Five ways to be a mentor

September 22, 2008

Experienced professionals can receive great satisfaction by helping college graduates and young professionals enter or advance in the workforce.  Today's competitive marketplace demands that new graduates and others come to the table with skills that set them apart from their peers, and mentors can help them develop those skills.  Here are some tips on how to be an excellent mentor from Jennifer Gushue, an adjunct professor of marketing in the Rohrer College of Business at Rowan University, Glassboro:

Listen:  Develop a personal interest in their career goals.  Find out what the graduates' goals are concerning job achievement and development.

Network:  Introduce them to people in the industry and let them spend a day with a working professional in their field of interest.

Support:  Encourage them by becoming a sounding board and providing honest feedback.  Keep redirecting them if they become distracted or post unrealistic expectations.

Coach:  Help them tailor their resume to the specific industry and develop the appropriate skill set.

Reassess:  Work as a partnership and re-evaluate their development as it relates to defined goals.


Gushue earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration/marketing and an MBA in business/marketing from Rowan University. Rowan's Rohrer College of Business holds accreditation by AACSB International, offers an MBA degree (on-campus and on-line) with specializations in accounting, entrepreneurship, finance and management and undergraduate business majors in accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, human resources, management, marketing and management information systems.   Visit  http://www.rowan.edu/colleges/business/ for more information.