Marco Giovanni Nieddu (University of Cagliari)
Michele Giannola, Lorenzo Pandolfi and Valeria Zurla
Despite decades of convergence, large gender gaps in labor market outcomes persist. These gaps often emerge immediately after graduation, making the school-to-work transition a natural point for intervention. This paper studies whether women-to-women mentoring can improve young womens preparedness for this transition. We evaluate a mentoring initiative for female STEM masters students in Southern Italy that matches them with experienced female professionals, using a randomized design based on oversubscription across two cohorts of applicants. We find that, at the end of the six-month program, treated students have higher GPA, engage more in job-search preparation, and report greater awareness of job opportunities, labor market demand, and interview readiness. They are also more likely to report that they would negotiate over compensation and to place greater value on job security. By contrast, we find no effects on self-confidence or self-esteem. Overall, the results suggest that mentoring can improve labor market preparedness and shape how young women evaluate opportunities at a critical transition point.