Career Tip: Mentors
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” William Arthur Ward
Not all of us are teachers, but as alumni of the college, you all have the opportunity to mentor current students.
Mentoring, in a practical sense, runs very parallel to teaching. In fact, the best mentors teach their mentees how to be successful personally and professionally, instead of just providing job leads and resources to students. Mentors should provide information to mentees. However, they should also empower mentees to research and learn more about careers on their own, or to research industry or company problems and solutions.
Mentors have a lot of “street cred” with their mentees. In many cases, a mentee looks up to and seeks the approval of their mentor. Mentors can channel these feelings in a way that encourages the student to learn and grow, while also expanding their professional knowledge, problem solving, and critical thinking skills.
Mentors are very important to students. The work they do helps to shape and develop students into the leaders of tomorrow. It is important to take that work seriously and inspire in students the quest for life-long learning, which will impact them in a positive way for a life time.
Stacie Hays
