Finding a Post-Academic Career

Aims

Over the course of four ‘learning units,’ participants will learn the mindset and skills necessary to identify, apply and get hired for jobs outside of the university. Participants will be invited to explore their motivations and interests, learn how to find corresponding job opportunities through networking (including with LinkedIn), catalogue their unique set of hard and soft skills, receive vital input on how the non-academic job market works, learn how to write non-academic CVs and cover letters and prepare for successful job interviews and negotiations. Furthermore, in a wrap-up workshop session, participants will receive personalized feedback from their peers as well as from the trainer on their application materials.

Content

This course is for doctoral students and postdocs interested in transitioning into a non-university career. It reviews the current employment situation and provides participants with the practical tools to develop and secure a rewarding career, whether in the private or public sector. During the workshop, participants will gain an understanding of how to approach the job market (where doctorate holders work, the paths they take in their careers, their interaction with employers), and how to prepare for and succeed in a post-academic career job search.

The course is split into four learning units (each 4 hours):

1. MINDSET & DISCOVERING
   1.1 At the Crossroads
   1.2 Understanding the non-academic environment
   1.3 The purpose-driven job search

2. APPLYING FOR JOBS
   2.1 The non-academic hiring process
   2.2 Cover letter
   2.3 CV/Resume

3. GETTING A JOB
   3.1 Interviewing
   3.2 Negotiating

4. WORKSHOP: Personalized feedback on sample CV, cover letter & interview feedback

Methods

The course is comprised of a mix of hands-on exercises, group discussions, and short lectures. Ample time is built into each learning unit to answer participant questions and to examine issues particularly important to participants.

The course slide deck (sent to participants in pdf) forms a comprehensive reference tool for the non-academic job application process.

Target Group

All Doctoral Candidates & Postdocs

About the Trainer

Dr. Djahane Banoo is the founder of Align Coaching. She specializes in helping students and academic professionals maximize their learning and achieve success. She draws on insights from Design Thinking, Positive Psychology and Sociology in her work as a coach and trainer. To learn more about Djahane, please visit her website: www.align-edu.com.

Dr. Martin Gutmann is a partner at Align Coaching and a professor in leadership, communication and negotiation at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and a lecturer at ETH Zurich. He works extensively with individuals and organisations on talent and leadership development, including various federal departments of the Swiss government and financial services organizations, such as Swiss Re and Zurich Insurance. In addition to his Ph.D. in history from Syracuse University (USA), he holds an Executive MBA from ie Business School (Spain).

Dr. Banoo and Dr. Gutmann have been teaching Finding a Post-Academic Career and related courses at Swiss and German universities such as EPFL, ETH, Uni Freiburg and the Max Plank Institute since 2016.

Workload

Course attendance 16 hours
Preparation & Assignments: 14 hours

Feature

Once registration is open, applications will be collected for 24 hours and course places allocated by lot. All registrations received after the initial 24h period will be put on a waiting list and assigned on a first come, first served basis.

Course places/places on the waiting list will be confirmed by e-mail. Course registrations can only be canceled before the registration period ends (send an e-mail to grace@unibas.ch). Full course attendance is mandatory. Participants who fail to attend a course without prior notification or withdraw after the registration deadline are subject to a fee of CHF 30. In addition, participants who cancel their course registration at a later point in time, are absent without an excuse or do not attend the entire course will, for reasons of fairness, not be considered for course registration in the following semester and will be removed from other courses offered in the same semester. Please find the detailed regulations on the Transferable Skills Homepage.