive and achieve each goal. This relationship provides the ideal climate for diverse and vulnerable conversations, enabling the mentee to grow both professionally and personally. Through the mentor-mentee partnership, mentees gain unique perspectives and numerous insights that can put them in a position to achieve their goals. By sharing experiences, working towards each goal, and allowing for conversations that will foster creative and innovative thinking, the mentor and mentee will form a mutually beneficial partnership.

Once you have added the skill sets to your portfolio, it is the time to pitch your profile. Portals like LinkedIn serve the best for Professional branding & networking. You can also resort to various domain specific groups & events. Make yourself & your skillsets visible.

As a seasoned mentor but also learned from some of the best leaders and mentors in my industry, networking is key to being successful. Even if it makes you uncomfortable, push yourself out of your comfort zone as the benefits of having a great network outweigh any fears you may have! I have such a great network of mentors and coaches who have supported me through my career. Get yourself a good mentor who is good at networking as they will have some great advice! Take advantage of social media but beware of just theorists as it’s much better to learn from people who have mastered networking in reality.

This is the very reason having a mentor is important. To help you advance your career. Every great leader at one point has someone they can trust, talk to, has “lived it,” and can provide guidance on your career goals. Mentoring can challenge your self-limiting beliefs by introducing you to new ways of thinking to increase your professional aspirations.

A boost in confidence and the right wording on your branding materials goes a long way. A lot of my women clients underestimate their value and need some help in asserting themselves in positive ways to land promotions, negotiate a better salary, or send vibes to their current employer that they might be leaving their position for a better one. All of these things are positives in advancing your career. Sometimes you just need an expert to help you navigate the path while you stay alive in your current job or move on at your own pace.

I think what it dose matter is the attitude of an individual and his capabilities to manage his emotional reactions to work related issues . I do believe that the emotional side of employees is similar to the blood of human being body . If the attitude is not on a desired level all competences and skills will be not activated and source of frestration

Building on @Leanne Siri's comment, your mentor can be one of the best people to help you understand your strengths and brand. Ask them to help you understand how you make a difference, and in what context. Some questions you can ask are: What do they believe you underestimate about yourself (or are not leveraging enough)? What are your "unique selling points"? What do you have to offer that truly makes a difference? What do people miss when you are not there?

Career advancement needs a plan therefore the mentor’s advice with be critical in achieving this goal. Having the mentor assist with your job application is very helpful but more importantly the mentor’s honesty in letting you know the job expectations and whether a job will be suitable for based on your goals, personality and values.

I think it's really important to have a mentor who guides you without judgement and encourages you. This person is then enabling you to maintain your motivation, to keep trying and to experiment with new thinking and ideas. A mentor can help you set yourself up to understand that self-care is an essential component to well-being and to put a plan in place to support that. If you are not looking after yourself, achieving your career goals will come to nowt. Knowing your have a mentor in your corner can keep you on track. And, remember, enough good sleep is the foundation for great well-being - always!

This is an area that is underleveraged as it requires vulnerability and often times blurs the boundary between career and life more broadly - though super critical to address for both success and satisfaction. As a mentor lean on your curiosity to inspect for this (with a clear intent to understand). As a mentee have the courage to raise these topics.

In a mentor-protegee relation it is a must that a mentor shares their own areas of improvement and weaknesses which they work upon, with the protegee. This gives confidence to the protegee that all of us are all work in progress. This thought should help the protegee to take set-backs in life, and also show emotional intelligence at work. It will also enable him/her/them to be open and graceful when someone else goes through a set-back or their own work suffers due to other person stress/burnout/frustration. To maintain motivation and well being it is important to accept own and others vulnerabilities and possibility of failure.

A positive mindset is indispensable in your journey of fast paced career growth. Maintain a healthy routine. Set your surroundings & space positive & supportive. Guard your thoughts & actions. Keep yourself busy.

Make sure you choose the right mentor for you. Someone you have a good rapport with, you respect and is a good role model and you won’t go far wrong.

A mentor is an experienced guide rather than someone who will tell you exactly what to do. They are someone who has overcome obstacles and can share their experience to help you avoid making the same mistakes. They act as an advisor, providing guidance, knowledge, and insights, but they encourage you to make informed decisions and learn from your own experiences. A mentor won't give you all the answers but empowers you to make wiser and more effective decisions on your professional journey. They know the map but help you recognize your own path.

Processes, methods, pace, and required skills change rapidly. As a mentor, you may perceive that your mentee’s vision overcomes yours. What of the past experience is applicable to a changing world and what actions are to be driven by pure intuition, as the path may be totally unexplored? Mentor and mentee together can take the challenge of being innovators.

There's a time and place for career advancement. It takes concentrated effort. If possible, try to get your life aligned and eliminate unnecessary drama or distractions before you set out to escalate your career. The sweet spot for career escalation at a rapid clip is between 34 and 48. Of course, you can advance before or after that age, but research shows your best time for upward movement is in these years.

A mentor is a valuable asset to your personal and professional growth. A mentor can help you by keeping you accountable for your goals and aspirations. They can provide encouragement and motivation and keep you honest with yourself. A mentor can offer fresh perspectives and alternative viewpoints on your career choices and challenges. Additionally, interacting with a mentor can boost your self-confidence and self-esteem. Knowing that someone experienced believes in your abilities can be a powerful motivator. A mentorship should be a two-way relationship where both parties benefit. As you receive guidance and support from your mentor, consider how you can also contribute to their growth or the relationship in some way.