Academic Choices – Non Academic Choices: Deciding between the two

Starting point:

Many postdocs cannot decide whether they want to leave academia or pursue a career as a professor. On the one hand, they often have little insight into the non-academic job market and, on the other hand, their own goals and competences are not clear enough.

• This workshop is about taking a realistic look at both careers in academia and opportunities in business and society and examining these career paths against the background of one's own goals and competences.
• After the event, the postdoc will be in a better position to assess his or her own opportunities and goals and to make an informed decision about the next career step. The event is aimed exclusively at postdocs because they are in a comparable career phase and the decision for or against a scientific career should be made now.
• Decisive career decisions should be made in the postdoc phase. Postponing this decision, mixed with a diffuse concern about the professional future, can not only affect the well-being but also the performance of young scientists. Concentrating on this topic in the workshop and exchanging ideas with people who are in a similar situation can make this transfer phase much easier and open up new options for action.

Goal:

The aim of the workshop is for postocs to be able to make as informed and reflective a career decision as possible and to be able to take the first steps on this path.

In the years after completing their doctorate, many doctoral graduates are faced with the question of whether they want to stay in academia or whether they want to pursue a career outside academia. The question is not an easy one, especially because there are very few permanent positions available in academia in the long term. How can postdocs make a good decision here? What skills are in demand inside and outside academia? What can help to assess the prospects of success as realistically as possible? In this short online workshop, we will explore these questions and develop initial hypotheses against the background of the participants' individual situations.

Content:

Competences; goal clarification; career paths; decision making

Methods:

Impulse lectures, individual work, group work, exercises

Registration:

Please register through the BUA Postdoc Academy