Promoting Women at the Graduate School

Mentoring is an informal supportive relationship that focuses on the transfer of experience and personal exchange between individuals at different stages of their careers. As part of the mentoring process, a mentee is supported by an experienced individual (mentor) over a specific period of time in their professional and personal development. The focus is on the transfer of both formal and informal knowledge, as well as mutual networking and the opportunity to participate in the mentor’s scientific or business community.

A mentoring relationship is characterised by the fact that it is entered into voluntarily, that everything discussed remains confidential, and that the two mentoring partners are not in a relationship of dependency on one another.

Whilst mentees primarily broaden their knowledge of career paths and planning, work-life balance and the rules of the academic system and the business world, mentors develop their advisory and leadership skills and gain important insights into the situation faced by early-career female researchers.

Mentees:

Benefit from your mentor’s experience, build a strong support network, plan your career and develop personally.

Face-to-face meetings with your mentor provide an insight into the career path and day-to-day working life of an experienced professional, and thus also into a potential career field. This gives you the opportunity to work out for yourself whether a career in academia – for example, as a university lecturer – is an option for you, or whether you would prefer to work outside academia and/or perhaps even set up your own business.

Opportunities for mentees:

• Mentors stand in solidarity with their mentees, acting as role models and reflection partners, for example in situations involving decision-making or major changes.
• You will gain an understanding of the formal and implicit structures, processes and rules within your mentor’s professional field.
• Through a series of high-calibre workshops and one-to-one coaching, you will gain valuable insights to help you develop your personality and skills, and receive support with your career planning.
• Through contact with your mentor and informal discussions with female leaders and experts, you can expand your network within the scientific and business communities.
• Through regular peer group meetings, you will build your own interdisciplinary peer support network and, through collegial discussion, realise that you are not alone in your experiences.

Mentors:

YOU are the best gift: support future generations of highly qualified women by sharing your personal experiences and advice.

Mentors may be professors, senior executives from the private or public sector, or entrepreneurs with several years’ professional experience. As a mentor, you act as a role model and informal point of contact, offering advice and support regarding your mentee’s personal and professional development.

Opportunities for mentors:

• Reflection on and appreciation of one’s own professional or academic career.
• Further development of counselling, communication, reflective and leadership skills.
• New inspiration and motivation for one’s own work.
• Expansion of one’s professional or academic network.
• To encourage and support future generations.