Every year, The Singapore Women’s Weekly shines the spotlight on 18 outstanding, powerful and high-achieving career women in the Great Women Of Our Time awards. Meet Science & Technology nominee, Dr Eliza Fong, Senior Tutor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University Singapore:
Whether in life or when it comes to career, mentors can play pivotal roles in guiding us along the path of having a growth mindset, and helping us to achieve the success we seek. How do you identify a potential mentor? And when you’ve found a suitable one, how do you make the first approach? Dr Eliza Fong points us in the right direction:
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The Great Women Of Our Time Awards 2018 is brought to you by main presenter, Lancôme, and presenter, PANDORA.
“For those who are looking for a mentor, look at how successful the academic ‘off-springs’ of that potential mentor are. Have they moved on to good faculty positions or jobs in the industry? This indicates how supportive that mentor is of his or her mentees in their career development. The same rule of thumb applies to other industries too, though the information you seek make be harder to obtain.”
“If you don’t take the first step, nothing will happen. You never know when you might be pleasantly surprised. Emailing is also a good start. If your potential mentor is interested, find an opportunity to meet up and have a chat over coffee. Your interaction during this session should help you to gauge if this potential mentor is sincere in guiding you.”
“A good mentor genuinely cares about sharing his or her knowledge and experience, and wants to help you to grow. It’s difficult to describe exactly what a good mentor is as definitions may vary from one individual to the next, but you will know it when you meet one. Personally, my definition of a good mentor is one who’s a great listener, and who has a true interest in their mentee’s well-being, not theirs.”
If you are inspired by Dr Eliza Fong, vote for her here and stand a chance to win a gift set comprising of Lancôme beauty products & Forever PANDORA Collier Necklace, worth over $220!