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Ian Olmedo

English 1302-208

Dr. Kevin Lindberg

29 Feb. 2024

Work Experience V. School Research Analysis

With hopes of starting my own business the best way to learn is from other people's

experience and knowledge that is available to me. What would be more effective to reach a goal

to reach my dream job. Would working in a field and finding a mentor for guidance or going to

school and being taught about a career that is obtainable enabling me to maybe even skip a

couple steps to reach the top.

Starting with information on mentors. I have a mentor in school who I meet with once a

week. Entrepreneurs have mentors who can help them obtain their goals. My first article

“Benefits of Mentoring for Young People” by the US Government states the benefits of having

any kind of mentor. A mentor to look up to can reduce stress, build a positive mindset, and help

create relationships with people who are around. This article mentions how mentoring the youth

is a step that must be taken to ensure and further excel the growth of not only our community but

the society around us. Having a positive figure in life will lead to better decision making, such as

staying away from alcohol, drugs, and other substances that can be abused and addictive. To

paraphrase part of the article that mentions, a mentee to take positive steps forward with the

support of a mentor can lead to decreased violence and an increase of self-esteem. Mentors will

recognize positive growth and achievements allowing for the mentee to feel appreciated and a

sense of success. This creates an increase in likelihood that the mentee will pursue higher

education due to the feeling of accomplishing little steps towards their dream. The US
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Government also states from research that mentors can help with stressful situations that the

mentee will go through. The mentee will have someone to communicate to and express emotions

as to how they are to deal with a certain situation. The mentor, who has once been in the same

shoes can properly guide the mentee out of a situation with the resources to contain and

overcome a situation. This leads to my next resource that also speaks about how mentors provide

guidance throughout the success process.

Having someone who can tell a mentee about their experience will put a mentee at ease

knowing that a problem can only happen to them. From Brendan Smith’s article, “The lifelong

benefits of mentoring,” “A peer mentor is just a few steps ahead of you, so they have a good idea

of where the potholes and land mines are.” Not only can a mentor help the mentee during the

situation; but they can also prepare the mentee for a situation that is likely to come up. Claims

like this are not only supported by Smith’s and Governmental articles, but by the rest of my

articles. Being an entrepreneur does not come easy. The struggle to complete a success story can

be difficult and long; therefore, having someone to relate to can alleviate the hardship. Picking

someone to help either in your advanced education or work life is necessary.

Parina Parmar details how a teacher and mentor differ. Parmar’s article, “5 Differences

Between Mentoring and Teaching”, eliminates any misinformation that someone may have on

teachers and mentors. Parma gives descriptions discussing why someone would choose a teacher

over a mentor or the other way around. Parmar states that mentors have endless advantages

compared to a teacher, such as, how a mentee is able to contact a mentor at any time.

Communication is an advantage because it is unprofessional to email a professor after 4 p.m..

While searching for this article the main focus was, what other learning opportunities may a

teacher provide? Parmarr raises the case that while a teacher may know a concept, not many
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teachers have had real world experience with what they are teaching. As these articles

differentiate teachers and mentors, a new objective came to rise, “ Teachers are typically paid to

provide information that they may or may not be passionate about. They don’t necessarily

involve themselves emotionally with their students, but it’s not uncommon for teachers to

become good friends after some time.” (Pamar) This statement allows me to realize that there is

another motivation for helping out students. Teachers may not be as passionate as a mentor

because there is also a motivation for money. Finding a mentor is finding someone who is

willing to take the time and show a mentee their passion and love for a field. On the other hand it

is likely that a teacher will only show a student what they know, not because of a bond but

because of a check. More claims I found on why mentoring is better is from an article by Sakshi

Gupta, “Mentoring vs Teaching – Which Learning Method Should You Choose.” Gupta

mentions,

Teaching is more of a giver approach to learning wherein the giver (teacher) is in

control of the situation as it’s a teacher who decides what knowledge he/she wants

to share with the student. Mentoring is more of a seeking approach to learning

where a student prepares for the session and decides what guidance and

information he/she needs and seeks that clarification from the mentor.

Gupta’s statement here coincides with my previous research and how a mentor guides the mentee

through the process while a teacher will only be able to tell the mentee about how to solve

situations. Gupta then claims , “You can gain a lot of knowledge from a teacher but the

knowledge sharing that comes from a mentor can’t be replicated.” This highlights a point of

reflection for me. While I am at school, I sit in classrooms of up to 100 people. With a mentor

while he or she may have multiple mentees, the mentor will never have as many as a teacher has
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students. Think makes the relationship with a mentor more intimate and direct. This is a huge

step to why people lean towards having mentors who can guide them through the journey as to a

teacher who can allow the student to access knowledge to get a degree. Some may argue the fact

that going to school will put the graduate at a higher position as soon as they start working in

comparison to someone who started working when they went to school. Gupta finds a way to

combat that by showing how growth after getting the job will allow the graduate to scale up the

ranks. “62.7% of professionals prefer to upskill through mentorship programs, while 87.9% of

professionals think access to a mentor can boost their career growth.” How much faster can

someone who already has a relationship with a mentor grow over a person who has just got the

job because they just got out of school. I would take the relationship route, even with the same

mentor who will most likely favor the mentee who has been with them longer. Being an

entrepreneur who wants to work for more and one day work on their own takes time. The amount

of time can be shortened with access to a mentor.

My last and most researched article is from Chuck Eesley and Yanbo Wang titled, “The

Effects of Mentoring in Entrepreneurial Career Choice.” Eesley and Wang include,

“Entrepreneur mentors, especially serial entrepreneurs who have failed before, can help their

mentees reduce their fear of failure, because they can help them to develop a more realistic

assessment of the possible career choices in event of venture failure.” This is what almost every

mentoring article will cover. Once again tied into how a teacher will teach from what the book

says and not personal experience. Yes I brought up the fact that a teacher might be able to guide a

student to someone who can help but a mentor most likely has more connections to others in a

work field who has experienced what the mentor has not. Eesley and Wang claim, “Mentors of

all types may help mentees to evaluate ideas, either by giving them direct feedback or by
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suggesting courses of action or people to talk with.” Further claiming, “there is the lack of social

connections to resources necessary for entrepreneurship. Particularly students do not have prior

coworkers or friends who are angel investors, venture capitalists or startup lawyers.” Being a

student who may know people who one day can help in the venture but those same students are

just starting too. When will a student be able to call a former classmate for advice on a situation

that they have come across at work? It is not likely that an old classmate would have already

conquered the situation that has risen, it is more likely that an old classmate is even facing the

same problem. Having a mentor will prevent the feeling of being lost, “[Eesley and Wang] may

also expect that entrepreneur mentorship will have a greater effect in encouraging,” I believe this

is due to the sense of security someone would get by knowing they are not alone. The piece of

mind I would get is being able to ask for advice from a mentor who has gone through tough

situations in my respective field.

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Work Cited

Government of the United States "Benefits of Mentoring for Young People." Youth.gov, 2022

youth.gov/youth-topics/mentoring/benefits-mentoring-young-people#:~:text=Mentoring

%20has%20 also%20been%20 linked,Moore%2C%20%26%20Hair%2C%202002.

Eesley, Chuck and Wang, Yanbo. “The Effects of Mentoring in Entrepreneurial Career Choice.”

The Coleman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership, 2014.

https://funginstitute.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chuck_Eesley_Paper1.pdf

Gupta, Sakshi. “Mentoring vs Teaching – Which Learning Method Should You Choose?” Spring

Board. 2021. https://www.springboard.com/blog/career-advice/teaching-vs-mentoring/

Parmar, Parina. “5 Differences Between Mentoring and Teaching.” ClassPlus Growth Lab.

2022.https://classplusapp.com/growth/5-differences-between-mentoring-and-teaching/

Smith, Brendan. “The lifelong benefits of mentoring.” grand PSYCH Magazine.

2014.https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2014/11/mentoring-benefits