Thing 11 - Mentoring

I was interested to read the Thing 11 post on mentoring as it reminded me of Rachel Bickley’s presentation on establishing dialogues between new and experienced professionals at the New Professionals Conference 2011. Mentoring seems like a more individual, personal way of establishing a line of communication between a newer professional and a more experienced one.

I don’t have any experience of the mentoring process myself. The closest I came was earlier this year when I faced a huge dilemma over whether or not to apply for a particular job. I ended up emailing two of my friends explaining the situation and asking for their advice. Neither of them are librarians, but I’ve known them for a long time, they’re both successful in their own careers and I admire their outlook on life. In the end they both gave really good advice which I didn’t actually end up taking – but their advice was really valuable in the sense that it made me think about my priorities, what I wanted from a job and my life, and generally put things into perspective.

The coolest mentor ever?

I think the idea of having a mentor is a good one: benefiting from the knowledge and experience of someone more senior is helpful on a personal level as well as helping to facilitate the dialogue suggested by Rachel in her presentation. However, I personally wouldn’t know where to find one or where to start looking. I do hope to begin chartership in the next couple of years and since having a mentor is a formal requirement, I should be able to experience the process then.