Trying to Navigate Your Career? What to pack for the journey
By: Jennifer Byrne
Tags: Mentorship, Career Change, Career Advice, Career Development, Mentoring

Time flies. It doesn’t always feel that way, but how often have you looked back across your professional life and wondered where it all went? For most of us, it doesn’t take that many years until we arrive at a “how did I get here?” moment in our careers.

You might have been busy building your network and hunting for new opportunities, all the while trying to succeed in your actual job. Doing both is a lot like the analogy of building the plane and flying the plane at the same time. You end up consumed in the demands that each day brings, with little time to look up toward the horizon.

Or, you might have been busy just keeping up with the job you have. That could be great if you have the kind of job that will stay the same for the entirety of your career. There are plenty of fields like this. However for the many among us who are not engaged in a life-long pursuit, the act of keeping your head above water doing the same job for a long time can sometimes feel more like sinking than swimming.

Wherever you find yourself, one thing is certain. Nobody is better positioned to take charge of the future of your career more than you. Unfortunately it can be deceptively difficult to navigate a career. What we think we want to do over the course of our lives changes all the time. Mostly because we change, and if you don’t believe that then just look at your high school yearbook.

The world is also changing at an ever-increasing pace which means change can be a double whammy. Against this backdrop, charting a career path can be a daunting undertaking. How do you know what you want to do in the future when the future isn’t here? 85% of jobs in 2030 haven’t even been invented yet. Not to mention that in today’s tech-infused world, many traditional career ladders have been toppled over. Most careers no longer follow a straight line, where moving in the same direction (up that ladder) will get you closer to wherever it is you’ve decided you want to go. The very nature of jobs, and the industries that support them are undergoing seismic shifts. As those shifts happen, we find ourselves constantly re-assessing our career aspirations. We are all, to some extent or another, charting our own paths through the jungle.

As you chart your own career journey, your success lies largely on the navigational tools you use along the way. There are many to choose from, so the choices you make are important. You want tools that are readily available but don’t weigh you down. You also want tools that meet specific needs and can be traded in as your needs change.

One of the most versatile navigational tools you can use is mentorship. Advice from others has long been one of the most valuable directional aids for career builders at all stages. However not all mentorship is created equal, which is why it sometimes receives a lukewarm response. By virtue of how it is both offered and delivered, it can fall short of expectations. On the other hand, mentorship done well can create important inflection points in careers. It can shine a light on otherwise elusive insights, and guide people toward good decisions.

To get great mentorship you don’t need to go out and find that mythical version of a mentor who will guide you through all of the most important transitions in your career. In fact when asked, most successful people haven’t had a formal mentor in the traditional sense of the word. What they have had is what we call “Modern Mentorship”.

Modern mentorship is:

Network driven: One person doesn’t have all the answers, especially considering the dynamic and often multi-industry and multi-role careers most of us are now leading. You need multiple, diverse sources who can give you specific feedback exactly when you need it most. Someone who just experienced the same scenario or has the job you want. Using a network instead of a single person means that your career success won’t be tied up in finding one mentor who can guide you through your entire career. Instead you can tap into people’s perspectives as career topics arise. Mentorship networks work because they operate like an ecosystem where each individual has something they need, and something they can offer.

Rooted in real-world, up-to-date experience: While most of us would love to have a coffee chat with Michelle Obama, she probably isn’t the best person to help you advocate for your next promotion at work. The most actionable advice comes from people who have first-hand and recent experience with the career topic you’re navigating. This removes the seniority requirement that exists in traditional mentorship and broadens your options for who you can go to for advice. Professionals that are younger, older, or at your peer level can all fit your modern mentorship needs. As Beth Davies, former Director of Learning & Development at Tesla and now host of the Career Curves podcast says, “What got me here won’t get you here.”

Topic-based: There’s a paralyzing amount of information that exists in today’s world and thousands of different paths you could take. When you’re driving at night, you don’t need the entire sky lit up to get to where you’re trying to go. You just need your high beams to illuminate the road in front of you. The same applies with Modern Mentorship. Focus on the next career question you’re looking to answer and what advice will be most actionable to move you forward. This means breaking down your goals into specific questions and then finding people who have navigated those questions before.

On-demand: Because the nature of when and why we need career advice has changed, how we consume that career advice also needs to be modernized . On-demand and easily accessible mentorship is critical for addressing the two biggest changes to our career advice needs. First, we’re navigating a higher frequency of career changes meaning we need more advice, more frequently. Second, career needs are much more unpredictable than before. When you do the same thing for 30 years, you can anticipate the kind of help that you need and when you’ll need it. Today, career growth is a moving target. You can’t forecast when you’ll need advice or on what topic. Modern mentorship is accessible on-demand and flexible to reflect and adapt with our changing career context.

Sourced internally and externally: With no career ladder to climb, there often isn’t a clear final destination. Instead, we’re in a constant state of “searching”. We change and the world changes so we’re constantly searching for the sweet spot where career (and life) priorities align to an external opportunity. Finding, and then assessing, external opportunities requires research. Being mindful of your priorities are requires reflection. Self-reflection is a critical part of Modern Mentorship.

How do you incorporate all of this into your own career?

The first thing to do is assess where you are right now. How have you been thinking about your career? If you’ve seen it as a singular path toward a known destination, does that view still align to your goals and current vision of yourself? Or have you been in explorer mode without a clear view of your destination? Any answer is OK. It is also OK for that answer to change as you change. The trick to this kind of navigation is mastering the balance between always keeping your eye on the horizon and at the same time, allowing yourself the option to change direction. This takes a beginner’s mindset that is discerning but not too self-critical. With as little judgment as possible, take note of where you are right now. To get anywhere, you have to understand your starting point.

Once you’ve taken that long view of your journey, don’t let it overwhelm you. You don’t need to create step-by-step instructions for every segment of your journey. Just like driving at night, you only ever need to see the next one hundred yards in front of you. A career is not one big monolithic thing, it is actually thousands of small decisions and actions. The long view of the journey should become your sense of direction, but you only need to worry about the segment that is in front of you right now. Decide what that segment requires and what you’ll need in order to traverse it. The things you’ll need will become the specific topics for mentorship. They could include tools to measure two wildly different job options. Or a way to measure the value of getting a certification. Perhaps you need advice on how to nail an interview, complete a project or manage a new team dynamic. Each of these decisions is a small step in your journey that leads to the next and the next.

Use these specific topics to inform your search for mentors. They will allow you to narrow your search to people who have the specific attributes you need right now. You don’t need to find the all-time best mentor. You just need the mentor who is best for you right now. These topics will also help keep your requests clear. Mentors give generously when they understand what will be required of them and can see how their efforts can provide a positive impact.

You can look for mentors organically, through your existing network. You can also find mentors through a growing number of platform capabilities. If you work at a medium or large sized company, your HR team might offer a mentor search option. Business-focused platforms like LinkedIn continue to be used to find new mentors and newer platforms such as The Lighthouse that focus exclusively on providing modern mentorship. Regardless of your approach, ask specific questions and make it clear that you are not looking for a life-long commitment. You really only need a few minutes of anyone’s time.

Finally, keep in mind that the work of building a meaningful career is some of the most important work that you will ever do. It is the process of connecting who you are with what you do for the world. It is a life-long journey that while solo in many respects, can include as many mentors as you choose to bring on board. Good luck, and safe travels.

Jennifer Byrne is a tech industry veteran and former CTO of Microsoft US who now works with startup founders trying to make a difference in the Future of Work.

Courtney Brand is the Founder and CEO of The Lighthouse, a career navigation platform empowering professionals and their companies to navigate the fast-changing world of work.