Personal | Eldridge Financial Blog

Everyone who’s gone through the early stages of an academic career has had an undergraduate research supervisor, and a Ph.D. and

postdoc adviser. But not everyone can claim to have had a mentor. Even fewer can claim to have had more than one. And that’s too bad.

The essential difference between an adviser and a mentor is that the adviser directs while the mentor guides. An adviser often has an agenda,

be it to point your research in a particular direction or merely to publish more papers. Foremost among a mentor’s concerns are your

professional development and personal well-being. A mentor offers you support, guidance, and even solace with no other motive than helping

you identify and reach your own goals. A mentor is someone you can open yourself up to without fearing deleterious consequences.

If you are lucky, your adviser is also a mentor, but many mentors are found outside of the lab.

It is also common — and recommendable — to have several mentors, each contributing a unique approach to your problem or situation to help

you broaden your perspective. As you move up the career ladder, you should also expect your mentoring needs to change. A new mentor may be

needed.

Whatever your career stage, it is important not to see yourself only as a protégé. Even at the Ph.D. level, you can start giving back to the

scientific community by mentoring younger scientists. It is also possible for peers to support each other in a mentorly way. And mentoring

relationships need not be one-sided: Protégés can give back more to their mentors than the satisfaction of being a mentor. Mentoring is, above

all, a relationship of support and trust between a senior and a junior scientist, and the experience can be tremendously rewarding for both,

professionally and personally.

But, like any relationship, mentoring takes time and dedication. So on the one hand, it is appropriate and important for you to seek and accept

offers of mentorship because you have much to offer the world and an investment in you is well justified. On the other hand, if you want a

relationship to endure — including a mentoring relationship — you need to make sure that both sides benefit. » Personal | Eldridge Financial Blog