How To Find A Career Mentor

Navigating a career path is intimidating no matter what route you choose, but you don’t have to go it alone. One of the greatest champions you can find in your career journey is a mentor; not just a teacher or advisor but a trusted ally and friend.

Yet while many professionals believe a mentor is a boon, only 37% of people have them according to a 2019 survey. This study found the majority of mentor-mentee relationships formed organically, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be proactive and find one. If you’re looking to form a mutually beneficial relationship with a mentor, embrace these strategies!

Consider what you want first

Before you start your search, ask yourself what you’re looking for out of the relationship. Are you looking for someone with a specific title, someone in a desired industry, or general career advice? Reflect on the type of success you’re looking for, what your values are, and what type of feedback you respond best to.

Forbes’ Liz Elting says that if you’re not honest with yourself, you’ll end up wasting your time and your potential mentors. As a mentee, you need to be coachable and open to feedback, take the initiative to check-in, and be comfortable discussing your goals, according to LinkedIn’s Jon Jennings. So take time to do self-scouting before you start looking.

Check within your existing networking

Once you know what you’re looking for, start by looking within your existing sphere of influence. There could be someone at your company, a former professor or colleague, or a member of an alumni association that could be a good fit.

Indeed’s Jennifer Herrity says to look at the people you admire in your network and write down why. Consider who has the attributes you admire and what challenges they have faced in their career. Then, you can reach out and break the ice. Don’t be afraid to go through your LinkedIn or social media profiles to see if there is someone you haven’t considered. You may already have the ideal mentor in your network.

Take to the internet

Even if the ideal mentor isn’t someone you already know, don’t be discouraged. Social media and networking tools like LinkedIn are great places to make new connections. With more people working remotely than ever before, it’s a good time to digitally connect.

You can start by asking your existing connections if they know someone who could be a good fit for you. Even if that doesn’t work, you can try alumni groups if you went to a college or worked with a particular group. If all else fails, LinkedIn Groups are a great way to find something in your niche, according to FlexJob’s Kimberli Lowe-MacAuley. Using LinkedIn, you can search for specific groups, and LinkedIn will offer some tips to get started!

“When searching, you can begin adding topical keywords to target groups specific to your career field. Rather than type in “designers,” for instance, you can try “freelance graphic designers” to find a more targeted group. You’re sure to find a group that will suit your career goals.” – Kimberli Lowe-MacAuley

Ask

Once you find someone that seems like you good fit, you have the most nerve-wracking task ahead of you—you need to ask! You don’t need to write a note saying “will u be my mentor? y/n,” but you do need to find a way to ask that isn’t too forward or needy.

Harvard Business Review states that many ambitious career advancers will make their ask too soon—after just one or two conversations with a person. Being bold can be beneficial, but you want your request to have context and be a natural fit. You want to make sure this is going to be a good fit, and one conversation isn’t enough to know that.

Kimberli Lowe-MacAuley says that in your initial conversation, you’ll essentially be doing an elevator pitch and asking someone for their time. Explain why you admire them, what you hope to gain, and why you are worth their time. You don’t need to officially ask for the title of mentor. That relationship may just develop that way after having multiple conversations.

“You might also consider asking the other person to formally be your mentor, though this is not a necessity. While some people will be happy to take on the role of mentor, others might resist a formal title associated with increased responsibility. Use your own discretion when making this decision.” –Coursera

Wrap up

Remember: finding a mentor doesn’t mean finding the highest-ranked person you can find and copying their career path. You want to find a good fit, someone you can really connect with. You may have many different mentors at different stages of your career. In turn, make sure to be a good mentee and offer help where you can. And if you do find a good mentor, pass down that good fortune by becoming a mentor yourself in the future!

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The Most Effective Employee Retention Strategies

With the aftershocks of the Great Resignation still in play, many organizations have struggled to replace those lost workers. As worker wants and desires change, we’ll continue to see a shuffling as potential employees flock to places that can meet those desires. Smart organizations need a retention plan to keep their best employees engaged, satisfied, and willing to stay with the company.

Training a new employee can be an expensive affair—roughly twice their salary according to Visier. While you can’t prevent all employees from seeking greener pastures, creating a work culture people want to be a part of can limit the risk and help keep your best employees around. Embrace these modern strategies to encourage your top talent to stick around!

Have a good hiring process

Keeping your employees around starts before they even become your employees. Your hiring process sets the tone for the employee’s future with you, so the more transparent and accurate it is, the better.

Visier says to start with an accurate job preview and clear employee expectations. This means being honest about your culture and your potential employee’s role. Not every work environment and employee work style complement each other, and that’s okay. But if you’re dishonest, you’re setting yourself up for a messy breakup down the road.

A good onboarding process is likewise important to set the tone for a new hire’s early days.

Create a culture of value

Ultimately, an employee wants to feel like they fit in with the organization and that they matter to the parent company. A Pew study found that while low pay was the main reason people left their jobs (63% of respondents), feeling disrespected was a close second. 57% of respondents cited disrespect as a reason they left their job, with 35% claiming it was a primary reason.

“Your company likely has clear values and ideals in the handbook. Do you work on them to create a company that makes your employees proud? Maybe your company values equality, charitable acts or protecting the environment. Demonstrate those values through the work you do.” –Indeed

Take a deep look at your culture and how it treats its employees. Do your day-to-day operations align with the company mission statement? Are you recognizing employees for their accomplishments? This self-scouting is vital when asking why employees are leaving.

Focus on work-life balance

To create that culture, the work-life balance needs to not only be respected but prioritized. Pew found that 40% of respondents quit their job due to burnout—often caused by a lack of work-life balance. Combating burnout is an important step in maintaining employees.

Forbes’ Chauncey Crail lists remote work, flexible scheduling, and a reduced workweek as ways the modern organization can foster a healthy work-life balance. We’ve talked at length about how rejuvenating spirit that comes with remote work and how it can lead to better productivity. If you fear these concessions will be bad for your business, not only is that incorrect but you’ll be left in the dust as your competitors evolve.

Offer competitive benefits and invest in careers

Of course, even the happiest employees want to be paid what they are worth—no one is going to work for free.

The cost of living is high and grows at an exponential rate, and at the bare minimum, a company needs to keep up. But that’s not the only way to stay competitive. Ellie Taylor writes that as an employee takes on new roles and projects, they should be compensated for it. Taylor also adds that beyond base pay, retention bonuses, sales commissions, and additional bonuses after big projects will keep employees invested.

In addition to financial investment, investing in an employee’s career growth will keep them around. LinkedIn found that 94% of respondents would stay with a company longer if it assisted with their career growth. Emeritus lists mentorship programs and educational courses as ways to do so. We live in a skill-based career culture, and helping your employees gain the skills they need for a long and rewarding career will create skilled employees that can better help your organization.

“Today’s workforce wants to know what’s in store for their future and whether they can see themselves working with you long term. Stagnation can lead to disengagement, quiet quitting and eventually, actual quitting so provide your employees with opportunities to expand their skills and grow professionally.” –Lisa Shuster, Forbes

Learn from exit interviews

While these strategies are designed as a catch-all to help any organization, all companies are different and face different challenges. If you find you’re having trouble keeping people around, you need to pay closer attention to your exit interviews. Ellie Taylor mentions that many managers don’t see the workplace dynamic in action, especially if they’re busy. Exit interviews give you a better insight into how the employees view the organization. Taking these concerns seriously can lead to actionable results.

You may even learn what external factors are leading to turnovers. Your company may not be problematic, but if competitors are consistently offering higher salaries or benefits, it will give you something to think about.

Wrap up

Employees want more than money from their careers. They seek value and recognition and want to align with their employer’s vision. Keeping these simple ideas in mind is the core of any good retention strategy. Create a place of work that employees will want to stay with and make sure they’re invested in and rewarded properly and you’ll have an environment your top talent is happy to stay with.

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Don’t Add These Skills To Your Resume

Resumes are tricky beasts—you need to clearly state what you bring to the table in as direct and concise a way as possible. But you only have so much space, so it’s necessary to only highlight the skills and experiences necessary for that particular job.

It’s tempting to create a one-size-fits-all document covering your entire work history, but that doesn’t provide value to potential employers. This is why we stress the importance of tailoring your resume to each application.

With this in mind, make the most of your limited space and leave these types of skills off of your resume. Highlight only what adds value, and you’ll stand a much better chance of getting an interview.

“When your job application is facing the six-second resume test, it’s important to not include information that will distract the hiring manager from seeing your true qualifications.” –Amanda Augustine, TopResume

Expected skills

Your resume is meant to highlight why you’re best suited for the job and to prove you bring something unique to the table. If the skills you highlight are things anyone can do, you aren’t really bringing anything of value.

While basic computer knowledge might have been a rarity last century, these days, anyone applying for an office job is expected to know how to operate a computer. While specific programs hold obvious merit, core competency isn’t anything unique and appears as fluff, says Peter Riccio. If you have important “computer skills” relevant to the job, spell them out; don’t leave them vague.

“At this point, listing “email” or “Microsoft Word” as skills is almost equivalent to listing “reading” or “basic math.” They’re not differentiators–they’re expected.” –Emily Moore, Glassdoor

Likewise, typing, online research, data entry, filing, and customer service are examples of skills employers expect rather than anything unique. While they’ll certainly want to know how you’ve handled customer interactions in the past, those are questions saved for the interview.

Cliches

Other overused resume buzzwords that commonly fill up resume space are another example, says Alison Doyle. Companies assume that they’ll be hiring someone willing to work hard. Every employee is expected to be a team player. Good written and oral communication skills are the norm.

If it sounds generic when you’re writing it, it probably is, according to Indeed. Try to spice up the language of your resume or find other ways to phrase that particular skill. Use action verbs and find ways to show rather than tell.

Skills you don’t actually have

Some skills are truly impressive and head-turning and are sure to generate employer interest. If you’re adding these types of skills to your resume, make sure you actually have them.

Indeed’s editorial team lists languages you don’t actually speak as a prime example of skill fraud. If you studied a language in school but aren’t actually fluent or remember enough to be useful, leave it off your resume. You may think it adds value to your future employers, but it won’t take long for them to realize you’re a fraud. Google Translate can only take you so far.

“At some point, somewhere, somehow, someone is going to discover the truth. Besides, if you don’t really have enough other skills to make you qualified, it’s probably a good idea to just apply for a different position anyway.” –ZipJob

Most job descriptions are more “employer wishlists” than anything else. You don’t need to match every single qualification to be considered. If you lie about some qualifications, it will be apparent eventually. Save yourself and the employer the time and be honest.

Irrelevant skills

The key property of the most desirable skills is their transferability. Especially when changing industries, these types of skills show that you have the important foundation down even if you haven’t used them in this particular capacity. But not every skill is transferable!

Some skills are highly interesting for personal anecdotes but won’t really matter to the position you’re applying for. Remember to keep things tailored to the job at hand.

“For example, if you are applying for an accounting position, including the fact that you have great drawing skills is most likely not going to help you get that job.” –Indeed

Soft skills—without examples!

We’ve stressed the importance of soft skills, and we aren’t saying to not include them. But how you present them is key. A list of soft skills comes off generic and like a way to fill space or target any keyword searches. You want to highlight your soft skills in other ways through your resume (and cover letter) and to use tangible examples. Show, don’t tell.

“The single most common mistake job seekers make is to list out soft skills on their resume — for example communication, multitasking, leadership, problem solving, etc. The message that sends to anyone reading the resume is ‘I may not have made clear what my soft skills are, so I’m listing them out just to make sure you see them,’” –Peter Riccio

Wrap up

The key theme is to make sure the skills on your application documents provide value for the role you’re applying for. If every single applicant can do it, it’s not really a skill, and just adding buzzwords won’t do you any favors. By removing much of the resume bloat caused by these irrelevant skills, you’ll have more space to highlight your newsworthy skills and accomplishments, which will lead to more interviews.

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The Most Sought-After Skills To Develop In 2022

Self-growth is the key to career success no matter what industry you work in. Many businesses offer continuing education to aid their employees in this growth, whether through seminars, training programs, or even education assistance. But if you really want to succeed in your career journey, you need to take the initiative and develop necessary skills on your own time.

But what skills will give you the most “bang for your buck” in terms of relevancy and versatility? Erika Andersen of Harvard Business Review wrote that the best skills are at the intersection of organizational needs and personal satisfaction.

“Given all the ways in which organizations and jobs are changing, figuring out which new skills to develop and when to develop them can be hard. The key is to focus on skills that will propel your organization forward, that play to your strengths, and that you feel passionate about learning.”- Erika Andersen

The pandemic changed the professional world at all levels, and new needs must be accounted for. Regardless of industry, certain soft skills are more important than ever. We’ve looked to various experts and found these soft skills to be the most desired in this new age.

Communication

Communication often comes up as a buzzword, but it is a tricky skill set to develop. Communication covers a wide array of skills, including active listening, public speaking, writing ability, observing, empathy, and providing feedback. So many other soft skills require a foundation based on strong communication skills, making this a great place to start.

Forbes’ William Arruda reminds us that employees are people first. Employees face their own private challenges, and those are even more magnified in today’s troubled times. Knowing how to open a transparent and encouraging dialogue is crucial in connecting with your team, and good communication skills increase morale, productivity, and focus. Good leadership is first built on good communication.

In addition, the remote landscape has changed where communication takes place altogether. With less opportunity for in-person conversation and meetings, leveling up your written communication skills is crucial. ApplyBoard reminds us to use technology to check-in and keep the dialogue going.

“Whether it’s a quick Slack message, an engineering blueprint, or a formal whitepaper, new grads who can communicate key messages clearly and convincingly will see their team thrive.” –ApplyBoard

Problem-solving

Tying back to remote work, working out of the office means you won’t have immediate access to support staff or a direct connection to managers. You’ll often be left to your own devices, paving a need to develop independent problem-solving skills.

In their top-five most in-demand skills for 2022, Star Outico has problem-solving skills as the most frequent subcategory. Four of their top five skills fall under this category, including:

•Analytical thinking and innovation

•Complex problem-solving

•Critical thinking and analysis

•Creativity, originality, and initiative

IT Resources highlights how desirable these traits are to employers, who want well-rounded employees capable of going beyond their job description.

“Employers prefer hiring candidates who show no fear of taking on a challenge. Therefore, when answering questions in your interview, describe how you solved problems. Hiring managers look for innovative solutions rather than a no-brainer.” –IT Resources

Adaptability

The pandemic has thrown a lot at all of us, and the ability to adapt has been necessary at all levels. In terms of our professional lives, adaptability is one of the most sought-after skills by employers. A stable 9-to-5 at the office is a rarity anymore, so those who can thrive in the face of chaos and come out on top are the priority candidates in any industry.

“Whether an employee needs to alter their workload as the business re-staffs or expands, or if the location of their job changes, being adaptable is always an asset. This shows employees that you are willing to roll with the punches to achieve success.” – Michael Page

ApplyBoard deduces adaptability also means being able to cope with not only your own evolving challenges but those of your team as well. Keeping a cool head and being accepting of others’ needs fall under the adaptability umbrella.

Time management

Part of adaptability is knowing how to prioritize your time. With less overhead while working from home, you need to be a master of self-management and time management.

Understanding the needs of your organization and how to prioritize those needs is directly tied to your success. If you have five tasks you need to complete, how do you know which to tackle first? And how do you balance these tasks without becoming overwhelmed?

GrowthSpace’s Sarah Vonnegut discusses the myriad of ways to develop this particular skill, including using software packages, practicing psychological methodologies, or creating simple routines that help.

Wrap up

It always pays to sharpen your skills but choosing what skills to master can often be overwhelming. In the pandemic landscape, soft skills like communication, problem-solving, adaptability, and time management are more important than ever, thanks to new challenges emerging every day. These skills are extremely versatile and can help advance or start your career no matter what field you’re in.

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How To Become An Enthralling Storyteller

At my last job, I was a senior assistant at a finance company. The boss, Mr. Gould, was tall, kinda short. Lightish-dark hair. I remember he had this little dog he would bring into the office named Horton. Or was it Morton? Anyway, I’m sorry, what was the question?

If you’ve made it past this nonsensical anecdote, bravo! A well-told story can leave an impression on your audience and create personal investment. But a poorly-told story, like the one above, incites confusion and boredom. Bestselling author Kindra Hall believes good storytellers are able to build a connection and differentiate themselves from the competition.

“Given a choice between listening to statistics or facts or listening to a story, people will always choose a story. And stories stick with them longer.” -Kindra Hall

Whether you’re interviewing for a new job or becoming a leader in your field, the ability to be a good storyteller is crucial to succeeding in the business world. If you’re looking to enhance your oratory skills with a sense of eloquence and excitement, follow these storytelling cues.

Have a point

A good story leaves an imprint because it has a purpose. No matter how elegant you tell your tale, no one will be interested if the story doesn’t have meaning. The time you found the last bag of oyster crackers at Aldi won’t hold up next to the Iliad.

Skillshare Blog believes there should be a payoff for the listener, not just the storyteller. Even if it isn’t known to the audience until the end of the tale, make sure there is a central message somewhere in your story.

Cut the bloat

Think of a time someone bored you with a story you weren’t interested in. Chances are, the story droned on, and on, and on. One of the classic blunders used by less-proficient storytellers is bogging the story down with too many unnecessary details. In the example story at the top of this article, my story about a previous job focused far too much energy on the boss’ appearance and little details about his life.

Forbes Lisa Christen reminds us of the classic sad short story “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” In just six words, we have a full story. Let every individual word drive the story forward while trusting the audience to be able to fill in the blanks. Your audience is smart but uninformed; they’ll be able to understand your meanings.

While some background information is required, keep it to the necessary bits only, reminds Anett Grant of Fast Company.

“[S]et the scene for your audience in the most concise way possible, telling them only what they need to know to comprehend your key takeaway.” -Anett Grant

Hit emotional beats

If your chronicle is going to stay in the audiences’ mind, it needs to be more than hard facts. The reason you tell a story is to foster a connection, and simply providing the who/what/where/when doesn’t cut it.

Kindra Hall believes a successful story has four components: an identifiable character, authentic emotion, a moment, and specific (relevant!) details. This character (often you!) should experience real emotions and have a defining moment, ie the purpose of the story.

Think in terms of an interviewer asking you a challenge you’ve overcome in the workplace. You’ll leave a long-lasting impression if the story is personal and authentic. Don’t just hit the bullet points; really try to highlight the conflict and how you overcame it. Skillshare Blog points out that the conflict is what keeps an audience engaged.

“An easy and linear path to the finish line isn’t going to keep your audience engaged. Instead, you want your characters to face obstacles—and a decent amount of drama—as they journey on their path.”- Skillshare Blog

You’ll be much more likely to get a follow-up call if your story resonates with the hiring managers.

Keep it simple

Tying back to the idea your story should have a point, once you’ve made that point it’s okay to end the story. Anett Grant reminds us that humans have a short attention span; they say to keep the story like a shot clock in basketball. Get your points across and move on. There is no faster way to lose your audience than to ramble on and have them zone out and forget the point you were making.

Practice

While storytelling may not be the same as public speaking, a fear of many, many of the principles remain the same. Practice your delivery at home while following the above advice. Repetition leads to comfort and confidence. Whether your audience is one person or one hundred, you’ll be able to self-scout and recognize what is and isn’t working.

Skillshare Blog further recommends looking to those who have mastered the art of storytelling to improve. Think of your favorite storytellers and read or listen to their tales. Ask yourself why the story works and how you can adapt those techniques yourself.

Wrap up

Storytelling is a vital skill to master for your professional career. As a job seeker, it will allow you to stick in the hiring manager’s mind after the interview, leading to more follow-ups. As a leader, you’ll find yourself connecting with your team and inspiring them to new heights. It can allow you to resonate with customers, leading to more sales and satisfied clients. Some people are natural storytellers, but with a little effort, anyone can become a masterful storyteller.

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