{"id":400,"date":"2022-12-14T16:02:13","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T16:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/?p=400"},"modified":"2024-12-05T09:12:12","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T09:12:12","slug":"why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Why mentoring works in Information Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Full disclosure: <\/strong>We\u2019re going to be borrowing heavily from a mentoring study carried out by Sun Microsystems. You\u2019ve heard of them if you\u2019ve anything to do with IT.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why THIS study in particular?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because it\u2019s HUGE. Lots of businesses will offer up the results of their mentoring programmes and point to tangible positive outcomes. But it\u2019s only across 100 or so employees & managers over a year.
The Sun Microsystems study, however, covers 13 years. Yes, you read that right thirteen years<\/strong>.
Not just is it across a fairly significant time frame. It also covers – are you ready? – over 7,000 employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it\u2019s a substantial sample size, across a substantial time period. For a VERY well-known business.
We\u2019re also not just talking about employees and managers here. Very high-level executives and director-level staff were involved (more than once) in the mentoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What were the headlines?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re only here for the juicy stuff really. So here you go \ud83d\ude0a

Salary Increases:<\/span>

Mentees involved – 25% experienced a salary increase within 2 years of being mentored
Mentors involved – 28% experienced a salary increase within 2 years of mentoring
Not involved – just 5% of people not involved in the mentoring programme saw a salary increase.

That\u2019s a pretty telling argument, on salary alone, for getting involved in mentoring whether that\u2019s as a mentor or as a mentee. Don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about if my goal isn\u2019t to get more money, but to achieve a promotion?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Promotion rates:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mentees involved were 5 times more likely to be promoted than those who weren\u2019t
Mentors involved were 6 times more likely to be promoted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re not necessarily looking for more money but are focused on navig8ing the career ladder. Again there is a very compelling argument for mentorship.
Let\u2019s be honest, you\u2019re also likely going to get that pay rise – whether you are aiming for it or not – if you\u2019re getting promoted. Any you are 5 or 6 times more likely to be promoted remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if I\u2019m the manager and I just want to keep good people?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d give up now if I were you. There are no flaws in this argument, but ok, let\u2019s keep going.

<\/strong>Retention rates:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t mind – we\u2019re just going to switch up the format quickly. Mainly to stop you from getting bored as this is all very dull and factual<\/em> \ud83d\ude0a
So, you want to \u2018keep your best people’? Get them involved in mentoring:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, information based on the Sun Microsystems report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Average retention rates at Sun Microsystems for people not involved in mentoring = 49%<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mentors involved = 69% retention rate
Mentees involved = 72% retention rate
The graphs just keep going up  – don\u2019t they \ud83d\udc46<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick recap then. Based on the, frankly, massive Sun Microsystems study – people involved in both<\/strong> sides of a mentoring relationship are likely to:

– Earn more money
– Get promoted more often
– Stay in their job for longer than those not involved

Mentoring seems to work across all of the key metrics; whether you\u2019re involved as a mentee
OR as a mentor.
Whether you\u2019re an employee looking to improve your own career. Or whether you\u2019re a manager looking to improve your promotion prospects. Or the business owner looking to keep hold of your best staff.
Lest we forget – keeping hold of your best staff saves you thousands of pounds (and days) in advertising, hiring, training and retaining staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, but WHY does it work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you invest in people, you show you value them. When people invest in themselves, they show a desirable level of commitment and desire for self-improvement.
People love value, and being valued.
If you\u2019re an employer and you see people investing in themselves, you like that. It shows they want to be better and do better. The main beneficiary of that is you. The employer.
If you\u2019re an employee and your company invests in you, you want to do better for them because they\u2019ve shown they value you. You also know that your career prospects are better.

Mentoring increases loyalty (as shown by the retention rates above). Loyal staff are happier staff. Happier staff are more productive. More productivity is never<\/strong> a bad thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For any business.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion then. Mentoring works?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yes – mentoring does work. And, we can say with some certainty that it works in IT, as that\u2019s the field Sun Microsystems are in (but you already knew that).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re working in IT – firstly, you have a huge amount of opportunities before you. It\u2019s such a broad and far-ranging industry that there is \u2018almost\u2019 anywhere you can take your career.
If your peers are investing in mentoring and you\u2019re not – you risk being left behind
If your peers aren\u2019t investing in mentoring and you are <\/strong>– you\u2019re ahead of the pack and giving yourself a higher chance of more money – more promotions <\/strong>and more chance of finding your ideal job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compelling arguments aren\u2019t they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added strength to the argument<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look outside of the Sun Microsystems mentoring study for a few more juicy tidbits.
<\/strong>In case you\u2019re not familiar with the Fortune 500 list of companies – It is a list of the top 500 companies in the United States. Ranked by revenue. These are companies that know what they are doing, and have been successfully doing it.
We are talking about companies the size of Amazon, Apple, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor Company & IBM.
Big companies across lots of different sectors. And what percentage have mentoring programmes?
84%. 84% of fortune 500 companies run a mentoring programme.

<\/strong>What about the up-and-coming companies – where a lot of IT and technology opportunities will be?
We should look at the Fortune 50. This list shows the 50 global<\/strong> companies that show the best prospects for continued (and sustainable) growth. So these companies have been tipped to be successful over a sustained period of time and with very sustainable growth patterns.
What number do you think?  (go high, there\u2019s probably a reason we\u2019ve mentioned them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

100%. <\/strong>All of the Fortune 50 companies run a mentoring programme for their employees.

Every single last one. These are the companies destined for success and every last one of them has a mentoring programme.
Mentoring works. Most of the largest companies in the world think so – and are actively doing it.
All of the top 50 companies forecasted for sustainable growth think so.
Isn\u2019t it time you thought so too?

IT is becoming more and more important in the ever-increasing online-ness of today\u2019s world.

Maybe it\u2019s time to invest in your own future!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you currently work in IT and want to get yourself on the mentoring ladder – but your company doesn\u2019t offer a formal mentoring programme, just pop along to the page we\u2019re about to link to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pop in your email address and we\u2019ll let you know as soon as the site is ready
(won\u2019t be long, just after Christmas maybe)
And you can start investing in yourself with Career Navig8r

Yes. Start my mentoring journey!\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Full disclosure: We\u2019re going to be borrowing heavily from a mentoring study carried out by Sun Microsystems. You\u2019ve heard of them if you\u2019ve anything to do with IT. Why THIS study in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,12,1,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-job-search-tips","category-mentor-tips","category-mentoring-101","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy does IT Mentoring Work | Career Navig8r<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Work in IT? Thinking of becoming a mentor? Or looking for a mentor? Perhaps you haven't thought about it. Find out why mentoring in IT works!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why does IT Mentoring Work | Career Navig8r\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Work in IT? Thinking of becoming a mentor? Or looking for a mentor? Perhaps you haven't thought about it. Find out why mentoring in IT works!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Career Navig8r\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/careernavig8r\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-14T16:02:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-05T09:12:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Why-mentoring-works-in-IT-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1180\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"415\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Career Navig8r\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@careernavig8r\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@careernavig8r\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Career Navig8r\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Career Navig8r\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/714cdf7d03d168e413c004bc93867caa\"},\"headline\":\"Why mentoring works in Information Technology\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-14T16:02:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-05T09:12:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/\"},\"wordCount\":1205,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Job Search Tips\",\"Mentor Tips\",\"Mentoring 101\",\"Professional Development\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/\",\"name\":\"Why does IT Mentoring Work | Career Navig8r\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-14T16:02:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-05T09:12:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Work in IT? Thinking of becoming a mentor? Or looking for a mentor? Perhaps you haven't thought about it. Find out why mentoring in IT works!\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Career Navig8r\",\"description\":\"Resources for Mentors and Mentees\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Career Navig8r\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Logo.svg\",\"width\":110,\"height\":50,\"caption\":\"Career Navig8r\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/careernavig8r\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/careernavig8r\",\"https:\/\/linkedin.com\/company\/career-navig8r\",\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/careernavig8r\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/714cdf7d03d168e413c004bc93867caa\",\"name\":\"Career Navig8r\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f86c1060809fea8673469c04d554afd7b4391c5bba63a62b20f0cc2a934f87e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f86c1060809fea8673469c04d554afd7b4391c5bba63a62b20f0cc2a934f87e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Career Navig8r\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why does IT Mentoring Work | Career Navig8r","description":"Work in IT? Thinking of becoming a mentor? Or looking for a mentor? Perhaps you haven't thought about it. Find out why mentoring in IT works!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why does IT Mentoring Work | Career Navig8r","og_description":"Work in IT? Thinking of becoming a mentor? Or looking for a mentor? Perhaps you haven't thought about it. Find out why mentoring in IT works!","og_url":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/","og_site_name":"Career Navig8r","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/careernavig8r","article_published_time":"2022-12-14T16:02:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-05T09:12:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1180,"height":415,"url":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Why-mentoring-works-in-IT-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Career Navig8r","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@careernavig8r","twitter_site":"@careernavig8r","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Career Navig8r","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/"},"author":{"name":"Career Navig8r","@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/714cdf7d03d168e413c004bc93867caa"},"headline":"Why mentoring works in Information Technology","datePublished":"2022-12-14T16:02:13+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-05T09:12:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/"},"wordCount":1205,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Job Search Tips","Mentor Tips","Mentoring 101","Professional Development"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/","url":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/","name":"Why does IT Mentoring Work | Career Navig8r","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-12-14T16:02:13+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-05T09:12:12+00:00","description":"Work in IT? Thinking of becoming a mentor? Or looking for a mentor? Perhaps you haven't thought about it. Find out why mentoring in IT works!","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/why-mentoring-works-in-information-technology\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/","name":"Career Navig8r","description":"Resources for Mentors and Mentees","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Career Navig8r","url":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Logo.svg","width":110,"height":50,"caption":"Career Navig8r"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/careernavig8r","https:\/\/twitter.com\/careernavig8r","https:\/\/linkedin.com\/company\/career-navig8r","https:\/\/instagram.com\/careernavig8r"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/714cdf7d03d168e413c004bc93867caa","name":"Career Navig8r","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f86c1060809fea8673469c04d554afd7b4391c5bba63a62b20f0cc2a934f87e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f86c1060809fea8673469c04d554afd7b4391c5bba63a62b20f0cc2a934f87e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Career Navig8r"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1079,"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/1079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/careernavig8r.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}