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Mentorship networks and the early career outcomes of college-educated women

Last registered on January 09, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Mentorship networks and the early career outcomes of college-educated women
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012396
Initial registration date
January 03, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 09, 2024, 10:42 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Brazil
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ana Paula Melo
Affiliation
Howard University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ursula Mello
PI Affiliation
INSPER
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PI Name
Maria Oaquim
PI Affiliation
Princeton University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-11-13
End date
2025-08-31
Keywords
Education, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Can mentorship programs improve vulnerable women’s attitudes toward job search and early career prospects? We will run a randomized controlled trial to evaluate a tailored online one-to-one mentorship program targeted at female college students from socially vulnerable groups in Brazil. We hypothesize that structured one-to-one mentoring programs increase self-confidence, job search readiness, employment rates, job quality, and the potential for career growth of vulnerable college women.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mello, Ursula , Ana Paula Melo and Maria Oaquim. 2024. "Mentorship networks and the early career outcomes of college-educated women." AEA RCT Registry. January 09. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12396-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Our trial will randomize access to a one-to-one mentorship program on soft skill training and career development.
Intervention (Hidden)
Our project aims to evaluate a one-to-one mentorship program provided by Alumna. The participants will undergo Alumna’s 6-month program on soft skill training and career development. The mentorship sessions occur once a month over five months. Mentors are composed exclusively of women with ten or more years of experience who will be matched to a mentee based on their shared characteristics such as field of study, career aspirations and choices, location, race, and socioeconomic background. The participants can also access employability-related videos parallel to the one-to-one mentoring sessions.

The mentorship component is the core of the program and is standardized. Mentors receive guidelines on how to conduct each meeting. Participants receive a detailed guide and an exercise book to work through the sessions. Each session has a duration of 60 minutes, with standard guidelines designed to cover the following topics: (i) empathy and goal setting, (ii) self-knowledge, (iii) opportunities’ map, CV, and LinkedIn; (iv) impostor syndrome, and (v) professional pitch, conclusion and future steps. In the sixth month, the participants are encouraged to participate in a final event with all the mentors and mentees to present a pitch of who they are and their future professional goals.
Intervention Start Date
2024-01-23
Intervention End Date
2024-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Confidence, job search readiness and expectations, internship/employment, re-employment and promotion, time to first job, wages.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
job satisfaction, job characteristics, and wages trajectory.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our experimental design is a stratified random allocation of applicants into treatment (those who will receive the program) and control (those who will not) groups among the final list of eligible applicants.
Experimental Design Details
Our experimental design is a stratified random allocation of applicants into treatment (those who will receive the program) and control (those who will not) groups among the final list of eligible applicants. Our eligibility target consists of (i) women enrolled in college at public or private universities in Brazil and (ii) women in early career.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
600 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
600 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
300 individuals to control and 300 to treatment (receive mentorship program).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Employment: 13.40% Wages: 16.56%
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Princeton University Research Integrity and Assurance
IRB Approval Date
2023-11-09
IRB Approval Number
IRB# 15829
IRB Name
INSPER Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2023-11-06
IRB Approval Number
N. 316/2023
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials