January is Mentoring Month! Throughout the next few weeks, we will highlight stories about mentorship on social media and share details about ThetaConnect, our members-only networking platform, that provides Thetas the opportunity to find and be a mentor for another Theta. Since ThetaConnect launched in 2020, the platform has seen more than 250 alumnae serve as official mentors to other Thetas!
Have you thought of serving as a mentor? Here are five reasons you should consider it:
- You can meet other Thetas. It’s not uncommon to hear that Thetas almost always tend to interact with other members with whom they went to school or who live nearby. ThetaConnect’s mentoring feature enables members from anywhere in the world to connect and interact with each other!
- You can learn more about yourself. A mentor’s main goal is to help the mentee, but in doing so, mentors have a great opportunity to learn about and improve themselves. Have you thought that you need to improve listening skills? Do you want to try something new? When was the last time you took stock of your career–and your life–to understand how you’ve grown personally and professionally? A mentor-mentee relationship will help you practice and hone skills that might need strengthening or that you don’t use often, and it will let you share them with someone else who could benefit from these skills.
- You can give back to the next generation of Thetas. By contributing your time, you can show collegians and alumnae that they can forge lifelong connections through ThetaConnect, and you can help them to become better leaders in their communities. Mentors can also gain opportunities to make new friendships, contribute to a better world, and amass incredible experiences. In supporting Theta through mentoring, you can become a part of something larger than yourself.
- You can expand your professional network. Mentoring relationships enable mentors to meet others in their chosen career field. Through mentoring, you can talk to others in your career field, even at different levels (entry-level through leadership), and can be introduced to others during the mentor relationship.
- You can become more involved with Theta. Have you wanted to be more involved in Kappa Alpha Theta but didn’t know how to start? Mentoring enables you to create a schedule with your mentee on your own terms and at a duration you establish. You have much more control over your volunteering time while still giving back to the organization.
Are you new to mentoring? Check out ThetaConnect’s Resources area where we’ve compiled websites and documents to help you become a mentor and be a better one.
Contact thetaconnect@kappaalphatheta.org if you have questions about ThetaConnect and mentoring.