One of the main pillars of the Canty Model of Career Development that has seen clients land raises, promotions, and start businesses is that everyone needs a career executive board. Whether you are an employee or an employer, you must treat your overall career like the business that it is. Having a career executive board is the success squad that expedites your goals and helps you avoid career curveballs. Your career executive board consists of a role model, mentor, coach, and a sponsor.
Recruiting and implementing each of these members takes careful consideration. Let’s tackle landing your ideal mentor now. The steps below should be followed in the order they are presented, if you do each thoroughly you can land a career changing mentor in a week or less.
1. Get a Vision: Schedule at least one hour determining what you want from your career. What title
do you want? What benefits do you need? Most importantly, what work is in alignment with your unique skillset and values? Use the Career Vision Board and Career Affirmations Implementation Guides found in Work Journal’s Career Kit to get a visual for what you want. Get detailed. How do you want to look in your dream career? What do you want to be known for when you are not in the room? What will be your signature skills? Do not skip this step. The following steps will not be as effective if you are not clear on what you need from your career.
2. Create A Value Proposition: You need to capture and synthesize your greatness to ensure that your request for mentorship can easily be honored. Use the Brand Identity Kit template found in Work Journal. A Place to Record How Awesome You Are © to capture your what you are a subject matter expert in, your promotion pathway, and how you captivate employers. This information will help your mentor know immediately that you are worth investing in. Infuse your power script into step four, it will help lower your anxiety.
3. Observe: Now it’s time to determine who will meet your mentoring needs. The observation is
twofold. You need to observe potential mentor candidates and observe the areas you struggle in when completing your career goals. Recruiting a mentor starts with making a job description for the role. What personality type gels with yours? What coaching style repels you? Once you develop your job description of personality must haves and professional accomplishments, the search can begin. You can research pioneers in your profession in digital and face to face environments. A good place to start is the management hierarchy of your current job or of your ideal company. Ask yourself who is in the position that you want to be in and map out the steps to have them mentor you.
4. Ask and Be Ready to Invest Once you have completed steps one through three, step four becomes much easier. It’s now time to be bold and ask your intendent mentor candidate to begin the relationship with you. Like the dating experience, you want to court the potential mentor. Share with them the research you have done on their success and tell them why you think they are amazing. Send them an email, call them, or ask them directly. Ask that they invest in you and sell them your value proposition. Be clear on their investment and your required investment. Some mentors require a fee or a product purchase.
5. Put It on The Calendar: Mentorship requires a consistent and predictable format of
communication. You and your mentor need to agree to commit to meet at least twice a month and for o less than two hours per month. Bring your Meeting Notes Implementation Guide found in Work Journal’s accompanying Career Kit. If your potential candidate is too busy to meet at least twice a month they are not a good fit for accelerating your career goals. They maybe better suited for a role model or sponsor.
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