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“One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.“John C. Maxwell
The AMB faculty-postdoc mentoring program aims at supporting young scientists in their career planning with a mentor complementing their supervisor. The focus is not on science, but in personal and career development. The program is run by AMB, the scientific staff association in DBIOL at the ETH Zürich and supported by the department.
Why Mentoring is important
In addition to their academic advisers, scientists should have multiple mentors throughout their career. As an entire person who has multiple facets to life – like career, research, leadership, extracurricular activities and family, a junior scientist needs mentorship in different areas and advice from different sources. More importantly, mentors might differ in their expertise towards different questions such as conducting research, pursuing a career out of the beaten path, how to balance family and work, or how to solve conflicts. Seeking out multiple mentors that meet the needs of the different areas is essential for the advancement of a young scientist’s career. External mentors provide more objective coaching, can have a different expertise than the direct supervisor and are able to offer an alternative perspective on a variety of topics.