Career Mentoring for STEM Doctoral Candidates

During the group mentoring a tandem of two mentees will receive counselling by experienced managers and executives from various fields of work in industry and society. The mentors have successfully stepped outside academia after their doctoral projects and they are sharing their experience and knowledge about structures, strategies, and processes in their new jobs. They also support the mentees in planning their career, provide orientation in the application process and answer career related questions.

In addition, peer groups of four to five mentees are formed. In peer mentoring, mentees exchange ideas on career-related topics in regular, structured meetings. Peer mentoring offers an intensive exchange of experiences as well as mutual motivation and support. Possible focal points of the exchange can be, for example: developing a career strategy, mutual feedback on application documents and social media profiles.

The groups can determine the frequency of the meetings themselves. However, at least one meeting every two months is recommended for peer mentoring and at least one meeting every three months for group mentoring.

The programme starts with a one-day preparatoy workshop. This prepares the mentees for the programme and helps them to define their career goals more precisely. In further workshops, the doctoral researchers acquire important skills and knowledge that are necessary for the transition to academia, for example assessment centre training or how to conduct salary negotiations.

Some of the workshops will take place as workshops on site at the Graduate Academy, shorter workshops will take place virtually via online platforms. Participation in these workshops is mandatory for the mentees.