Professional mentorships used to be the workplace norm, but today they’re hard to find, even though they matter more than ever, The New York Times reports.
The Department of Labor reports that 57% of women participate in the workforce. As workforce demographics continue to change, encouraging mentors and mentees to seek one another out might be more important than ever.
While mentoring benefits all participants, it is especially important for young women. Mentorship advances careers. A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that people with mentors are more likely to get promotions. That’s no accident. Jenni Luke, chief executive of the national teen mentorship organization StepUp, knows that those relationships can help propel young women to success.
“When I go into a room full of people and I say, ‘Raise your hand if you’ve gotten your job through somebody,’ every hand goes up,” Luke says. “Every single person on earth has social capital, and you want to use it with intentionality.”
When mid- and senior-level employees choose to mentor someone newer to the workforce, they can boost people who may not otherwise have those opportunities and help level the playing field.
Luke emphasizes that mentoring should not be paternalistic.
“It’s very much reciprocal, and there’s so much to be learned from the younger generation,” she says.
