Under the title "Taking the lead as a woman", the joint mentoring program of the Hochschule Niederrhein, the Unternehmerschaft Niederrhein and the Krefeld network "Leading Ladies in Town" has given young female graduates of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering initial help on their way to becoming qualified specialists and managers. After nine months, the pilot project has now reached its degree on the premises of Unternehmerschaft Niederrhein - with a positive balance.

"The program has provided the young mentees with very extensive, important experience," agree Prof. Ralf Kampker, Faculty of Industrial Engineering, and HSNR's Equal Opportunity Officer, Dr. Sandra Laumen. "The young women have opened up to their mentors from industry. In a trusting atmosphere, they not only defined clear goals, but also revealed per-sonal hurdles and challenges that hindered them on their way there." The protected space of the mentoring program was the perfect setting for this, says Dr. Laumen. "Leaving your comfort zone is easier when you know you're in a safe environment than later in the middle of your career."

Hannah Brockmann (25), a graduate of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering at the Hochschule Niederrhein in Krefeld, can only agree. As a mentee, she worked intensively on herself and her goals in tandem with Ella Seel (42) from Pierburg GmbH in Neuss and learned a lot from the experienced HR manager with management responsibility. "My mentor helped me to evaluate myself differently. She changed my self-assessment by making my strengths clear and giving me insights into everyday professional life. This has taken away my fear of the unknown, given me more confidence, and made me strong."

"Ms. Brockmann has undergone incredible development," mentor Ella Seel is also pleased. "She has learned to reflect on her own actions differently, to see herself and her possibilities in a new way. From my point of view, this equips her well for a successful start to her professional life!" First, however, Hannah Brockmann wants to start her Master's degree programme in industrial engineering and devote herself to an advanced course in production and logistics. "I wish her every success in this endeavor and will of course continue to be happy to provide her with advice and support beyond the project period," says Seel.

Now that the mentoring program has reached its degree, Dr. Inge Röhnelt also feels that the goals have been met. "The pilot project has not only given the mentees and their mentors experience about themselves, but also us about the target group," says the project manager. The fact that nine out of ten mentors also want to be available for a second round speaks for itself. "Nevertheless, we are taking away concrete work assignments for an advanced course in mentoring. For example, we want to focus the program more on very practical things, offer more company visits and initiate smaller projects as part of the mentoring, and include the topic of "application checks with HR managers" in the program." In addition, the transition from studies to work should come into focus. "The goal of leadership has been a bit off-putting for some mentees," Dr. Röhnelt said. "None climb the career ladder to the very top immediately after studies. So in the future, we want to take it one step at a time and put capable specialists with potential before leaders first."

As part of the mentoring program, ambitious young women were given nine months of support from executives from Lower Rhine member companies of Unternehm-merschaft Niederrhein, who helped the female graduates develop a professional identity. "The impetus for our commitment as an employers' association was to use this program to leverage acquisition potential for the economy on the left bank of the Lower Rhine, which we need more urgently than ever, especially in view of the shortage of skilled workers," says Managing Director Kirsten Wittke-Lemm. "Targeted matching brings together ambitious mentees with an affinity for mint and committed executives from our member companies. This is an initial point of contact for gaining the female executives of tomorrow from practical application for practical application - and especially in areas with a technical focus. So it's an absolute win-win situation!"

The mentoring program "Taking the lead as a woman" is to be extended to other faculties of the Hochschule Niederrhein in the coming year. The Faculty of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Chemistry, and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science are under discussion.