With far fewer academic positions available than there are people with
PhDs, the traditional path from student to postdoc to professor is no
longer the norm. But besides that, there are many reasons why you might
want to leave academia. Maybe you want a more secure job, want to get in
contact with clients, or just don't like research anymore. Luckily,
there are more jobs out there than you might realize! The process of job
hunting can be confusing and intimidating. This collection of tips will
help you to identify your strengths and the industry you want to move
into and finally find a career entry that fits your interests.
Where can I get insights into specific positions?
We
all know former lab members or fellow students who have moved on to
non-academic careers. Ask them what they do now, if they are happy, and
what kind of additional qualifications they had, suggests career coach
Ulrike Schneeberg (http://deinemonster.de/), whom I met last year at a career day organized by the FU in Dahlem.
Job
shadowing is also a great opportunity to find out if a job will suit
you. Some universities offer programs, but you can as well just ask your
acquaintances who work in a job you would like to get to know better.
If you are eager and self-confident, you can also directly contact
companies; it will for sure make a good impression. If you are about to
graduate, do not cancel your studentship just yet: companies prefer to
give away internships to students than to recent-graduates.
How do I get familiar with the job lingo?
Online
job portals will help you figure out what names the jobs have and what
specific skills are listed for the different job titles.
Check the
job descriptions of your networking contacts and contact those whose
job descriptions sound interesting to you. Most people are happy to
report about their job and how they got there. Reach out to people in
different jobs, ask if you could meet them for a coffee to ask career
questions or interview them for a few minutes on the phone. I can
personally report that it is incredibly helpful to get some inside
information.
Do I have the right skills?
Browse
through job offers and carefully read the descriptions. Ask yourself if
you have the essential qualifications. If not, what could you do to
gain additional expertise? Maybe you can join a project from a
befriended lab, or take a course at your university or online while
finishing your degree? However, don’t let the lists of desired skills
intimidate you. Most employers are open for applicants who do not have a
final degree that exactly matches the industrial sector or job opening
if the application is convincing.
How do I structure my job search?
Career coach Ulrike Schneeberg suggests making a timeline to structure your
job hunt efficiently. For example: by the end of next month you should
have interviewed five people with jobs that sound interesting. Upon
completion, reflect if your view has changed and eventually schedule
another round of browsing job options and setting up informational
interviews. Then narrow your career options down to a few choices that
align best with your skills and interests. Having completed this step,
it makes sense to start writing your resume, CV and parts of a cover
letter tailored to the specific positions and industry. This is a very
crucial step - take your time and go over it several times. Show them to
your friends and colleagues (maybe even to this person who holds your
dream job). Some applications may require references; ask your
supervisors early enough if they would be willing to write you a
recommendation letter. Most of the time they will be happy to do so, but
won’t have much time. In this case, draft a reference yourself, so your
referee will only need to edit and update it.
How do I get the attention of prospect employers?
Tell
your friends and colleagues that you are looking for a new job. This
will increase the likelihood of being offered a position which is not on
the public market.
At career fairs, you can get directly in
contact with recruitment managers. If you make a good impression and
give them your contact detail, you are already one step closer to your
dream job.
According to recruiting managers, it is highly
recommended to participate in online job portals. More and more
companies follow the trend to search suitable candidates themselves or
work with recruiting agencies. If you want to be found, make sure to
include the right buzzwords in your profile.
Where do I find job adverts?
Most companies advertise their openings online. The biggest resources are LinkedIn (for the international job search), Xing (the most important platform in Germany) and Indeed, but don’t forget to check out more local portals and those specific to the sector you are looking at, such as yourfirm, jobmehappy, jobworld.de, or stepstone.
However,
also check out individual company homepages, as not all openings are
shared in online job portals. Interestingly, many small- and
medium-sized businesses still advertise in print media. Thus getting a
copy of your local newspaper might be a good idea as well.
A great resource are also Laborjournal, academics, duz wissenschaftskarriere, Science Jobs DE, Sci-Tec Career, and Wila Bonn. Those looking for international jobs, will find interesting job offers at Science Careers and Naturejobs.
Where do I get information about prospect employers?
Always use more than one source: the company webpage, press releases, social media and rating portals such as glassdoor or kununu.
Also check whether local and/or daily news reported about the companies
you are interested in. If you want to move into the biotech scene, you
should definitely check out labiotech.eu. The different pieces
of information will help you to shape an image of the company. Ideal
would be if you could talk to current or former employees. This is
possible at career fairs or by directly contacting employees.
Where can I get help?
A very helpful tool is the “individual development plan” from science careers. You may also get help from your university. Charité students may contact the stud-hotline@charite.de
to get career advice, even after completion of studies. For students
enrolled at the Humboldt University, these links might be helpful (http://bit.ly/2E7bMFU , http://bit.ly/2BMLjLW) and you can also attend their events even after you graduated. There are also many helpful events organized by the Agentur für Arbeit.
If you are looking for individual help, I can recommend to meet with a
career coach. And stay tuned for the new Career Development Program for
Berlin Neuroscience graduate students, currently being developed by
SPARK with the help of MedNeuro students!
Get in touch with
recruitment agencies specific for the sector you want to move into.
Generally their services are free of charge for the job seeker and they
have a genuine interest to get you a position because they will be paid
by the companies upon success. Furthermore, recruitment agencies have a
great portfolio of companies, you might not be aware of.
We wish you all the best!
Let us know your career stories, so we can help future graduates to smoothly transition into their first positions!
by Claudia Willmes, PhD Alumna, AG Eickholt / AG Schmitz
This article originally appeared March 2018, in Beauty and the Brain , Vol 11 - Issue 01
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