How to Climb the Corporate Ladder with Career Mentorship

Trying to climb the corporate ladder can be a lonely pursuit, especially if you don’t have a personal network within your field/industry. The reality is that the what-you-know versus who-you-know dynamic is a large culprit in holding back many a professional who would otherwise excel in a higher position.

At Career Navig8r, we’re dedicated to changing this and helping to build a healthier career space where anyone can find their way to success through their own merit with the help of an experienced Mentor.

But how can a Mentor help you to push beyond that bottom rung and find your way to the job role you’ve always dreamed of? In this article, we’ll be taking you through all the benefits a Mentor can bring when it comes to climbing the career ladder and how you can take advantage of their experience to boost your development.

Setting Clear Career Goals

The key to any major achievement is to have clear, well-defined goals but setting those career goals can be challenging. What you need most of all is someone who can tell you which tasks to spend your time on and which tasks not to. Who better to do that than someone who has already achieved the job role you’re trying to get to?

An experienced Mentor is perfectly positioned to help you lay out a roadmap where your work will be rewarded and the time that you invest will ultimately lead to success!

Taking Valuable Guidance

Brilliance doesn’t happen in a vacuum and the people who really excel at what they do are almost always those who learn how to take their Mentor’s advice on board in order to further grow their skillset. A Mentor can look at your approach, judge your strengths and weaknesses, and provide real, valuable guidance showing you how you can improve and become the best version of yourself.

Bear in mind, they’ve been where you are. They’ve faced all the same challenges you have and ultimately found ways to overcome them. While those methods might not perfectly translate one-to-one they’re nonetheless an excellent starting place for you to work through your own challenges and become a master of what you do.

Developing A Network

As we mentioned previously, the unfortunate truth about climbing the career ladder is that it doesn’t happen unless the people above you know who you are and the best way to get your name out there is by building a network at every level. That means connecting with your peers but it also means taking advantage of every contact your Mentor can provide.

Working with your Mentor, they’ll be able to put you in touch with potential employers, and direct you towards opportunities that will let you showcase your skills in front of others. Furthermore, they’ll be able to help you develop your own networking skills so that, in time, you’ll be building up your own list of professional contacts.

Sharing Your Success

We mentioned before that climbing that ladder can feel lonely, but it doesn’t have to. When you work with a Mentor, you’ll have someone else there to be invested in your goals and your triumphs – someone to celebrate with when things go well and to regroup with should things not go quite according to plan.

Your Mentor will have a lot to teach you but the best thing about mentorship is that they’re as much your ally as they are your teacher. By building a close professional bond with your Mentor, you’ll be able to work with someone who knows you and who’ll help you work towards your dreams by showing you how to play to your strengths and grow past any weaknesses you might have.

Learning To Be A Mentor Yourself

Here at Career Navig8r, we’re real proponents of the notion that the best way to learn is through teaching and that’s why we encourage anyone looking to climb the career ladder to also consider mentoring those below them. Through mentoring, you’ll not only revisit the fundamentals that got you to where you are but you’ll have the chance to reappraise those foundational ideas through the lens of your experience.

Furthermore you’ll develop a closer understanding of what it’s like to work with those less experienced than yourself, helping you to identify places where your own work could be improved.

Whether you’re looking for a Mentor to help you reach that next rung on the ladder or else you’d like to try your hand at mentoring yourself, here at Career Navig8r we’d love to have you. Sign up to be a Mentor, a Mentee, or even both with Career Navig8r and you can help us in our goal to put knowledge, passion, and dedication first.