Below you will find the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about CheMento, the mentoring programme of the GDCh.
Is your question not listed? Then send us a message to mentoring@gdch.de
Mentoring is a proven instrument for promoting young talent and personnel development in companies, universities and other organisations.
The term mentoring describes the personal relationship between an experienced person (mentor) and a less experienced person (mentee) to support personal and professional development.
CheMento is designed as one-to-one mentoring, i.e. one mentor supervises one mentee.
A mentor is a person with (professional) experience who offers assistance with personal and professional development issues. CheMento involves experienced chemists (at least 3 to 5 years in the profession) who work in business, science or administration.
The conditions of participation can be found on the "Information for mentors" pages (see also "who can participate?").
A mentee is a person with little (professional) experience who receives support in their personal and professional development. CheMento is aimed at students and doctoral candidates who are about to start their careers as well as young graduates from all areas of chemistry. The conditions of participation can be found on the "Information for mentees" pages (see also "who can participate?").
The term tandem refers to the pairing of mentor and mentee following a matching process. CheMento is carried out with a maximum of 30 tandems
.Important criteria for the selection process are technical and professional orientation, personal development and the geographical distance between the places of residence. However, the personal interests and experience of the mentees and mentors also play an important role.
The aim of the matching process is to assign suitable mentors to all mentees selected for the programme. This means that suitable tandem partners are selected from a pool of potential mentors.It will therefore not be possible to assign a mentee to every person registered as a mentor.
Yes, that is possible. In the application form, mentees should state their expectations and wishes for the mentor, among other things. However, it is not possible to specify a preferred mentor.
The registration deadline (mentors) and application deadline (mentees) is 15 October 2023. As the framework programme provides for three joint events for the participants, CheMento is designed with a common start for all participants. It is therefore not possible to join the programme on an ongoing basis.
Applications for mentees will be possible again from autumn 2023. Mentors can apply throughout the year.Your data will be treated confidentially and only for the purpose of the mentoring programme. Apart from the GDCh Career Service, no other GDCh employees have access to the data.
Contact details of the participants will be provided to the respective tandem partner (mentee and mentor) at the end of the matching phase so that the mentee can get in touch.
The review of the documents and the matching process will take place from mid-October to the end of November 2023 . Afterwards, the advisory board will make the official decision on the participation of the applicants.
All mentee applicants and mentors will be notified by the beginning of December.
At the moment we only have 30 tandem places. This means that not all applicants will be able to take part.
Based on the wishes and expectations of the mentee applications, which are formulated in the application form, we try to find a suitable mentor or mentee. Unfortunately, this does not always work out. This means that there is not a suitable mentor for every mentee candidate.The selection is therefore not based on particular qualifications or "hardship cases".
Based on the wishes and expectations formulated in the mentee application form, we try to find a suitable mentor for these mentees. This means that not every mentor can be assigned a mentee. Not being considered is therefore not a judgement of the mentor's qualifications.
No, participation in CheMento is free of charge. All active participants (mentees and mentors) must bear their own travel and accommodation costs.
Even if the mentors work on a voluntary basis, the programme incurs costs. These include, for example, personnel costs for the office staff involved in the organisation, costs for materials (flyers, information for participants, etc.) and events (premises, catering).
These costs are borne by the GDCh and therefore by its members. As the vast majority of members therefore support the programme without benefiting from it, we consider it appropriate that those who actually benefit from it also make their own contribution to CheMento.
Travel costs can be kept low with carpools, car-sharing agencies, long-distance buses and low rail fares and even though personal contact is very important, some meetings can also be held via Skype. In our view, this does not place an undue burden on mentees.
The Advisory Board reviews and ensures that the implementation of CheMento meets the expectations and objectives of the GDCh Executive Board. It has the final decision on the composition of the tandems (matching).
The following GDCh structures each send one member to the Advisory Board:Chair of the advisory board is Dr Hildegard Nimmesgern (AKCC).
At the GDCh office, CheMento is part of the Careers Service. The contact person is Yasmin Yasin, mentoring@gdch.de, telephone 069 7917-665.