Mentoring 101: Advice if your looking to break into a new field (with little or no experience)
Given the current turmoil in the job market, I wanted to make sure that the advice I had been sharing was enough. I reached out to my connections and found it matched my findings but more importantly wanted to memorialize it here. A lot of the advice I share in my articles (The Connector’s Advantage, Giving, and Learning) was validated by my LinkedIn family who chimed in with their support and advice. I’ve grouped them all here and welcome any additional advice, sites, or free services that folks can leverage to upskill or reskill into a new career.
Added Map to highlight all the great programs below, enjoy!
List of services available to help you at any stage in your career:
- Tech Impact: Post High School/No College Degree – IT Support, Customer Service and Programming training (NPO)
- Genesys Works: We provide pathways to career success for high school students
- NPower: creates pathways to economic prosperity by launching digital careers for military veterans and young adults from underserved communities.
- Tech Impact’s PunchCode: Learn To Code and Develop a New Career
- Tech Elevator: Learn to Code – Control Your Future
- Zip Code Wilmington: Learn to code from the pros at our nonprofit software development bootcamp.
- Upkey: In or College Bound career development
- Avenica: Post-college career advancement via Pathways program
- Society for Information Management (SIM): CIO/CTO and direct reports
- Cafécito with Mel: Free career, LinkedIn, and resume mentoring
- Ultimate Guide to Learning: Courses, Tools, Certifications, and Other Resources
- Catch a Fire: Virtual volunteer projects that fit your schedule
- Volunteer Match: Matches inspired people with inspiring causes
- Volunteer New York
So use your time wisely, go out and volunteer, learn, read, take online course, and make sure you’re advancing your agenda to make the changes you need in your career and life!
Thinking Outside the Box
- Never look past industries you haven’t explored before. The “sexy” companies don’t always pan out for your specific needs and wants. – Lauren Olson
- 1) Be patient…develop your mindset to believe you aren’t behind and know that 22 – 30 your first 5-7 years is still learning about yourself (super important) and your craft, it’s a learning phase for most of us, but so many young people want it to be a, I already made it phase. 2) be willing to work for free, DM influencers, or people that are in positions you want to be in on Instagram or LinkedIn and offer your sweat equity to get in the door! Lots of them! Gary Vee special right there! 3) Find a mentor that can connect you and teach you. 3) Don’t search for any job but search for companies/opportunities that are aligned with your values. You’re worth it! This is good practice for later in your career as well!” – Lamarr Womble
- Not sure what sector of marketing you may be looking at, but there are pro bono projects that can be a great experience boost. https://www.catchafire.org/ – Tracey Mulveny
- Listen actively and do not be discouraged. A positive attitude and open mind will help you get started and progress in your chosen career. – Steve Butler
Learning:
- Learn everything you can, say yes, and do the hard work for your entire twenties. I promise it will pay off once you’re in your thirties. Also, throw away your tv, read more, and don’t hit up the bars. – Greg Hansen
- Spend time on Linkedin and learn :))) – Yevgeny Smolyansky
- Be humble, even if you’re awesome. Spend more time listening than talking – Two ears, one mouth Take Notes Follow-Up – Jason Cole
- Build skills, put your hand up, take responsibility. Meet your customers, reach out to them, understand them, solve their problems. – David O’Malley
Get Experience (paid or not)
- Internships! They are a great way to build experience and your resume. After I graduated a did a free internship at a marketing agency and then got hired on full time. – Michele Tomlinson
- Take some courses in the areas you are interested in and be able to talk about your knowledge when asked. I agree with volunteering to take on a project for little or no pay just to get real-world experience. – Beverly Lieberman
- Volunteer. Everyone needs help – Peter Weingard
- Learn anything from anywhere then apply it at work. Nothing beats hands-on experience. Never be afraid of change. – Lina Walton
- Take whatever opportunity you can get your hands on (paid or not) and use it to build a portfolio of examples you can build off of for future opportunities. Get involved with your own side projects, other people’s side projects, and networking groups that focus on your area of interest. meet people, learn, listen, be humble. Take certification classes from real institutions and think of all assignments as an opportunity for a portfolio piece… showing your work and learning to tell a great story is how you can make an impression over others who are not as good as presenting themselves even if they have years more experience. “Be Like Water” – David Tyler
Connections:
- Family connections? My dad got me my first job in IT when I was 20. All my jobs before that were manual labor. And I was studying environmental science in college 😬 – Justin Loeber
Thanks again to my colleagues and friends that contribute to helping. Please do share your suggestions and let’s see how we can help during these trying times.
#jobseekers #advice #careeradvise #learningmindset #mentoring #coaching