Early career psychologists: Understanding, engaging, and mentoring tomorrow’s leaders.

Abstract

This article on mentoring describes demographic characteristics and challenges faced by early career psychologists (ECPs) and how mentoring can significantly shape the development of ECPs' professional and personal identity. ECPs have a significant impact on how psychology will evolve and be recognized in the marketplace. Mentors have the opportunity to significantly shape the development of this early career professional and thus assure the dynamic future of psychology. The characteristics of a mentor, the mentoring process of an ECP, diversity issues, and strategies for effective mentoring are discussed.

Advanced Degrees of Debt: Analyzing the Patterns and Determinants of Graduate Student Borrowing

“…Rosenblatt and Andrilla (2005), for instance, found that medical graduates with relatively high levels of student debt were less likely to pursue careers in family medicine, while Grayson, Newton, and Thompson (2012) discovered that high debt levels moved medical graduates away from primary care and toward medical specialties with higher earning potential. In other professions, Field (2009) suggested that loans have a negative influence on the likelihood that law school graduates will embark on a career in public interest law, while Green and Hawley (2009) revealed that large amounts of student debt lead many psychologists to regret their chosen profession.…”

Sisters of the Heart Along the Way: The Power of the Female Mentoring Relationship

“…These and other variables are discussed in the literature (Bogat & Redner, 1985;Dreher, Cox, & Taylor, 1996;Gilbert & Rossman, 1992;Green & Hawley, 2009;Hansman, 1998;Nevel & Coche, 1993;Paludi, Martin, Stern, and Defour, 2011;Ragis & Cotton, 1999;Ulku-Steiner, Kurtz-Costes, & Kinlaw, 2000) with recent work that discusses mentoring of African American women underrepresented in research and academia (Daniel, 2009;Evans & Cokley, 2008) and mentoring of Latinas (Comas-Diaz, 2011;Gonzalez-Figueroa & Young, Angela, 2005) and Asian-American women (Homma-True, 2011) in various professional roles. While there is some growing literature on strategies and models for mentoring women (Chesler & Chesler, 2002;Files, Blair, Mayer, & Ko, 2008;Liang, Tracey, Taylor, & Williams, 2002;Rayburn, Denmark, Reuder, & Austria, 2011;Williams-Nickelson, 2009), an increase in attention to the topic is indicated.…”

“…As is often the case with others, my mentor experience was influential in furthering the development and integration of my personal and professional identity (Green & Hawley, 2009), rather than specific clinical strategies (Tamasine, 1998). As a mentor, Kathryn modeled a harmonious balance of empathy, patience, compassion, and relationships with independence, and professional and personal competence and success.…”

Early Career Boot Camp: A Novel Mechanism for Enhancing Early Career Development for Psychologists in Academic Healthcare

“…In particular, participants spoke of feeling valued and respected by seasoned professionals who exhibited sincere concern for their professional development, despite not having day-to-day working relationships with them. These sentiments reflect research that junior faculty in academic medicine fare better in the long term, with greater potential for career productivity and leadership capacity, when provided with structured mentoring early in their careers (Green & Hawley, 2009). …”

“…ECPs are the most diverse APA members across gender, age, and ethnicity (APA Center for Psychology Workforce Analysis and Research, 2007). While mentorship is often abundant in graduate training programs, mechanisms for enhancing career development following graduation for ECPs are less frequently accessible due to time restrictions, a lack of formalized ECP mentorship programs, and decreased funds available for ECPs to join professional associations (Green & Hawley, 2009). The importance of mentoring ECPs has increasingly been recognized.…”