Make mentoring work for you

● Ask a corporate executive who has faced racial, gender or other discrimination on their climb up the career ladder, and they are likely to point to mentoring as one of the reasons they made it.

Pamela Xaba, human resources director at Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, is a strong proponent of mentoring — and has been on both sides of the mentoring table.

She has the following advice:

● Mentors can help you navigate your particular industry’s glass ceilings. They can help you “reach your full potential”;

● Some companies have formal mentorship programmes, and it is worth getting involved in those. In companies without a formal programme, you will need to use your initiative and connect with more senior members of staff;

● The relationship is like any other — it needs chemistry to work. Don’t give up if you don’t get on with your mentor. Keep looking until you find “the one”;

● As the one being mentored, you have the most to gain, so be professional, always; and

● It is ideal if your mentor is in the same field as you, so they can help you with industry-specific and more general career issues.