MENTORING AS ACAREER DEVELOPMENT TOOL

Imagine this. You have skills, knowledge and experience, plus a pinch of wisdom, after climbing the career ladder and advising others along the way. You've discovered some tools to share with those who might well be your bosses in the next millennium. You have been invited to attend a ''Women of Substance Breakfast " and pay a fee, which sponsors a schoolgirl. Your interests lie in mentoring the talented, particularly gifted girls, and this is an opportunity not to be missed. You reach for the telephone and make a booking. You arrive on that fateful Friday moming at 6.45 am after arriving back to Brisbane from Sydney at 9.50 pm the evening before- a regular routine! Curious and comfortable, a veteran of business breakfasts and networking functions, you take your assigned place at the table and through a non-scientific matching process, you meet your "mentee"• Let me share the experience with you. Mentoring isa careerdevelopment process.Traditionally, mentoringprograms have been foundwithin organisations, but more recently a shift infocus has been made to develop mentoring relationships formed outside organisations through individual initiative andprofessional networks like Guides Queensland (formally theGirl Guides Association of Australia). Career practitioners needto be aware ofwhat this suggests about mentoring andwhat mentoring offers them andtheir client groups asa tool for career education and professional development. The call went outfor "Women of Substance " (WOS) to join a mentoring breakfast on 22 May 1998, This annual event matches 200 Year 11 female students with established professional women working ina career field ofthe students ' interest. WOS was formed in 1988 asawomen's networking organisation aiming to provide young women with a role model group. It was founded bycareer women closely involved with Guides Queensland. In 1998, aworking party from Queensland University ofTechnology students in their final year, with majors inPublic Relations, developed thevery professional strategies andimplemented the tactics thatmade the 1998 breakfast such asuccess