Career setback stories

Constantly viewing people’s highlights can leave anyone feeling inadequate, which is why it’s important to learn about the struggles faced by your mentor. Hearing that a successful person, too, has had career setbacks will humanize the industry and job for you — allowing you to go easy on yourself when things don’t work out the way you want them to. More importantly, it will help you to prepare for similar challenges in your own career.

Here are some questions you can ask your mentor to learn about their struggles and what they did to overcome them:

• How did you tackle rejections during your first job search?
• Was there a time you felt like your skills were inadequate for a job? What did you do about it?
• What was your key takeaway from your first job?
• What was the hardest step in your career ladder and why?