DALLAS – In a business climate today where personal and professional skills are a must, everyone can use a mentor.
“Research has shown that access to career opportunities is one of the top reasons why employees stay at or leave a job,” said Barbara Wankoff, national director of workplace solutions for KPMG LLP, an audit, tax and advisory firm. “At KPMG, we want to make sure everyone has that connection and guidance.”
KPMG is one of several financial service firms that are making sure employees have the added help they need – and desire – to advance their careers.
Its mentoring program, which started in August, uses a computer to match up potential candidates.
“The software doesn’t do the mentoring, it just provides an entry,” Wankoff said. “We wanted to give employees more control over guiding their mentor and developing the best relationship for them.”
At Wachovia Corp. (www.wachovia.com), a 35-year-old associates program pairs recent college grads with existing employees in a two-year apprentice relationship.
At Ernst & Young (www.ey.com), specialized mentoring programs for interns, new hires and even senior management and partners help guide employees in making everyday decisions.
“Every person in their career has some struggle at some point,” said David Bruesehoff, the Dallas-based human resource director for Ernst & Young’s Southwest division. “Regardless if they stay with us for a couple of years or a lifetime, we want to create lifelong relationships that they can use.”
Whether it’s a structured program, natural mentoring occurs through friendship, teaching, coaching and counseling, said Frank McLaughlin, chairman of McSearch Personnel Consultants (www.mcsearch.com) in Dallas.
In contrast, planned mentoring occurs through structured programs in which mentors and participants are selected and matched through formal processes. Sometimes these programs are vague and generic, he said.
“Mentoring in the workplace, the way I see it, is an opportunity to raise up somebody with special skills and move them faster, further to achieve their goals,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “Individualized programs are great.”
Some examples of mentoring include women executives assisting other women, business managers taking new employees “under their wings” and successful businesspeople helping entrepreneurs starting out.
“I want to see females excel at KPMG,” said Lisa Acosta, a partner in KPMG’s audit practice office in Dallas. “When they excel at KPMG, they help me do my job better.”
Acosta is mentoring Jeannie Alexander, a senior manager in KPMG’s audit practice office. Alexander selected Acosta on her own after filling out the company’s online computerized mentoring profile.
Both women agree that the program forces a mentor and protege to sit down and understand the protege’s career goals. It also makes both individuals think about what they want to gain or accomplish by having the working relationship.
“I was comfortable in my own little spot,” Alexander said. “This relationship is one way I’m going to continue to grow personally and professionally.”
Although KPMG’s program – which is nationwide – is not mandatory, employees are encouraged to fill out a computer profile.
“We feel that there should never be an employee sitting out there wondering who could mentor them and do they find them,” Wankoff said. “We also really believe that not everybody is ready or able to commit to a mentor relationship.”
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