Finding a path to follow when starting out can be challenging for any new professional entering a field or industry, with no previous experience. Having individual desires and aspirations to accomplish certain goals can surely help most wage-earners just starting out. But where does a person start? No one hands out blueprints to new professionals. Companies seem almost reluctant to provide on the job training. Having an interest in one’s own success coupled with a perceptive and curious nature can help most novices find their way to professional glory—but like all good things, it does take time, patience and a bit of persistence.
A better understanding of the position one might hope to find themselves in, near the end of their career, can be really helpful in charting a course to the penultimate position of their career or somewhere in the vicinity of what could be considered a successful path. With many twists and turns and the very possible step back or step down most journeys take, it can be rather difficult to hit the bullseye on the target without blatant nepotism. It can also be difficult to plan for the future with some certainty because each experience has the power to change how a person feels about the path they are on. The wonderful thing about experience is that it allows people to practice something so they have the opportunity to gain more insight into what they actually enjoy and what they enjoy less about a certain career. Armed with this information a person then has the ability to make more informed choices about the opportunities they undertake and which opportunities to pass on.
Knowledge of a position, within a specific organization and better yet getting a hold of a job description can provide details of what is required to obtain a position as well as the responsibilities the position is required to carry out. Being acquainted with a person that holds or has held a position that you aspire to can give someone firsthand knowledge, but could also offer a possible blueprint to follow. A guided tour is how I like to present this—anecdotes and personal accounts on what they did to obtain the position. In addition to testimonials, a person who is currently in a position could offer some coaching and better yet mentor someone new to the profession if they have time and show interest in working with new, less experienced individuals. Showing interest is key.
Not everyone is cut out for mentoring. It is why many mentoring programs designed by organizations are not as robust or as effective as they could be. Even if a mentor has time or even an eagerness to work with new professionals in a field, in most cases mentoring is only effective to mentees that have the motivation to seek out what they need. This can be really difficult for new professionals that may not have a good idea of what it is that they need for success. This leaves many mentors at a loss or may prompt some mentors to throw all kinds of things the mentees way that the mentee may not be ready for or may not have any genuine interest in.
This is why it is probably a better plan to have mentees seek out and select a mentor that they want to work with. Not every mentor that a mentee wants to work with will have time when they mentee is in need of training and/or advice. Everyone is not willing to take on a mentee. It is still a better match when the mentee chooses their mentor because it demonstrates that the mentee understands they need to be engaged in the mentoring process.
It is the mentee who should be asking questions, looking to get their needs met and driving a large portion of the interactions with the mentor. In short, it is the mentee that needs to know what they need or at least be able to articulate where their interests lie and where their interests do not lie. No one else can figure this out for another person. In the end, a mentor cannot follow their mentee on each job interview or to each new opportunity. The mentee will have to go it alone through certain aspects of their professional journey. A good mentor will always cheer on their mentee, make themselves available to hear about all victories small and large. Another thing that good mentors do is give pep talks when disappointment [inevitably] occurs, whenever it occurs.
So, finding a professional blueprint is not as easy as this essay may make it sound, but it is also not nearly as difficult as figuring things out as you go and making up whatever the last inept boss or disinterested mentor forgot to mention (or couldn’t tell a new professional because they have worked at the same place since they were a student employee). Besides, mentees should have a say in who mentors them. And a mentor does not have to be assigned to a person by their employer or even work for the same organization as the mentee.
In order to find a professional blueprint, new professionals must have enough self-interest and self-awareness to know what it is they are in search of. Drifting may yield good outcomes some of the time, but it also has the possibility of leaving the most important things undiscovered.
working. 
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