Building Mentorship Capability from Build-a-Bear Workshop Essay

After discussing future’s plan with Amanda, she discussed her future plans of becoming Human Resources Director in ten years. Career development and planning serves five essential purpose: encourage, develop new skills, alleviate plateauing, satisfy employment, and increase employment. My ultimate goal when developing a model a career planning for Amanda, I would want to use the Waterloo University Model. I would want to model each essential factors of the key points stages. These stages include

Criminologist James Fox of Northeastern University predicts that murders committed by teens will skyrocket as the population of kids 10 and under is higher than population of 21st century teens by 20%. (Stephens) Mentoring is the act of helping out someone that isn't as knowledgeable or experienced in different areas. The goal is to make them leaders. (Patterson)

One thing I believe is a necessity in growing up is having a mentor. Having a mentor is, not only, beneficial for the mentee but also the mentor. Being a mentor is a learning experience for everyone participating, it helps people grow as a person and friendships are created when a bond if formed. Some people might think it's a waste of time for a child or that it'll never work out for a troubled delinquent but based on the research I've done, I have proven them wrong. Through-out this paper I will provide the pros and cons of mentoring and how they affect both mentor and mentee. To back up my proposal that mentoring is supporting, I will supply examples to answer the question: Is mentoring really important?

I want to be a mentee because the Mentorship program is a fantastic way to familiarize with the school and meeting people with other background. Obviously, as an incoming freshman, I do not know much people, so the Mentorship program as a chance to break the ice and to make connections in school and among peers. Also, I am not familiar with the state of Michigan, so the program also serves as an opportunity to get accustomed with the new environment, the new climate, and the new culture. I was born and raised in Taiwan, and moved to California five years later; I realize the difference from one place to another. Michigan is a whole new place and it is imperative that I learn how to adjust and behave in an appropriate way. Through the program,

One of the overall goals of the career counseling process is for the counselor to assist the client to transition from a stage of exploration of themselves and their abilities, interests and values to that of making career decisions. By identifying this in Ruby helped me guide her throughout our sessions and formulate an action plan to overcome her obstacles and challenges at work. As a counselor I must informed Ruby of the many phrases that we may go through during the career counseling process as well as to discuss the goals of each phase. This process is called “Exploring Phase” then “Decision-Making Phase” (Andersen and Vandehey, 2006, p.179).

The issues I have decided to address are the lack of formal in group mentors and mentorship opportunities available for female students, faculty, and staff of color. The University has been intentional about recruiting students, faculty and staff of color. Despite these efforts our women of color who work as faculty or staff are the few available mentors available for students. Unfortunately, they are burdened with few professional growth opportunities while juggling work, mentorship requests, as well as providing the minority voice on committees throughout the campus. Subsequently, these women do not have in group mentors to support their growth. While some research shows, professionals who have been mentored are more likely to engage in mentoring, this does not seem hold true for women in general, it is especially untrue for women of color (Wright and Wright 1987). Increased professional expectations, distress and demands are likely the reasons for this difference. With all this, it is clear that women of color are at a significant disadvantage for finding mentors on this campus, and in most male dominated fields.

Savickas (2013) discussed the life design model to narrative career counseling, as it pertains to individuals already involved in a career. He stated that this model assists

“A mentoring program is essential to a successful business and to succeed your business for the next generation.”

A brief background overview on a few career development theories will help direct this literature review and give a foundation to current theories in career development. Career development is a complex, lifelong process that is influenced by a variety of factors. Niles and Harris-Bowlsbey (2005) defined career development as “the lifelong psychological and behavioral processes as well as contextual influences shaping one’s career over the life span” (p. 12). Although there are many career development theories, this literature review will focus on just a few. Donald Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space Career Theory highlights the “complex and multifaceted nature of career development” (Niles & Hutchinson, 2009, p. 69). Super’s theory builds upon 14 assumptions and supports three key aspects of career development: life-span, life-space, and self-concept (Niles & Hutchinson, 2009). Life-span focuses on the development over one’s life through growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and

Pivot Point is all about creating a winning career game plan. Julie Kratz is an experienced coach and business consultant. Having experienced her own "Pivot Point" mid-career, she designed her own plan and successfully launched her own coaching business. Julie wrote Pivot Point to empower mid-career high potential women to more proactively manage our careers. With more women than men graduating from college and becoming middle managers, few still make it to the C-suite or to corporate boards. The glass ceiling is still very much in effect. In a series of interviews with everyday mid-career high potential women, Julie Kratz discovered that very few women have a plan, and those with a plan have an 80% higher success rate.

When I first starting to read the chapters I never thought that there would be five theories that I could see myself using with my clients. I learned from this paper how even though my clients are coming to me for personal counseling and not necessary career counseling these theories are ones I need to know about. I am going to have clients who will have career problems and now I have tools to help them work through them. I can see myself using these theories with children as many pointed out that your career story starts from a young age.

If you are worried that you are not sure what you should do with your life, know that not knowing is okay. Many people go into College, or even into the workforce completely unaware of what they want to do in the long term. Fear comes from the unknown, and not knowing what you want to do so you can plan your future accordingly is terrifying. If you ask ten people how they started in their career, how they met their spouse, and so on, you will get ten different answers. Sometimes, things just fall into place, you live in a business owning family and find you enjoy working there, you meet the love of your life on the elevator ride to an interview, but you cannot count on fate to throw everything you want in your life your way. While it is okay not to know what to do with your future, it is not okay not to put yourself out there however you can. Try new things. Be open to learning about and working with things you never

This model requires a close relationship between client and coach for it to be successful.  A career coach is responsible for helping an individual "identify their sharpest skills, define career goals, be more productive, set strategies to earn more money, and make them more valuable to their current or next boss (Simpson & Glowiak, 2012, p. 289). Peterson and Millier (2005) stress learning and development as the main goal of career coaching. The authors encourage career coaches to implement techniques that help clients make decisions based on long-term priorities and not contemporary

The owner of the franchise, Creative Learning, is well-known for creating successful businesses all around the world and is the leader when it comes to educational franchises geared toward

Mentorship is very important in the workplace especially in the area of training and development. The mentor-protégé relationship is a much needed relationship that begins in the early career stage and this relationship involves the current or new employees and the supervisor or other colleagues that provide work-related guidance. The relationship itself is comprehensive and involves “educational, occupational, physical, social, and spiritual development” (Greenhaus,, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2010, p 211). One of the initial task of the early career the establishment of the career field which involves the gaining of the workplace competence, learn what is needed to excel in the organization, and to gain acceptance in the workplace to be recognized as the valued employee. There are many ways of achieving the above mentioned advantages in the workplace which one main method is through the use of the mentorship program.