Abstract:

Even today, highly qualified women still can encounter obstacles when aspiring to leadership positions in academia or business. As a development measure for professional and personal development and career advancement, mentoring can help young women achieve equal participation in professional life.

This article deals with Women in Logistics Mentoring, a practical example of how a mentoring programme can be implemented through university–industry cooperation. The DamenLogistikClub, an Austrian networking association for women in logistics, in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna, initiated this all-female mentoring programme. Because women are underrepresented in the industry at about 20% of all employees, they are becoming increasingly interesting as potential employees. The male-dominated sector is also confronted with a low perception of professional and career opportunities and a subjectively low attractiveness of the occupational field, so it is important to make the sector more attractive for young, well-educated women and to point out career paths to them.

In this programme, mentees are supported in recognising and developing their skills and competences and in integrating them more purposefully into their career planning. This makes it easier to gain a firm foothold in the labour market from the beginning. Often, mentoring programmes result in professional and personal bonds that go beyond the period of the actual mentoring programme. Through exchanges with women from the field, mentees gain a deeper insight into the customs in the industry and into real professional practice. The benefit for the mentors lies in the opportunity to reflect on and improve their own behaviour and leadership style – in other words, insight into the professional situation of the mentees opens up new perspectives from which the mentors benefit in their everyday professional lives. Through accompanying public relations work, the mentors and their companies position themselves as progressive employers and managers.

As part of the programme concept design, the expectations of young female bachelor’s and master’s degree program graduates in logistics and transport management were surveyed and taken into account. During the programme, there is ongoing evaluation by the mentees and mentors. This article not only deals with the steps leading to the start of the programme, but also describes its ongoing scientific monitoring. Experiences from this practical project can support companies and educational institutions not just from the logistics sector and facilitate the implementation of non-sector-specific mentoring programmes.

Keywords:

Mentoring, women in logistics, career.