5 benefits of having a mentor for your procurement career
If you are looking to advance your career in procurement, you should consider getting a mentor. We explore the benefits of having a mentor and how they can help you unlock your potential.
At some point in your life, you may have needed a mentor to guide you through a certain period in your career. Whether you’ve just started in the profession or have worked in it for over a decade, having a mentor can help you become a better professional and human.
There are endless benefits to having a mentor, which can help you grow both from a personal and professional development point-of-view. A survey from Olivet Nazarene University in 2019 found that over three-quarters of people think that mentors are important, but only 37% actually have one.
If you are looking to supercharge your procurement career, then getting a mentor can help you unlock your potential.
Why have a mentor?
A mentor is a major component for having a successful career in any profession you work in. They will be able to help you at all stages of your development as a procurement professional, from starting out in the profession, all the way up to the end of your career.
The relationship between both the mentor and mentee is crucial for a successful mentoring program. As a mentee, having a mentor can allow you to stay focused on achieving your professional goals, gaining confidence and expanding your network.
Having regular feedback from your mentor can allow you to grow both professionally and personally. This allows you to take control of the direction you want to take in your procurement career.
Here are five benefits of having a mentor in your procurement career:
1. Good sounding board for discussing ideas
If you find yourself in a difficult situation in your career and unsure of how to approach it, that’s where a mentor can help. You will be able to discuss ideas with them in a safe environment so that you can decide upon the best course of action to take.
Once you’ve discussed your ideas with your mentor, they’ll be able to help refine and suggest ways that you can improve them. For example, if you have good data analysis skills, but lack ethical sourcing skills, a mentor may suggest resources for you to build your knowledge in that area.
Utilising your mentor’s past experiences and wisdom can enable you to build upon the skills you already have while also being able to deal with certain situations more effectively.
2. Help you connect and expand your network
A major benefit of having a mentor is that they can help you connect and expand your network. If you have been working in the same area of procurement for five or more years, your network will consist of the same people that you’ve met over and over again.
Connecting with a mentor allows you to get outside your comfort zone and can bring all sorts of benefits for your career as a procurement professional. It can allow you to connect with people who you’ve never met before, thus opening you up to new opportunities that you can seize upon.
3. Assist in overcoming any challenges you may face
Another benefit of having a mentor is that your mentor can help you overcome any challenges that you may face. You can be able to discuss any current and future challenges you are facing in your procurement career with them. A mentor will be able to suggest any solutions to problems and find workarounds to issues you have.
Rather than learning things through trial and error, you can tap into your mentor’s previous experiences of working in the profession. They’ll provide advice on how to avoid any problems you may encounter, whether that’s getting yourself out of a career rut or realigning your company’s supply chain.
By having a mentor who is actively helping you overcome any challenges you are facing, it’ll help take your procurement career to the next level.
4. Refine and sharpen your skill set
Procurement is an industry that’s always changing and evolving. If you find yourself lacking knowledge or essential skills that will help make your job easier, that’s where a mentor can come in and help refine and sharpen your skill set.
Your employer may not have the resources or time to be able to plug any knowledge or skills gaps that you may have. That can have a major effect on not only your business’ bottom line, but also your job performance too.
By having a mentor, they can help you stay ahead of the curve by doing workshops around a specific piece of software or skill.
It’s important that you utilise any skills you’ve gained in your job, which will help you progress in your procurement career and ensure you stand out from the crowd.
5. They will hold you accountable
If you have set yourself a roadmap of where you want to go in your career, a mentor can be helpful in holding you accountable to the goals you’ve set for yourself.
A mentor may suggest breaking your long-term goals into small goals, which will keep you focused on achieving them. If you don’t have any goals, or you have goals that are unrealistic and unachievable, then it’ll make it harder for you to achieve them.
It’s worth discussing your goals with your mentor as they will give you the motivation you need to achieve them in the timeframe that you’ve set for yourself.
When it comes to things that you can do to supercharge your career development in procurement, having a mentor can help unlock your potential. Whether you are starting out or at the end of your career, they can make you become not only a better human being, but also a more complete professional.
Procurement professionals, what experiences do you have of being mentored by someone in the profession and how they have helped you professionally? Share your experiences of how your mentor has benefited you in your career and helped you grow as a procurement professional.
Find more Career Development news, insights, and best practises at Procurious.com.
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