Many students and people in their early careers need to learn how to think and act about careers. To them, learning this understanding can be an “elephant in the room” holding them back from achieving their goals – and personal happiness. Mentoring is one way to help these people get their lives on track. This tool is especially used in educational settings. However, mentoring is harder than it first appears. To help mentee-mentor relationships get moving, Rolfe provides a helpful set of tools to focus conversations towards getting the most out of a career… and out of life.
Rolfe’s book is divided into two sections. The first is a framework to understand the act of mentoring. To be frank, this content is not particularly earth-shattering, especially to readers who have been around mentoring relationships for a while. Of course, such a theoretical framework is necessary so that mentors won’t skip important aspects of mentoring. It definitely discusses important issues; it just doesn’t break any new ground for me.
However, the second half of the book directly helps more. It contains some guides to structure mentoring relationships in the right way (e.g., a mentoring agreement, a mentoring code, quick tips). It also contains 46 different tools that can facilitate the mentee’s progress. These tools span everything from helping mentees get organized about what they want out of life to how to make actionable career moves towards specific goals. Most tools consist of tables or questions for conversational discussion.
I work with mentoring relationships in the United States and am familiar with some American scientific literature on the topic. Thus, I found Rolfe’s Australian perspective interesting and enlightening. Many Americans tend to have a work-obsessed mindset, but Rolfe appears more at-ease with the idea that many workers have a life outside of work. Her examples often cite the Australian public, not the America’s, and this contrast sparks my curiosity about how I can learn more about my American context.
As the title suggests, this book is focused towards a specific audience: mentors of those in early career development. That’s not exactly a huge audience at first glance. However, the practice of mentoring has a potential that’s underutilized currently. Outside of formal educational systems, deliberate career development can help employee retention in business settings. Employees who are growing tend to stay at their jobs longer, and these tools focus on promoting that growth. This book provides some specific helps to making that goal achievable for businesses.
The Mentor’s Toolkit for Career Conversations: A Comprehensive Guide to Leading Conversations About Career Planning
By Ann Rolfe
Copyright (c) 2021
Mentoring Works
ISBN13 9780980356472
Page Count: 194
Genre: Mentoring, Career Development
www.amazon.com