Theresa Boiger
Alumni in Portrait May 2022
One thing is certain: mentoring works. In recent years, numerous mentoring tandems have been able to write their own personal success stories with Career Mentoring at the University of Graz. One of these stories, is that of Theresa Boiger. Read how the USW graduate experienced her mentorship as a mentee in the current alumni portrait.
How did you and your mentor organize your mentorship?
After the mentorship started, we wrote to each other about every two months to see if we could meet. That went on for about a year. During that time, we met six or seven times. For me, that was a very good, continuous rhythm, seeing each other about every two months. After that, we unofficially ended the mentorship and saw each other again at the online networking event "ESCAPE the Office.
What were themes in your mentorship?
At the beginning, we talked about USW, about our department. But because I wasn't quite clear yet where I wanted to go, I then asked very general questions, such as "How can you get along well with colleagues at work?", "How do you behave in certain professional situations?" "What are the general conditions at work like?" or even how my mentor plans to achieve her goals. My mentor then told me what it's like at her company now [note: automotive industry] and what it was like before that at university when she worked there. For example, she told me about the differences in priority setting or corporate communications. She also told me, for example, that in her current industry, more importance is attached to business attire than at university.
Did you have a mentoring log in which you recorded your findings?
I didn't keep a logbook in the sense that I continuously wrote something down. I rather did it in such a way that I already had a certain topic before our meetings. To do that, I thought of questions, sent them to my mentor, and then took notes on those questions at the meeting. So I have notes from all of the meetings of my mentor's answers that have helped me.
Has your mentorship sharpened your professional image for USW alumni?
I don't know if I would put it that way. I would rather say it's the other way around. It was more of a "look beyond" and gave me a broader view with all the trappings. The view was rather opened, in all possible directions. But maybe that's study-specific because with USW you can go into so many different industries.
Was there anything you missed in the mentoring program?
During my mentoring period, we had fewer networking events than planned due to the pandemic. That was a shame. It would have been nice to have several of these events where you could get to know the others. I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go at the beginning of the mentorship. So I wanted to get more vision through the mentoring program. Getting to know other mentors, as planned, would of course have been very helpful.
Anything you'd like to say in closing?
I think it's great that the program exists. That you can start a mentorship easily, even without concrete ideas. Even writing to someone can often be a hurdle.