Why women need mid-career mentors

You probably have a mental picture of the usual mentor-mentee relationship: a college-aged ingenue sitting at lunch with an industry veteran.

But for some women, that picture isn’t accurate. For an older woman looking for mentorship through a career transition, creative stagnation or the second half of her career, there are increasingly few places to turn: there’s no alumni network or old boys’ club to step in and help.

That’s a problem for both women and employers since sponsorship and mentorship can be key to retaining female talent.

Where can women turn if they’re looking for guidance at later stages of their career?

Part of it is subverting our ideas of what mentorship looks like, says Nilanjana Dasgupta, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts.

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