Hands On Mentoring / Coaching for young people looking for work and apprenticeships

"Hands on Mentoring" is a mentoring project of the Catholic Action of the Archdiocese of Vienna. Here, experienced mentors support and supervise young people (mentees) during one year, 1x per week for 1.5 hours, on their way into the world of work or apprenticeship. With Hands on Mentoring, young people find support throughout the entire application process. Mentee and mentor go on a joint search for interests and strengths, practice job interviews, learn about occupational fields, work on the perfect application documents and create career plans together.

Success story Albin and Christoph

Mentee Christoph joined Hands on Mentoring in September 2020. He became aware of the mentoring program through a press article for which Hands On was looking for mentees. Christoph is Austrian, 21 years old, a motivated young man. Christoph had already achieved a considerable amount before coming to Hands on Mentoring. After being taught in primary school and NMS according to the special needs curriculum, he completed a four-year course at the Fachschule für Chemie in the 17th district in Vienna, from which he successfully graduated in June 2019 as a chemical technician specializing in chemical technology and environmental engineering.

Christoph's strengths are clearly in the technical laboratory field. He came to Hands on Mentoring to be coached for employment in a chemistry lab, specifically needing support regarding his self-presentation and how to perfectly present his strengths and resources at an interview. He also asked for support in strengthening his self-esteem and in researching and contacting relevant chemistry labs.

Christoph then got the perfect mentor, Albin, CEO of a large company that manufactures packaging materials. Albin is very active in the church and, among other things, is a board member of Radio Maria. He is considered one of the most successful mentors at Hands On with impressive skills and resources. Albin works in an extremely goal-, strength- and resource-oriented way and immediately recognized the areas in which Christoph needed support.

Right away in September 2020, Albin and Christoph got to know each other personally at the premises of Hands on Mentoring and immediately began to work together on self-presentation and goals for Christoph. They practiced job interviews intensively once a week for about 2 hours and researched jobs in the laboratory field. Soon after, Christoph received an invitation to a job interview in a large laboratory in Niederösterreich. Once again, they both worked intensively on his presentation - with success. Very soon after the interview, Christoph was accepted as a laboratory assistant. Since then he has been working in the aforementioned laboratory and is very satisfied and happy. Congratulations on this great success!

Success story Florian and Janine

Florian came to Hands on Mentoring in May 2020. He had successfully completed his compulsory education in 2019 and started to look for a suitable apprenticeship. He did not yet know exactly what profession he wanted to take up, but had a lot of ideas. From e-commerce merchant to plumber to carpenter and forestry technician, there were many options to choose from.

Through his mentor Janine, who worked with him in a goal- and resource-oriented way, he learned about his strengths and talents. Through intensive, weekly mentoring, Florian was able to identify which profession best suited him. After an internship as a carpenter, which did not really suit him, he started an inter-company apprenticeship at the Berufsförderungsinstitut BFI in Vienna. This gave him a decisive insight into the work of a plumber and he finally applied for an internship with a plumber. He liked it very much. Florian was taken on as an apprentice by the installation company and began his training in mid-March 2021.