Remember the torment of being the new kid in class?
Whether you bounced between schools mid-year or simply moved up in the ranks through your district, you probably recall spending those first days wandering the halls looking for the bathroom or trying to sneak out of the wrong classroom without invoking too many snickers.
Thankfully, being the new kid didn’t last forever. Eventually you learned where the bathroom was, usually with the help of another kid or teacher willing to take pity on you.
Imagine, however, if those teachers and kids weren’t available, and you were expected to know and understand all the rules – from social to classroom – immediately.
Most young adults entering the workforce for the first time are required to do just that. It is no wonder, then, that many of us quit our first position soon after securing it and continue to bounce around, seeking a company where we fit.
Certainly, we have a tendency to move from job to job because we are searching for a career path. However, I believe some of us would be more apt to stick with a job if we weren’t left to fend completely for ourselves – if we were assigned a mentor to show us the ropes.
My first job out of college was a two- year fellowship at a financial education non-profit. Four fellows – all recent college graduates – were employed at a time, and all were assigned mentors. This mentorship program had both its triumphs and its failures. However, all in all, the program provided my colleagues and me with an anchor during a time, both professionally and personally, that was thrilling at best, tumultuous at worst.
Employers looking to secure young workers should consider investing in a mentorship program, both for the benefit of the newly employed twentysomethings and the company as a whole.
From a new employee’s first day forward, a mentor provides an outlet for those frequent, sometimes “stupid” questions that plague a young worker. The school environment is vastly different from the work environment – and, unfortunately, no one provides twentysomethings with a handbook decoding work lingo or explaining how to cope with “Error 7” on the postage machine.
Having a mentor makes it OK to pose these questions and can help an uneasy twentysomething feel more comfortable right away.
Mentors also can assist twentysomethings directly with their work. Dropping a completed project on the desk of the CEO for the first time is daunting. A mentor can provide a twentysomething with a buffer between works in progress and completed projects, helping the protégé develop his or her skills and improving the quality of work in the process.
Similarly, a mentor can provide support when a project is evaluated and the results are disheartening. In college, compliments flow freely. When I graduated, I thought I was fairly talented – a standout student. After I landed my first job and didn’t receive compliments nearly as often, I started to think this might not be true. Twentysomethings entering the workforce can feel deflated by an environment that seems harsh compared with that of undergraduate life. I believe this feeling of failure leads some young workers to seek other jobs.
While a mentor can’t change the workplace, at least he or she can soften the blows and persuade a discouraged twentysomething to stick it out.
Finally, and perhaps most important, mentors provide personal support. While often celebrated as the greatest time in one’s life, the 20s are wrought with struggles. As I grappled with what career path to follow, I spoke to my mentor often. She provided me with her advice but also a friendly ear.
Assigning a mentor to a green employee will not guarantee that the time and money invested in him or her will be repaid. At my previous work, all fellows left, whether they wanted to or not, after their two-year stint. Had we not been required to leave, would our mentors have influenced us to stay? I’m not sure. I do know that, with the support of our mentors, we all were considerably less lost and confused, the quality of our work improved significantly over time and most of us left more confident employees, better prepared for our next job.
Amanda Cherry lives in Boulder. As a woman in her mid-20s, she is striving to define herself, her career and her place in the world.
