To mentor or not to mentor?

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According to the 14th Annual Global CEO Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, 98 per cent of millennials believe working with a mentor is a necessary component in development. In fact, they ranked training and development three times higher than cash bonuses as their first choice in benefits.

And there’s certainly been a significant amount of interest in mentoring programs. We ran a piece in FM in November 2010 which looked at five examples of mentoring for freelancers and small business.

One of my favourites was the one which paired BAFTA-winning freelance editor Joby Gee and young filmmaker Jack Crocker. Interestingly, not only did Crocker find the experience of great value, Gee did, too, as the process made him evaluate his work in a different way.

I was keen to find out whether the mentor program had influenced Crocker’s career in any way. Apparently, within a month, he had moved to London and was working at a post-production house. A meeting with a location manager led to work experience on A-list film Gambit (released this year), which led directly onto a production role on Welcome to the Punch (also release in 2012).

With plans for his own feature film in mind, Crocker then flew out to the States where a chance meeting with Gambit director Michael Hoffman led to more editing experience on a feature length documentary.

Would he have succeeded without Gee’s mentoring? Of course – he’s bright, enthusiastic and hard working. But the shared experience of mentoring brings a new dimension to our development. No wonder it’s in such high demand.