Tomprou, Maria, et al. "Career mentoring in online communities: Seeking and receiving advice from an online community." Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. 2019.

This study investigates the utilization of online Q&A forums for career advice, addressing the lack of research on the nature and quality of online career mentoring. Through qualitative analysis of a career-related online forum, a taxonomy of career advice requests was developed, categorizing posts into best practices, career threats, and time-sensitive requests. The quantitative analysis reveals that both advice seekers and external viewers appreciate general information, encouragement, and guidance, but not role modeling. No significant correlation was found between the types of requests and the characteristics of the responses, nor between the preferences of requesters and external viewers. The research concludes with design recommendations for enhancing online platforms for career advice exchange.