SGPsychStud: Having a Mentor for Your Psychological Journey

I have first mentioned about networking on a July 2013 post.  Since early 2015, I have been advocating the idea of building your network as one of the most important factors to build your psychological career.  It has been mentioned throughout these posts:

Jobs (Part 8): Summary + Major reason for expanding your network (January 2015)
SGPsychStud: Applying I/O Psychology Knowledge to Get a Job (April 2015)
SGPsychStud: Staying Competitive in the Psychology Job Market as a New Graduate (May 2015)
SGPsychStud: Career Planning for a Psychological Career (Part 1) (October 2015)
SGPsychStud: Career Planning for a Psychological Career (Part 2) (October 2015)
SGPsychStud: Career Planning for a Psychological Career (Part 3) (October 2015)
SGPsychStuff @ UniPsych Symposium: Why should you be coming to UniPsych Symposium (July 2016)

Image Credit: http://dab.25stories.org/256

For undergraduate studies, students may have to find their internships themselves, which can be quite challenging in the first place with no connections at all.  Internships, though recommended, also tend not to be compulsory by the local universities.  With the current financial situation in the market now, companies and organisations may not take up too many interns or even any interns at all.
Networking at every possible event is a good thing to do, but purely attending events with no interactions or/and having shallow conversations with the psychologists and other professionals may not be very beneficial at all, even if you may have connected with them via social media for future communications.

So what may be a better method to have a deep and longer lasting relationship with the professionals?

Recently, a student came to seek advice, and the topic of mentorship came up, which we discussed as a good alternative to the traditional methods of networking.

Image Credit: http://www.efccl.org/mentoring/

Why is having a mentor a good idea?

Like internship, it allows you to have a connection with the mentor/s, which can be developed into a long-term mentor-student relationship.  However it reduces time and financial load on the mentor/s and organisation/s.  The mentor and mentee can arrange to meet a few times a year, with communication to be done online.  The mentor can also guide you along in your psychological journey, and possibly introduce you to more professionals and the real sights of the psychology industry.

Do find a good mentor! Here are some websites with some tips:
1) https://www.fastcompany.com/3052068/know-it-all/8-successful-people-share-how-not-to-find-a-mentor
2) https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249950