A Mentor, a Coach and a Counselor: How to Determine What Type of Support You Need to Reach Your Professional Goals
As a career coach, my role varies from cheerleader to drill sergeant. Some of my clients need encouragement while others need accountability and motivation. This week I was part of a conversation addressing the differences between a mentor, career coach and a counselor.
Each participant of the discussion at times agreed and disagreed with each other on what each of these roles represent and how helpful they are for the client. In the end we all agreed, the lines between these roles can blur very easily and it is important for people to understand their differences.
I walked away from this conversation with a deeper insight as to why evaluating your professional goals and understanding which folks can help you get there is so instrumentally important. I learned if your people and goals are out of alignment, you’ll likely never reach those big professional milestones you’re putting your all into going after.
A Mentor
According to Indeed.com, a mentor is an individual who acts as an advisor or coach for a less experienced or advanced mentee, providing expertise and professional knowledge from a more experienced perspective. At the core of the relationship, a mentor is available to their mentee to offer advice, provide support and answer questions.
As a career coach, I recommend folks have multiple mentors. Since the role of the mentor is to offer advice based on life experience in the field, having multiple mentors offering a diversity of varying perspectives is beneficial.
Particularly if you are a young professional or a student, you might be very open to industry orientation, so having mentors in different fields will open up your way of thinking and doing things more broadly then having a single mentor.
As a mentee in a mentor/mentee relationship, your primary role is to listen and learn from someone more experienced than you. Not to say your own personal thoughts, opinions and experiences don’t matter, but the purpose of mentorship is to learn from others, not from yourself. If you want to learn from yourself, you may want to look for a career coach…
A Career Coach
A career coach is an individual who acts as a guide throughout your career journey helping you understand yourself, your goals and what actions you need to take to reach your goals. As a career coach, I help clients discover what areas of industry they are drawn to, what tools and techniques they need to use in order to break into that field and the accountability and support clients need in order to successfully reach their goals.
Career coaching can be a one to one experience or group experience depending on how customized the information needs to be. As a university instructor, I teach classes of 60-100 students on basic career elements like how to write good resumes, interviewing and networking but in my one to one coaching appointments, I focus more on the individual needs of my students specifically addressing barriers and challenges preventing them from achieving career success.
As opposed to a mentor, a career coach typically does not have years of experience in the client’s particular field. I myself have a law degree and two masters in education but I coach clients and students mostly in business and technology fields.
A career coach teaches clients to look within themselves (internal) for direction and inspiration, whereas mentors teach folks what worked for them as an external example or pathway forward to achieve the same results.
A Counselor
Allpsychologyschools.com explains how counselors offer guidance to individuals, couples, families and groups who are dealing with issues that affect their mental health and well-being. Many counselors approach their work holistically, using a “wellness” model which highlights and encourages client’s strengths. So, when is counseling a more appropriate than a career coach?
Say for example you are in your mid-level career dream job, working for the most prestigious company in your field and are basically just slaying being a professional. Your colleagues trust you and often seek your guidance because they know you know what you are doing. Your boss often recommends you for additional trainings or conferences because they know you are a valued member of the team and when you do well, those around you are lifted up too.
But with all these wonderful career accolades, you are still unhappy at work. You feel disconnected from people or work and you have no motivation to excel or grow. In this case, from a career coaching perspective, you should be happy, you should be succeeding and rising through the ranks within your organization. But perhaps your unhappiness actually has nothing to do with work but a challenge at home with your family or a barrier you never addressed from a previous lifecycle stage?
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Counselors help folks work through their mental health and well-being in order to clear the way for success in other aspects of your life like your career. Sometimes changing your job, trying something new or moving somewhere different is all you need to get the mojo back in the workplace.
If you’ve tried some career oriented techniques and you still aren’t fulfilled and happy in your career, it might be worth looking at if a counselor can help you recognize challenges and barriers within yourself that are preventing your workplace happiness.
Parting Words...
As you progress through your career, the need for a mentor, career coach or counselor will change overtime to accommodate who you are and what you need in life at any given time. Finding “your people” or as some say, your “boardroom” of individuals that align with your goals ensures you are receiving the right type of direction and support for what you are trying to achieve.
Make sure you have the resources to be successful in your personal and professional lives and start building those relationships now if you don’t already have your boardroom full.
Meet The Writer!
Hi! My name is Nadia Ibrahim-Taney and I help people design happy and fulfilling careers through authentic career coaching. My expertise includes career exploration guidance, resume writing, interview prep and LinkedIn profile optimization. My pronouns are She/ Her/ Hers and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I focus on how diverse identities impact and influence folks holistically and professionally. Please connect with me on LinkedIn or at Nadia@beyonddiscoverycoaching.com
