The benefits of professional mentorship have been well established—especially in the academic medicine community. I recently came across this article (blog post?) suggesting that there are 7 different types of mentors. And each type can bring a different benefit or be particularly useful at specific points in your career.
- Traditional mentor: someone more experienced in your field
- Affinity-based mentor: someone with whom your share a common characteristic, such as gender, ethnicity, religion
- Group mentor: someone who leads a cohort, such as a staff manager of summer interns
- Peer mentor: essentially a trusted work friendship
- Cross-functional mentor: someone on a different team or department who can provide an unknown or unfamiliar perspective
- Reverse mentor: when someone more experienced or senior seeks the perspective of someone new or more junior
- Parasocial mentor: when you receive advice and perspective from someone with whom you do not have a direct relationship, such as a public speaker or social media influencer
What do you think about this list? Which types of mentors do you have? Need a mentor, or interested in serving as a mentor? Stay tuned for more opportunities to support each other here in the virtual communities coming in the new year!
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Penny Schnarrs she/her
Director of Community Relations and Strategy
Association of American Medical Colleges
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