Work based Mentoring

The bottom line on work-based mentoring

Informal and formal mentors have been heralded as among the key ingredients in shaping the academic and career development of youth. Recognizing this important role, schools and businesses have launched a growing array of work-based (or workplace-based) mentoring programs. This emphasis is also reflected in the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, which requires work-based mentors for all students involved in work-based learning. Work-based mentoring typically takes place in the offices of the sponsoring company-as distinguished from company-wide initiatives in which employees are encouraged to mentor young people off-site during company time (e.g., The New York City Mentoring Program). Work-based programs are specifically designed to provide low-income students with job skills training, exposure to the world of work and access to labor market opportunities.

As many employees will attest, a work-based mentoring relationship can transform a young life, becoming the means by which an adolescent connects with others, with teachers and schools, with their future prospects and potential partners. Indeed, in their study of disadvantaged youth who were "beating the odds," (i.e., successfully attending Columbia University), Arthur Levine and Jana Nidiffer found that the most important factor was:

"..the intervention by one person at a critical point in the life of each student. Sometimes the mentor was a loving relative; other times it was someone paid to offer expert advice. In either case, it was the human contact that made the difference" (p. 65).¹

That critical point for many of our nation's youth is high school-and the transition through it and into early adulthood can determine future economic opportunities and life satisfaction. Fortunately, work-based mentoring programs appear to provide guidance to a growing number of students as they make this transition. In this column, I will discuss work-based mentoring, including the rationale for it and research on its effectiveness.

The troubled path to adulthood

Many young adults lack the guidance, preparation and resources to succeed in skilled labor and higher education-problems that are particularly acute among low-income and minority youth. Over 15% of American youth fail to complete high school, ² and, even among the graduates, only about half ever attend a two- or four-year college.

Youth with limited formal schooling face substantial barriers to employment. They are often ill-equipped to take on available jobs, which require increasingly high levels of education and skills.

As a result, many of our nation's youth are languishing during their early adult years-filling their time with low-paying "dead-end" jobs or not working at all. Indeed, an estimated five million American youth aged 16 to 24 are both out of school and unemployed.³

Strategies that forge links between high-school and higher education/vocations, can help youth attain satisfying jobs and lives:

Caring adults represent a key component of any such efforts to help adolescents succeed in the transition to adulthood; and
Work-based mentors can help high school students acquire the skills, knowledge and work habits that they need to succeed.

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