Early career mentors are some of the first people we choose to be a part of our professional development. We invite them into our lives, while they allow us into theirs, to build something of a partnership. Our parents are intrinsically the first people to support us in a unidirectional way, followed by close family members, teachers, and coaches. In a literal sense, these people are assigned to us, but it is not until we meet professionals whose footsteps we would like to follow that we begin to choose, for ourselves, who will guide us. The concept of choosing a mentor, as opposed to being assigned one, is an important part of the conception of mentoring relationships.
