Mentoring works! Testimonials of Mentees and Mentors

The concept of SciMento is successful, as the evaluation of the first regular programme, which ran from 2008 to 2010, showed. Mentees reported the helpful support of SciMento, especially in dealing with questions related to career planning, compatibility of family and career, efficient networking and in general strengthening their self-confidence as female scientists. An external evaluation by the University of Hildesheim (Prof. Dr. Inga Truschkat and team) was able to document how the SciMento programme supports the career paths of female scientists by encouraging reflection and the solving of problems. The following quotes are taken from that survey:

‘(For me), the first meeting with my mentor (…) was the most exciting point. We met at the opening seminar at Marburg. It was the first time for me that I could talk in private to a female professor from the natural sciences apart from subject-related topics. My mentor was open from the first moment and shared with us mentees how she had achieved her career. In doing so, she included her own family planning. It impressed me that despite her relatively young age she has already achieved so much. Through that she became kind of my role model.’

SciMento can also help with practical, current problems:

‘When I talked about my article in our meeting with the mentor (the article had been rejected twice before), our mentor supported me and emphasized repeatedly that this is a common thing to happen, but one should never give up! That impressed me and I won’t forget it. I submitted the article anew a bit later and at the end of last year, it was published!’

 

Further Statements of former Mentees:

‘SciMento is for me the perfect complement to my PhD course. Being in the lab, doing all those interesting experiments, one often lacks the time to think about one’s own career, a postdoc job or perhaps even about a professorship. By participating in the SciMento programme it became clear to me which kind of career would be the right one for me and what I have to do to reach my aim. Of course, I have to invest time and energy, but after the experiences of the last two years, I can only say: it was absolutely worth it and moreover it was a lot of fun.’ (Jeannette Meister, Mentee 2009-2011)

'Through my peer group at SciMento I have managed to approach the writing up phase of my PhD in a much more structured way. Because my PhD lengthened a bit due to the birth of my two children (the second was born in the middle of my writing up time), the guidelines I developed at the beginning are worth their weight in gold to keep it rolling.' (Deborah Clever, Mentee 2009-2011)

'SciMento has really supported me in the application process for professorships and in the negotiations. The workshops were especially helpful. But our mentee group provided the necessary moral support. Within our meetings of the three of us, we discussed professional challenges as well as private ones. Because the balancing of private life and career, especially after a move to a new town, is not particularly easy, we three are still in contact and support each other.' (Olivia Merkel, Mentee 2008-2010)

'For me, the strength of the mentoring programme SciMento is particularly high in the exchange with other PhD students in the same life phase about our shared insecurities in relation to life planning. (…) Often the problems come into perspective in the framework of this exchange and the experiences of the others help me to view my own situation from a new perspective – and approach. In addition, SciMento provided the opportunity for me to acquire further professional knowledge – on the one hand because of the discipline consistent composition of the mentee groups by the SciMento team and on the other because of the big meeting events with all the mentees and professors. For me personally, I benefitted from a workshop provided by SciMento: ‘Profile and position yourself within academe’, led by Dr. Silke Oehrlein-Karpi. It made me think for the first time about a career in academia and recognize that I had already gathered quite a lot of abilities and competencies for following this path. This workshop gave me a lot of energy, optimism and strength. Now, nearly one year after the workshop, I have finished my PhD with a very good grade and could immediately start a postdoc job. A large part of this success is down to the exchange provided within the SciMento programme, personally and professionally, and the transferred competencies.' (Katja Heubach, Mentee 2009-2011)

The female and male mentors gain their own benefits:

 

 

I know both sides of the programme because I was a mentee in the Frankfurt pilot programme as a junior professor. I would have profited more from the programme if I had joined it much earlier in my career in order to gain the understanding of the German ‘university’ system and research that is provided by the insider tips of experienced professors. As a foreigner in Germany I had to learn many things by trial and error. In the meantime I know that German PhD students and postdocs also have to fight with the same problems and sometimes don’t find their way through. Therefore it is extremely important that female junior scientists are pointed towards possible career paths while they are still in the PhD phase, that role models are provided and point out that this path (into professorship) is manageable. Perhaps we can make a contribution along with SciMento to get more women into higher career paths. I enjoy my role as a mentor very much and I always look forward to meeting my new mentees. (Prof. Tikkanen, University of Giessen, mentee 2005 to 2007, mentor 2009-2011 and 2011-2013)

‘In my perception as mentor in the SciMento programme, mentoring is a give-and-take and induces a constant self-reflection by the mentor. The circumstance that one is working as kind of a sparring partner with the mentee results in thinking about one’s own developed strategies and behaviours. Many times I left our meetings with the distinct feeling of having learned a lot. I can only hope that I was able to return similar knowledge.’ (Prof. Dr. Enrico Schleiff, Mentor 2008-2010)

‘SciMento gave me new and partly surprising insights into the thoughts and worries that occupy our young scientists. By working with my mentees I also gained a better feeling for my own employees. As a mentor one functions as a provider of advice and sometimes also as a provider of ideas, but it is reciprocated a lot, also in the non-scientific areas. This possibility to reflect on my own life path and my own problem-solving strategies was very good for me.’ (Prof. Dr. Joachim Kirsch, Mentor 2008-2010)