My mentor helped me throughout the summer by giving me projects to work on, allowing me to sit in on every meeting she had, helping me get out of the office if there was an opportunity, and personally coaching me through a tough relationship with my co-intern. She even helped me network into a position in Rockingham County during the school year.
Even now, I know I could call her with a problem and she will talk me through it until I think I am ready to approach it. Since my internship ended, she has left the firm and moved across the country. It was during one of her last days that I came into the office to interview for a full time position post-graduation. She greeted me with a hug and insisted that I come to her office after my meeting. No surprise, she wanted to know what I want for my future and what I have lined up to get there. When I told her my dream position and dream industry, she wrote down 2 contact she has at a high level in the industry and offered to make the connection if the current company didn't give me the offer I want.
So what makes her this amazing and how have I harbored this relationship?
Her qualities are what make her the perfect mentor for me. She is honest, smart, hard working, and doesn't let people's opinions affect her work or her day. The last quality mentioned is really something I need to learn from her, and think that I am on the right track in trying to. She gave me positive feedback when she thought I needed it and gave me no feedback when she thought I could improve or didn't want me to stop working so hard.
Maya Angelou said "In order to be a mentor, one must care." and I never questioned if Alyssa cared about my successes or failures.
That's really great that your assigned mentor worked out so well for you. I think one of the problems with assigned mentors is that for me, a real mentor is willing to give you career sponsorship. You can't do that if you don't really believe in someone, and getting an assigned protege can result in having someone you would not be willing to sponsor. It sounds like you and Alyssa clicked in such a way that she probably wouldn't be afraid to sponsor you. Very nice to have such a relationship at your age.
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