While you are in school you have teachers to instruct you, and at work, you typically have an orientation period where an employee with more experience shows you the ropes. But after that, society kind of drifts away from people who can offer you advice being a part of your daily routine.

The assumption is you now know enough to get along fine on your own. But naturally, you could probably still use advice, even if on a less frequent basis. Nabanita De in writing for Forbes says that is why you should consider having either a career coach or a mentor in your life.

De points to periods of desired transition as a major time when having a career coach is valuable. When you have a goal that you want to achieve imminently, it definitely helps to have someone knowledgeable point you to what steps you should be taking to get there.

However, even less tangible goals can benefit from a coach, such as helping you feel more confident. Obviously, you can’t track your success with this as easily, but you will be able to compare how you handled situations before and after.

One caveat that De does mention is not to mistake a mentor for a therapist. While issues in your personal life can certainly create turmoil in your career, this is not someone to vent to about your home life.

Keep things focused on your professional goals where this individual will actually have the expertise to assist you.

And like any other service, it may be a trial and error process to find the right coach to help you gain results.

If things don’t work out once, don’t write off the idea completely. You can search for coaches on places like LinkedIn who will have experience in all manner of career stages. Do your research and find the one that works for you.

To learn more about the advantages having a mentor could have for you, read the Forbes article about it here.

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