Do I need a Mentoring program?

Everyone does better if they have some type of mentor or mentoring program available to utilize. The description of mentor can be a varied one. A mentor can come in the guise of a school teacher, or counselor. A mentor can be someone else you know that is proficient in your particular field of study or career. A mentor can even be part of a mentoring program that is formed by colleges and universities for their students.

In fact the business world has caught on to the potential of people who have been mentored and many public and private professional organizations as well as government agencies use mentoring programs to help their people personally and professionally. Today these services can be done person to person but often as not are initiated by phone or email or even webcam. Here are a few of the mentoring programs available in different fields but available to students nationwide:

The GEM-Nursing Program: This type program is sponsored by the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Dept. of Labor and helps link high school children and college students nationwide aged 15-21 with mentors in the nursing fields. These mentors are able to meet and help their charges by email, websites and other special events. This would be a program for the child who knows they are interested in the Nursing Field for a career.

MentorNet: This is a mentoring program that is used by female college students that are studying engineering, science and mathematics. The students meet with mentors in their subject areas of interest usually over the internet by email.

Public Health Mentor Program: This is a mentoring program that tries to put about 100 students together with local professionals in the area that have the same career interest. The mentors give career advice to the students. It is sponsored by The University of Minnesota's School of Public Health and is called the Public Health Mentor Program.

Minority Access to the Professions Scholars (MAPS) Program: This is called MAPS and is sponsored by the Office of Minority Student Affairs at Middlesex County College in New Jersey and is a program that brings minority students together with people from the professional world.

Anthropology Mentor Program: The National Association for the Practice of Anthropology is a program that is offered to help advanced graduate students in the field connect with professional anthropologists.

Potential graduate students also find it useful to utilize mentoring programs that are offered through their college or university. Universities and Colleges team up with quality mentors from inside the school and outside the school to help guide the graduate student on the right path that allows them to make the right career designs that help them get the job they have been dreaming about. Most of the outside mentors that colleges and universities utilize have the ability to continue helping the student even after their graduation. It is important to realize that a mentoring program can have tremendous benefit in a school setting or a business setting for the person that uses it.