Career-Focused Mentoring in Schools: The Impact of Relationships on Students

If you gathered a group of cross-sector professionals and asked for the keys to their successes, there would almost certainly be one common thread: MENTORS who have supported and guided them along the way. Mentors show up for students in diverse settings: in communities, in clubs and on sports teams, at places of worship, at home, and, most notably, in schools and workplaces.

This January marks the 21^st annual National Mentoring Month. At MENTOR, a national organization devoted to advancing the practice of mentoring, we spend the month celebrating the power of supportive and meaningful mentoring relationships. We advocate for key legislation, raise awareness of mentorship’s various forms, and realize what’s possible when we support youth in becoming their fullest selves.

One key area of focus at MENTOR is mentorship’s vital role in preparing talent for their future careers. Studies of mentoring for high school students have found that mentors help youth apply classroom learning to real-world job settings and see the relevance of education to potential careers, while also facilitating positive first-job experiences. Some may also be surprised to discover that mentorship can play a role in future career preparation as early as middle school. American Student Assistance found that middle school students who participated in two years of career exploration activities were more likely than those who did not, to identify a mentor relevant to their future interests and plans – a key factor in giving students access to a network of opportunity for their future.

Mentorship is equally valuable for high school students preparing for careers. NAF understands this fact, using its design to integrate mentorship through advisory boards that offer students the opportunity to build relationships with mentors and learn from successful adults. Meanwhile, work-based learning allows students to engage with business professionals and complete internships in their fields of interest. As a result, 64% of NAF students who participated in work-based learning said the experience helped them broaden their professional network. Fifty-five percent of NAF students say they have the contact information of at least two adults to whom they can turn for college or career advice. Relationships like these provide students with an increased understanding of their career options and have access to connections that can yield future opportunities.

While mentoring in career-focused school programs is an essential first step, we shouldn’t stop there. Once graduates enter the workforce, mentorship helps ensure they thrive. Through mentorship, they are able to develop hard and soft skills, grow their networks, and learn from experienced professionals. MENTOR has found that 90% of young adults who had mentors in the workplace were retained in their jobs for over 90 days and that 72% of respondents felt their mentors helped them determine the next steps on their career or educational journeys. Mentorship can even benefit those who don’t participate directly. Research shows that when employers support youth mentoring, 73% of all employees report strong career satisfaction.

MENTOR is proud to provide a wide array of resources for companies seeking to implement or enhance mentoring in their workplaces and individuals who hope to become mentors or mentees. These resources include:

• Connect | Focus | Grow, a training curriculum designed to equip mentors with skills to effectively support the personal and professional growth of students, to coach supervisors on how to manage with a mentoring mindset, and to guide them towards engaging and leveraging mentoring opportunities while, at the same time, meeting their goals.
• Mentoring in the Workforce Webinars which cover a range of topics including Increasing Youth Voice in the Workplace and Sharing Social Capital.
• Becoming a Better Mentor, a free resource written by experts in the field to benefit any adult looking to support students in any setting.

The benefits of workplace mentorship are plentiful and have the potential to impact generations to come.While individuals are at the center of these mentoring relationships, employers themselves play a key role.Research has found that when an employer directly supports youth mentoring, the percentage of their employees who mentor triples in size from 25% to approximately 75%. Now more than ever, we must come together and provide the next generation of leaders with the support and guidance to enable them to thrive in school, at work, and beyond.

If you’d like to learn more about the importance of mentoring or become a mentor, please visit www.mentoring.org.

Also, check out the Mentorship page on ASH for NAF resources.