The Six People Your Students Need

In this Issue: today is a guest post by Allison E. McWilliams (’95), Ph.D., Assistant VP, Mentoring & Alumni Personal & Career Development

Each January, our Mentoring Resource Center team, part of the Office of Personal & Career Development (OPCD), celebrates National Mentoring Month. In 2024, our focus is on experiential learning and the momentum that can transform new settings or experiences into unique growth opportunities. At the 2024 webpage linked above, your student can find guidance, resources, and support for seeking out these critically important opportunities during their time at Wake Forest, and how to make the most of them through mentoring relationships.

That said, it might surprise you that we don’t always recommend students seek out in-depth, long-term mentoring relationships. Instead, we believe that all individuals, students included, need multiple types of people to support their journeys, one of whom may be a mentor. The type of person will depend on the specific need of the student. And, it’s the student’s responsibility to build relationships with the people they need to fill those roles.

Below you will find descriptions of the six types of people students need, and a few places where they can seek them out:

Mentor—someone who is willing to engage in a personal and purposeful relationship over a period of time; provides feedback and wisdom based on their experience; facilitates growth and development. Faculty, staff, peers, and individuals outside of Wake Forest (employers, alumni, others) may serve in this role through research, artistic pursuits, athletics, internships and student employment, study abroad, student organizations, and so many other academic, co-curricular, and extra-curricular experiences.

Coach—someone who is skilled in asking questions, listening, and encouraging work towards goals; may provide feedback based on observed behavior or the coaching conversation; facilitates skill development, goal setting, and creating a plan of action. Students can find academic coaches through CLASS, the Office of Wellbeing, and many student-focused centers on campus. They can find career coaches through the OPCD (and in the Business School, through the MRE team).

Sponsor—someone who advocates for you; identifies opportunities and provides connections to those opportunities; promotes you based on their personal or organizational capital. For students, this could be a faculty member, staff member, or other adult who is willing to write a letter of recommendation or provide a reference for a job, graduate school, or other opportunities.

Wise Counselor—someone who periodically provides advice and wisdom, which may rise to the level of a “mentoring moment.” Wise counselors don’t require the same level of in-depth support that a formal mentoring relationship does, but still provide guidance and support through brief interactions. Building relationships with wise counselors, who can be faculty, staff, fellow students, or others, can lead to more formal mentoring relationships over time.

Accountability Partner—someone who will check in at agreed-upon points to ensure you are staying on course with your work toward your goals. Many types of individuals can serve in these roles, including coaches, counselors, and other support staff. Faculty advisors and the Office of Academic Advising can be accountability partners, ensuring that students are staying on track with their academic goals. The Office of Wellbeing can provide accountability towards health and wellness goals. The Counseling Center and CLASS can provide accountability towards personal and academic goals. And students shouldn’t shy away from asking for this type of support from their peers (and providing it in kind).

Networking Connection—someone who can suggest opportunities, provide introductions, and may pass along your résumé but may not rise to the level of a “sponsor.” These are people students should reach out to for informational interviews. We have a robust community of Wake Forest alumni on LinkedIn, and many alumni return to campus to speak in classes, serve on career panels, and hire our students through the annual career fair. These are all great opportunities to build networking connections.

National Mentoring Month is a great reminder each January that we all need people, and we all can be someone else’s person. One of the hallmarks of Wake Forest is that we are a community that invests deeply in one another, in relationships, and in making this place and the world around us better, in whatever ways we can. I hope that you, and your student, will think about how you might do that work for and with people, a bit more intentionally, this year.