Question

a.) What are the benefits of aligning with a professional mentor?

b.) After conducting research about mentors, what are the most important criteria that you will use in selecting a mentor?

c.) Who will you select as your professional mentor?

Answer 1

a) The various benefits of aligning oneself with a professional mentor are:

• Personal development will be empowered by the mentor
• The experience of the mentor will help one in working in the right direction
• Career goals and objectives can be strategically planned
• Skills and competencies can be strategically developed
• Mentor helps in giving a wider industrial insight to the mentee, thus making him a good professional

b) In my views, the most important criteria for selecting a mentor is approachability, availability and listening skills. The mentor must be available for solving the issues faced by the mentee. He must be approachable so that the mentee can easily open up in front of him. Moreover he must have good listening skills. This would facilitate the mentee to freely share all his inhibitions with the mentor and the mentor can develop a strategic plan to solve all such inhibitions and facilitate an overall development of the mentee.

c) I would select my mother as my professional mentor. She is a Researcher in Biotechnology. She has been a role model in our lives. The way she balances her professional and personal life is impeccable. Moreover, she understands me in-out and so she gives the best advice for my career development. Also as she is my mother, she gives me feedback without any kind of hesitation or inhibition and encourages me to work on them. I have full confidence that my mother would be able to groom me effectively for becoming a professional.