Mentoring as a Career Development Tool

Abstract

Imagine this. You have skills, knowledge and experience, plus a pinch of wisdom, after climbing the career ladder and advising others along the way. You've discovered some tools to share with those who might well be your bosses in the next millennium.

You have been invited to attend a “Women of Substance Breakfast” and pay a fee, which sponsors a schoolgirl. Your interests lie in mentoring the talented, particularly gifted girls, and this is an opportunity not to be missed.

You reach for the telephone and make a booking. You arrive on that fateful Friday morning at 6.45 am after arriving back to Brisbane from Sydney at 9.50 pm the evening before — a regular routine! Curious and comfortable, a veteran of business breakfasts and networking functions, you take your assigned place at the table and through a non-scientific matching process, you meet your “mentee”.

Let me share the experience with you.