HOW ENGAGING WITH A MENTOR CAN BENEFIT YOUR CAREER

A Perfect Day of Golf and Networking at Sharp Consultancy's Annual Event Sickleholme!

Another delightful day out at Sickleholme Golf Club for Sharp Consultancy’s latest Invitational Golf event!After a little scepticism late Thursday night concerning the weather, the early sunshine on Friday was a sign of things to come, an absolute belter of a day ensued with glorious weather throughout and some fairly ‘bright’ golf too! Guests started the day with breakfast and refreshments, before sampling the spectacular views of Sickleholme's 13th whilst trying to secure one of the three prizes on offer! Those being, Nearest the pin, Longest drive and of course OVERALL WINNER. Jonathan Ward deservedly scooped the Nearest the pin award with a tee shot within 7ft of the 13th hole and Ian Robinson justified the low handicap with a beautiful drive on the 17th hole to secure the Longest Drive award – well done to you both! The OVERALL WINNER was a much more competitive affair, and it was left right until the final group had finished to declare an overall winner, with a final score of 35 points James Rutter claimed the glory and won the main prize – congratulations James! As always, a massive thank you to all of the team at Sickleholme who allowed us to host and facilitate yet another great day which we rounded off with some much-needed beers and of course the famous Sickleholme Chicken burger!! With new faces and plenty of long-standing friends of Sharp Consultancy it was great to finish the day with some wider networking and it’s great to hear so much positivity out there in the local marketplace. There truly is few better ways to enjoy a Friday, with beautiful weather, picturesque views, and a rewarding golf course to help broaden your business and professional network. We can’t wait to see you all again at our next event!Are you looking to strengthen your team with top-tier finance and accountancy professionals? At Sharp Consultancy, we excel in connecting your business with exceptional talent for temporary, interim, or permanent roles. With our well-established offices in Leeds and Sheffield, our experienced consultants are dedicated to serving businesses across Yorkshire and beyond. Don't leave your recruitment needs to chance—contact us TODAY and let's find the perfect candidates to drive your business forward.

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A career mentor can bring huge benefits and, with their help and support, make a significant contribution to enabling you to achieve your professional goals. Not only can they be a real source of inspiration, but they will also have knowledge, expertise and advice that can help you at every stage of your career.

Identifying the right individual (or individuals) to provide mentoring support is crucial; we look at what you should consider before making your all-important choice.

Firstly, you need to determine what you want to achieve from your mentoring relationship and set yourself some clear and tangible goals of where you want to be in, for example, the next year, three years and five years. A good mentor will want to work with you to achieve a clear objective and as part of the exercise you will need to understand what support you need from them – this will help you focus your search and enable you to narrow down the key criteria to best identify someone suitable to your circumstances.

Next, you need to give consideration to where you can find your potential mentor. It could a senior colleague from another department or office location or it could be someone from outside your place of work such as a former colleague or a respected industry figure. There are several options available to help you find a mentor; your company may run an internal mentoring scheme, or you may feel comfortable approaching somebody in the business direct. Education bodies, training institutions, professional membership bodies and regional and industry networking groups may also operate programmes that can put you in touch with potential members. It is essential that you spend time researching all the options available before making your approach.

Your chosen mentor must someone that you trust as this is fundamental to you being able to build a successful relationship from the outset; much of what you discuss with them could be confidential and you will also need to open up to them about your weaknesses and be honest about what is holding you back.

Your mentor should make you feel comfortable and be someone that you can build a rapport with. They are very likely to have a career you admire – not only in relation to what they have achieved but also the route they have taken to reach their level. It is important to spend some time finding out about how your potential mentor likes to work and ensure they are prepared to give honest and constructive feedback in way that you will find supportive and motivational.

Many individuals become mentors as they want to give something back but remember that they want and need to get something from the relationship as well. Successful mentoring is very much two-way so consider what you can bring and offer in return – passion, enthusiasm and a keenness to learn will all contribute to a positive and successful partnership.

Typically, mentoring relationships will focus upon career advice, guidance on professional development, encouraging creativity and innovative ways of working, support with a specific project, suggestions on how to build upon a person’s strengths and address any weaknesses as well as learning and development of new skills.

It is important to remember that your mentor is offering to provide you with valuable help and support for free so it is essential that you are committed and open to learning from their advice – even when the feedback might be negative. Go into each session well prepared and with feedback on how you have put into practice what has been discussed in previous meetings.

There’s no set time frame to how long a mentoring relationship will last; some may have several mentors over the course of their career, others may work with the same person for many years.

Our top benefits of having a mentor:

They help educate you and support you developing new skills.
They provide you with someone to talk to about your career outside of your workplace.
Their advice is free.
They offer you a different perspective.
They are there to provide you with support.

Sharp Consultancy specialises in the recruitment of temporary, interim and permanent finance and accountancy professionals. With offices in Leeds and Sheffield our highly experienced team of consultants recruit for positions throughout Yorkshire and beyond. CONTACT UStoday for expert advice on your next career move.