Virtual Career Day 2024

Successful self-marketing and one's own public image are key factors for success in companies and at the same time change one's own self-image for the better. In order to be able to present yourself confidently in the application process, the first step is to become aware of your own strengths and abilities, as well as your wishes and goals. Objectives of the Workshop: Participants in this short workshop will reflect on their attitudes towards self-marketing, discuss self-marketing and networking opportunities, learn methods to become aware of their own strengths, develop examples and evidence in the form of short stories and work on their persuasive skills by preparing and presenting a first elevator pitch.

This workshop will be held by  ▶ Katrin Busch-Holfelder and is hosted by ▶ HZDR.

This workshop aims to help researchers to improve their employment prospects, using recognised tools and techniques to assist in assessing skills and interests. With a career planing overview and information about what influences career decisions, they will understand how to apply this knowledge to make informed career decisions, they willunderstand how to apply this knowledge to make informed career decisions, as well as identifying career sectors and roles of interest. The workshop will demonstrate creative ways to use social media and AI to identify potential roles, companies and vacancies. By the end of the session, participants should be more knowledgeable about their own strengths and the opportunities available so that they can start to formulate a strategy for a successful career transition.

This workshop will be held by ▶ Sarah Blackford and is hosted by ▶ DZNE.

It can be hard as an early career researcher to find time to plan your next career move but the more informed you are about yourself and your ‘profile’, the more you can (begin to) identify your options and the possible routes you might take...and possibly save yourself time later on. In this short online session specially designed for international researchers we will focus on

• Personal aspects of your “profile” – what skills do I bring, what can I do, what motivates me, what matters to me and how and when do I work best?
• Situational aspects of your “profile” – where am I able/willing to go, do I have what I need to get there, which factors constrain my current choices?

With this in place, you will have a basis on which to define your next career steps.

This workshop will be held by ▶  Dr. Philippa Cook and is hosted by ▶ GEOMAR.

The climate crisis and biodiversity loss among other ecological challenges are in greater awareness in organisations. Private and public organisations undergo transformation processes to a more sustainable management. Employees in all positions and responsibilities are needed to support and drive forward the sustainable transformation. Additionally, organisations search for new employees who bring the needed competencies and skills. What green competencies do you bring? How can you convey these green competencies in your application process and use them as a success factor? We will look at the great array of Green competencies and reflect about the Inner Development Goals (IDG). The framework of skills needed for the inner development for the sustainable transformation. You will be aware about your individual Green competencies and how to convey them successfully in e.g. job interviews.

This workshop will be held by  ▶ Inga Dankert and is hosted by ▶ DESY.

The idea that the ‘traditional career path’ for a scientist is to become a professor and build a research program is outdated. The reality is that only a small percentage of scientists stay in academia, and the majority build exciting careers in industry. However, most scientists don’t learn anything about the private sector, so making the transition is often very challenging. This workshop will teach you how working in industry is different than academic research, what skills are useful in the private sector, and how to communicate your value to an industry manager.

The contents of the course are:

• How is working in industry different than academia?
• Work habits that successful scientists learn quickly
• What scientist skills are useful in industry?
• Review: What are my unique strengths that are valuable in industry?
• How to describe your academic experience so you impress an industry manager
• Stories from many scientists who have built successful industry careers

The course is highly interactive, mostly based on lectures, discussions and interactive exercises. We aim to bring together the skills and experiences the trainer has gathered in academic and industrial settings.

This workshop will be held by ▶ David M. Giltner and is hosted by ▶ KIT.

AI-based tools have the potential to revolutionize scientific writing and enable researchers to work more efficiently and effectively. An example is AI-powered literature search tools that substantially help researchers identify relevant articles and assess their quality, streamlining the research process.

This workshop will be held by ▶ Daniel Mertens and is hosted by ▶ IPP.

One major question that arises when mapping out your career is “Do I have what it takes to pursue this way?”. In this workshop we will take a deep dive into your competences and skills.
What is considered a competence? Which skills are required when following a career in industry? How can you reflect upon the current level of your skills? And of course, how can you improve your fields of development? The workshop will take up these questions and give you the opportunity to map out the next steps of your personal development.

This workshop will be held by ▶ Svenja Klinkenberg and is hosted by ▶ Forschungszentrum Jülich.

We will look into actual job advertisements online, check what the focus is, what options (and opportunities) are mentioned and how you can / should / or have to respond.

This workshop will be held by ▶ Dr. Peter Nacke and is hosted by ▶ MDC Berlin.