Think outside your company for career-long nurturing

While many Wall Street firms have mentorship programs, the most useful relationships are usually those sought out by the protégé, believes Susan Battley, a New York-based executive coach and author of Coached to Lead:  How to Achieve Extraordinary Results with an Executive Coach.  "Formal programs tend to under-deliver because so much of mentorship is not so much interest-driven, but personality and compatibility-driven," she says.

Battley advocates finding multiple mentors for your various professional goals.  One person may help you with concrete ambitions like getting up to speed on technological issues, while another may be a sounding board for more sensitive, interpersonal topics.  "Don't put all your eggs in one basket," she advises.  "Instead, cast a wide net and build a personal advisory board."

Excerpted from Careers in Financial Markets, 2006-07.  (An eFinancialCareers.com publication)