Do you know, what do some of history’s great leaders have in common? What links Plato, Aristotle, Nelson Mandela, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs? They all had strong mentors.
Research shows that mentoring accounts for the economic success: 70 percent of small businesses (data from the US) that receive mentoring survive more than five years—double the survival rate of non-mentored businesses. Also, an employee with a mentor at work is five times more likely to get a pay raise or a promotion than an employee without a mentor.
“I understood that mentorship will provide me with possibility to get real knowledge about my chosen specialty from the people who have already taken this career path. That’s why I filled in the application to participate in the programme”, says Vilija Jankūnaitė, student at the KTU School of Economics and Business.
Vilija has participated in the programme for two years. She says that even communication with older and more experienced people, such as writing emails and meeting them informally was of great benefit. Also, she got invaluable professional experience: “My mentors were the experts in marketing, which is my chosen professional field. I got to know working environment of different companies, received some hands-on advice of how to plan my career in marketing and to achieve my goals”.
Experts say that having a mentor will be beneficial not only for your career development, but also for achieving your personal goals. Having a mentor, you will be pushed out of your comfort zone and in such a way will expand it, you will learn how to accept and give feedback – an invaluable skill in any job and any position, and last, but not least, having a confidant to whom you can talk about your professional ups and downs helps to reduce stress.
Are you ready to kick-start your career? Choose a career mentor on your Academic Information System (AIS).
Read more about the career mentorship programme here.
