From September we will match at regular intervals. The program year officially starts on November 28th. Please note that we have about 3 times more mentors in the network than mentees and we cannot guarantee a match. Thank you for your understanding. As a mentor (whether with or without a mentee) you are a valuable member of our community!

1. MATCHING PROCESS:
After you have filled out and submitted the mentor form, you will join our pool. We will then work on the matching. After we have found the most suitable mentee for you and she has agreed to you as a mentor, we will send you her mentee form and her CV. If you also agree with her as a mentor, you will be matched. Both of you will then receive an email with further information.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We match primarily based on the match of the industry in which you work as a mentor and in which the mentee wants to work or position herself. You don’t have to be older or have completed the same degree as your mentee!

2. MENTORING KICK OFF (November): You get to know your mentee personally at the kick off at the beginning of the program year or via online onboarding in the following months (if you start the program later). We will introduce you to the mentoring and together you will clarify the expectations, goals and conditions of your mentoring. Finally, you sign a joint mentoring agreement.

3. MENTORING SESSIONS (December to October of the following year): After the kick-off, you will be available to advise your mentee once a month for approx. 1 hour in personal or online meetings. You give her insights into your industry and work practices, support her with her professional orientation, applications or provide her with contacts or networking insights. Be careful not to impose your own agenda on the, you don’t want to push the mentee in one direction or your own professional path. Give her space. You serve as a mere adviser. We would also encourage you to give each other feedback to evaluate the previous approaches and goals for the rest of the time together.

4. END OF MENTORING (end of October): You evaluate your mentoring year together (What went well? What could have been better?). In the best case, you will be matched with a new mentee in November—when the new program year begins. From now on you are welcome to remain in loose contact and maybe your former mentee will now become a mentor herself!

Our mentors have at least 5 years of professional experience in an industry or professional activity (however, traineeships and working student activities do not count). They come from sectors such as (social) entrepreneurship, strategy, communication, environmental and economic consulting, ministries, politics and political consulting, NGOs and think tanks, foundations and associations, development cooperation, TV and print journalism, film, blogging, public Relations, public affairs, human resources and personnel development, art, culture and digital economy, event management, sales, university and adult education, coaching and training, health, change and diversity management and many more.

Our mentors work in companies and organizations such as: Adelphi, Adidas, AOK, Foreign Office, Bitkom, Federal Press Office, Bundestag, Federal Ministry of Defense, Federal Employment Agency, Deloitte, Deutsche Welle, Die Welt, DKB, EditionF, Enorm Magazin, European Commission, EY, refugee shelter Berlin, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, start-up scene, Hexal, German Historical Museum, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, KPMG, PWC, Siemens, Sparkasse, Tagesspiegel, Talents4Good, Unicef, Vice Magazine, Zalando etc.

Our mentees are committed and motivated students, graduates and professionals of all age groups. They are very diverse! We also have mothers, women of color, women with migration experience as well as mentees from different countries. In order to meet the challenges these women have to face in their professional lives, we offer them additional services such as the peer-to-peer group “Family”.

Yes. You can already indicate in the mentor form whether your mentee should have a certain background, such as migration experience, a woman of color, with international roots or a socially disadvantaged environment. In the course of the matching process, we will send you the form and the CV of a mentee. At the same time, we send the mentee your form. We will only match you as a mentoring team if you both give each other a “go” as a mentor and mentee. This means: if you do not want mentoring with the mentee we have suggested, we will try to match you with someone else.

The mentee’s contribution to the success of the mentoring is that sees herself as the proactive part! As a mentor, you make an incredibly valuable contribution with your commitment – and should therefore not have to “chase after” the mentee. Rather, the mentee should ask you for mentoring sessions. It is best to arrange a new appointment for the coming month at the end of each mentoring session. Please make it clear to your mentee whether you prefer “open” or “structured” mentoring. With the former, she can ask you whatever questions are on her mind without any preparation. With structured mentoring, she should think about topics that she wants to discuss and/or questions that she then asks you in advance. Last but not least: the mentee should adapt to your time and location.

We are happy to provide our mentors with tools that they can use to prepare and support the mentoring sessions with their mentees, such as protocol templates for mentees to document the mentoring sessions, reflection exercises, SWOT and strengths analysis tools, etc.

We offer our mentors a lot for their voluntary commitment, because one thing is clear: MentorMe would not be possible without them! This means:

• Access to our MentorMe network
• Personal networking with other mentors
• Access to all MentorMe events
• Training for mentors
• Get-togethers for mentors
• Participation in sweepstakes

The complete program and the calendar of the current program year can be found in detail under “Program” and is constantly updated.

Yes! We have many mentees and mentors from all over Germany and beyond. Since we primarily match our mentoring teams in terms of content and not regionally (unless someone explicitly wants the mentee or mentor to come from the same region), many mentoring sessions take place online. In addition, many of our training and networking offers for our mentees and mentors are also broadcast online. However, we recommend coming to Berlin for the kick-off of the program year so that the mentee and mentor can get to know each other personally.

Yes! We keep getting inquiries from interested people who want to become mentors and have missed the admission phase before the start of the program, the kick-off at the start of the program and the first months of the program. These are then noted in our waiting list. If we have mentees on the waiting list who have not yet been matched and are a good match for you as a mentor, we will be happy to start the matching process with you.

Yes! If you and your mentee are willing to hold part of the mentoring online, that’s no problem at all. We also stream many of our trainings and networking opportunities for mentees and mentors via Skype, so you too can participate while you’re traveling.

Although it rarely happens, it can happen that the mentoring—be it for personal or professional reasons—does not materialize. Then we first try to find a solution for the mentee and mentor with the help of our MentorMe mediator. In most cases, this mediation helps and the mentoring can continue without any ambiguity. However, if that doesn’t help either, we’ll end the mentoring at this point and be happy to match you again.

None! Our mentors pay nothing for the MentorMe membership and our services: mentoring, training and networking, because without your great commitment MentorMe would not be possible!

If mentors want to become mentees themselves—because they want to reposition themselves in their profession—they pay the mentee fee for graduates and young professionals after one year of active mentoring.

The only MentorMe service that is not part of the program and stands on its own are our trainings. These cost a small participation fee. If the mentor has become a mentor through being part of a business cooperation, the trainings are also free!

No. Unfortunately, we cannot cover any travel costs for our events and networking as well as for the mentoring sessions.

As a social enterprise, we want to place as little financial burden on our mentees as possible. The contributions of our mentees therefore only cover our basic costs. Other costs are covered by partnerships and grants.

We have three mentee fees to be paid after successful matching:

• Mentee fee 1: € 834 incl. VAT – Applies to mentees who earn more than €1900/month (gross).
• Mentee fee 2: €534 incl. VAT – Applies to mentees earning less than €1900/month (gross) and to mentees who are also mentor.

Yes! At the end of the program or individually by arrangement, you will receive a participation certificate from us about your mentorship.

Mentoring does not replace psychological advice. It is also not a substantive implementation, but mentoring can include advisory aspects. The mentoring relationship does not have to be a friendship either. A mentor does not have to be exactly what you want to be in the future or how you used to be. A mentor does not have to be older than you or have the same degree as you. A mentor does not need a university degree. A greater wealth of experience and the knowledge advantage in a field of activity or an industry where you see your professional future are decisive. A mentor does not have to get you a job either, but can show you the necessary steps to your dream job and support you. A mentor will not ask you for mentoring sessions. It is your role and duty to organize regular meetings together.

1. MATCHING PROCESS: After completing the registration form and paying the registration fee of €30, you will be included in our mentee pool. If we have found a mentor for you, you will see the profile of the other person and only have to agree to each other. This is followed by the official matching mail with further information about the program and payment information for your mentee contribution.

2. MENTORING START: At the kick-off in Berlin at the beginning of the program year, you will get to know your mentor personally. If you are unable to take part in the kick-off or if you join later, online onboarding is available to you. We will introduce you to mentoring and together you will clarify expectations, goals and limits of your mentoring.

3. MENTORING SESSIONS: Your mentor will be available to advise you once a month for about an hour – in person or by phone, Skype or Zoom. Longer or more frequent mentoring sessions are at the discretion of the mentor. She/he gives you insights into the world of work and work practice, supports you in your professional orientation or your (re)positioning in the job and connects you with contacts. The mentor does not have an agenda of his own, neither does he want to push you in a particular direction, nor does he want to impose his own professional path. The mentor is there to accompany and advise you on your professional path. Feedback talks on mentoring are also ideal (What is going well? What can be improved?). At the end of the six-month period, evaluate the previous approach and goals for the remaining time together.

4. END OF MENTORING: You evaluate your mentoring year together (What went well? What could have been better?). Don’t forget to thank your mentor! Because their voluntary commitment is fantastic, makes MentorMe possible in the first place and should be appreciated.

Our more than 800 mentors have at least 5 years of professional experience. They come from sectors such as (social) entrepreneurship, strategy, communication, environmental and economic consulting, ministries, politics and political consulting, NGOs and think tanks, foundations and associations, development cooperation, TV and print journalism, film, blogging, public Relations, public affairs, human resources and personnel development, art, culture and digital economy, event management, sales, university and adult education, coaching and training, health, change and diversity management and much more

Our mentors are in management, consultants, founders/self-employed, CEOs, department heads, speakers, coaches, trainers, work in HR/recruitment, are creative & analysts, academics & career changers. They come from sectors such as (social) entrepreneurship, strategy, communication, environmental and economic consulting, ministries, politics and political consulting, NGOs and think tanks, foundations and associations, development cooperation, TV and print journalism, film & radio, blogging , Public Relations, Public Affairs, Human Resources and Personnel Development, Art, Culture and Digital Economy, Design, Event Management, Sales, E-Commerce, University and Adult Education, Coaching and Training, Health, Change, Innovation and Diversity Management, development cooperation, environmental management and much more

Our mentors work in companies and organizations such as: Adelphi, Adidas, AOK, Employment Agency, Federal Foreign Office, Bitkom, BMW, Federal Press Office, Bundestag, Federal Ministry of Defense, Deloitte, Deutsche Welle, Die Welt, DKB, Enorm Magazin, European Commission, EY, Facebook, refugee shelter, Friedrich Naumann Foundation, start-up scene, Hexal, German Historical Museum Berlin, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, KPMG, McKinsey, PayFit, Porsche, PWC, Siemens, Sparkasse, Tagesspiegel, Talents4Good, United Nations, Unicef, Vice Magazine, Zalando etc.

As part of the matching process, we will send you the mentor profile that suits you best. We also send your profile to the mentor. Only if you give each other a “Go” will we match you to a mentoring team. This means: If you do not want mentoring with a mentor suggested by us, we will respond to your wishes and suggest a second mentor. If, contrary to expectations, it still doesn’t work, we will always try our best to find a suitable mentor based on your wishes.

In addition to 12 months of your individual mentoring, we offer a comprehensive training and networking & event program for mentees and mentors. Here you will find our constantly updated, complete program .

Our mentees are students, doctoral students, graduates (approx. 25%) and young professionals (approx. 75%). They are between 25 and 50 years old. Our mentees come from all fields of study, industries and jobs. Most of them live in Germany, but some also come from abroad. There are mothers, women of color, doctoral students, job seekers, employees, expats, self-employed and founders and those who want to become one.

Yes! We have many mentees and mentors from all over Germany and beyond worldwide. Since we primarily match our mentoring teams in terms of content and not regionally (unless someone explicitly wants their mentee or mentor to come from the same region or city), many mentoring sessions take place online. In addition, many of our training and networking offers for our mentees and mentors are broadcast online, so that those who do not live in Berlin or Germany or who are temporarily staying somewhere else can also take part. As a replacement for the kick-off event for the program year, we also offer several online onboarding sessions for mentees and mentors who cannot come to Berlin.

However, what we cannot do: take over or subsidize the travel expenses to our events.

Note: Due to the current Corona situation, all events – apart from a few regulars’ tables – are currently taking place online via zoom.

Many of our training and networking offers for our mentees and mentors are broadcast online, so that those who do not live in Berlin or Germany or who are temporarily in another country can also participate.

Here’s what we offer online (and what we don’t):

1. TRAINING:

• Career Vision : Where am I and where do I want to go? (online participation possible)
• Networking : How do I approach others and create a network? (online participation possible)
• Negotiating: How to win in salary and position talks? (online participation possible)
• Rhetoric : How do I persuade others through verbal and non-verbal rhetoric? (NO online participation possible)

Our mentors offer additional lectures and short workshops. If technically possible and made possible by our cooperation partners in their locations, these will be broadcast live online. Here is a selection of the lectures:

• Personal branding on LinkedIn : How do I make a professional impression on LinkedIn and how do I position myself as a brand/expert?
• Coping with job-related crises of meaning: How do I get out of my job and into a job that gives me meaning and fulfillment?
• Project management : How does it work and which tools can I quickly acquire?
• Courage in the work context: How can I be more self-confident in my job?
• My journey from expert to trusted advisor : How do I make the leap from expert to advisor?
• International career : How do I work worldwide?

2. NETWORKING EVENTS:

• An evening with experts : The evenings with 5-6 experts from various sectors (e.g. consulting, foundations, HR, training & coaches, NGOs & social startups, politics, communication, women bosses) in Berlin and other metropolises offer insights in sectors and personal careers of the experts. Except for the evening with tech experts, these events take place in Berlin. (online participation possible)
• Visits to companies and organizations: Office tours and Q&As in Berlin and other major cities (such as the Federal Foreign Office, BMI, Federal Press Office, Bundestag, EY, Facebook, Google, Zalando, Gründerszene, Gruner & Jahr) offer insight into work cultures and about people and people opportunities for advancement. Most of the visits take place in Berlin and occasionally in other German metropolises. If our hosts allow it, they will be transmitted online. (online participation in the Q&A sessions with employees from the various companies is possible, provided that the respective employer allows this and it is technically feasible)
• “Job Interview Session” in Berlin offers our mentees the opportunity to run through job interviews with several “interviewers” and receive feedback on their performance. (online participation NOT possible due to the interactivity of the format)
• “Let’s Network” event in Berlin offers mentees the opportunity to meet many interesting mentors. (online participation NOT possible due to the interactivity of the format)
• Lunch & After Work Sessions: Our mentors offer lectures on various topics (such as money mindset) in Berlin and other major cities. (online participation possible, provided that the partner locations allow this and make it technically possible)
• Get-Together for Mentors: You serve to exchange ideas about mentoring and to network our mentors in Berlin and other major cities. (online participation possible; exclusively for mentors)
• Community groups: There are peer-to-peer groups in many German cities for networking our mentees: the groups, such as the Young Professionals, Moms & Dads, the applicants, women with migration experience, mentees for intl. Cooperation, doctoral students, mentees in Bavaria, Hamburg, NRW, Main-Rhein, Leipzig and Brussels. The meetings offer monthly networking opportunities in German metropolises. (Themed events usually offer online participation. Local groups do not offer online participation)

Yes! We keep getting inquiries from interested women who missed the admission phase before the start of the program (August to November of each year), the kick-off at the start of the program (November of each year) and the first few months of the program. As long as we still have mentors in our mentor pool who have not yet been matched and who suit you as a mentee, we will be happy to match and include you in our program year.

In this case, we recommend a mentor who is a coach by profession or through an additional qualification. Because coaches can accompany you in your career finding process in a targeted manner and with the help of professional tools and techniques to find your direction.

The very best match is no guarantee for your advancement! Don’t forget that our mentors are volunteers! So they shouldn’t have to run after you. Rather, you should see yourself as a proactive part! Therefore, ask your mentor for mentoring sessions and arrange the next appointment after each session. Prepare for each session conscientiously and thoroughly and complete the agreed tasks. Think of topics and questions you want to discuss. You should also adapt to the temporal and local possibilities of the mentor. Speak openly about your current challenges and build a relationship with your mentor based on honesty and transparency. In this way you show that the time and energy spent together are well invested. Your mentor is there to help you. Use this chance! Last but not least: Share your professional successes with your mentor. He/she will be happy as if they were their own.

It can happen that the mentoring does not take place for personal or professional reasons. In such cases, we try to find a solution for the mentee and mentor with the help of a mediator. This usually works and the mentoring can then be continued. However, if that does not help, we will speak to the mentee and the mentor and, if desired, can end the mentoring.

We have many mentors who are entrepreneurs (and thus former founders) or management consultants and are therefore very experienced in business development. For women who want to start a business, such mentors are an enormous help and worth their weight in gold, because nobody with a start-up project can cover all the areas that are needed to launch a product or service on their own.

Yes! If you’re a mom, we invite you to our community for Moms & Dads in addition to your regular membership. The offers especially benefit parents, incl. GetTogethers, fireside chats with professionally successful mothers, evenings with coaches and HR professionals who give mothers tips on application processes in particular. In addition, training courses that offer parents solution strategies for more work-life balance and compatibility.

We have set up an exclusive group on Facebook for our mentees and mentors, to which we will invite you after the match. Job advertisements are often posted in this group – often with personal contacts to employers or employees at the respective companies. Furthermore, we like to network our mentees personally in the lively professional network of MentorMe. We have already been able to get many mentees into employment.

As a social enterprise, we want to burden our mentees as little as possible. Your contribution is based on your financial situation. After registration you pay a registration fee of 30€. This will be deducted from you when you pay your mentee fee (regardless of whether it is a one-time payment or installments). The mentee contribution is only due after successful matching. This way you are guaranteed to only pay if you are happy with your match!

Our annual program contributions

• (Young) Professional (778 €)
• Student, (Young) Professional below minimum wage (534 €)
• Alumni mentee, mentor, scholarship holder (411€)

(also payable monthly in 6 installments plus €5 administration fee/instalment)

The partial contribution of our mentees for matching with a mentor is tax-exempt. The partial contribution for our training as well as networking and event offers represents further training, the costs of which can be claimed for tax purposes depending on your professional status. So submit the invoice for the mentee contribution as part of your annual tax return.

As a social enterprise, we want to make sure that everyone who is interested can afford to participate in the MentorMe program! If you pay our lowest contribution incl. of social discounts, can not pay, send us a confidential email. We will find a way together!

No. Unfortunately, we cannot cover travel expenses for events or mentoring sessions.

Yes! You will receive a certificate of participation from us at the end of the program or individually by arrangement.

Yes. We want our mentees to continue to benefit from our service offerings and strong career network after the end of the program year. In addition, former mentees can participate in all MentorMe networking events and training courses for a fee and remain in the MentorMe Inside group on Facebook – free of charge. At the same time, we are happy when former mentees repeat the program again or become mentors themselves, because that is the cycle of “give & take” that we initiate.

Of course! Just write us an email .