Excellent new NMRC report reviews mentoring around career interests.

Stelter, R., Melton, T., & Stewart, K. (2021). Mentoring for Enhancing Career Interests & Exploration. National Mentoring Resource Center. https://nationalmentoringresourcecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/NMRC-Career-Interests-and-Exploration-Review-website.pdf?inf_contact_key=da0209fe120e8b57a0a54dacc144bea5

Summarized by Ariel Ervin

  • There’s a lack of awareness of the range of career options for youths and adolescents. There’s also limited research that explores the long-term effects of mentoring interventions on youths’ career interests and exploration (CIE).
  • Mentorships have the potential to promote youths’ interests in their CIE. Mentoring interventions focused on promoting CIE have shown some success.
  • This review assesses how mentoring affects adolescents’ CIE.
  • Matching mentees with mentors of the same sex can boost engagement, particularly for girls interested in working in a traditional male-dominated setting.
  • While mentoring can help middle schoolers develop CIE-related skills and knowledge, it can simultaneously support older youth in making career-related decisions.
  • Finding CIE mentoring matches for young people who don’t have role models or support from home can expand the imaginations of their futures. Providing them with additional career and academic resources is recommended.
  • While self-efficacy and perception of the future self appear to play an important role in mentoring effect on CIE, it’s also essential to enhance social connections and bridge social barriers.
  • Mentoring models, such as group mentoring and e-mentoring can help improve CIE outcomes in youth.
  • Targeted interventions need to account for their participants’ needs and strengths.

To access the resource, please click here.