Mentoring in the Induction Phase: Effective Mentoring for Career Starters in Austria – A Gender Comparison

Abstract

This article presents and discusses the results of a nationwide survey conducted in Austria among young professionals (n = 742), focusing on their self-assessment of the importance of mentoring support, mentoring style, and mentoring collaboration during the induction phase. The quantitative analysis includes frequency distributions and p-values based on the Mann–Whitney U test, with a particular focus on gender differences.

The data is based on feedback from teachers (n = 742) in their first year of service. Notably, male career starters report particularly high satisfaction with mentoring support. They also place greater value on informal discussions and feel that their actions are more closely monitored compared to their female counterparts. However, in many aspects of mentoring style and collaboration, no statistically significant gender differences were found.