Presentation from the webinar "Introduction to career planning for PhDs" led by Berenice Kimpe from Association Bernard Gregory (FR), 30.10.2019

1. Welcome to 2nd EURAXESS webinar
Start at 11:00 Warsaw Time
„Introduction to career planning for PhDs”
Led by Bérénice Kimpe
Good practices by Anethe Mansen,
& Carmen Mendez De Castro
Organised by EURAXESS Poland
(Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences)
In collaboration with
EURAXESS TOP IV (Gr. No: 786133), Task 2.3 Community of Practice

2. 239 rue Saint-Martin, 75003 Paris, France
Tel. +33 1 427 427 40 – www.abg.asso.fr – international@abg.asso.fr
Introduction to PhD career planning
Webinar
30 October 2019
Bérénice Kimpe
Head of International Department
berenice.kimpe@abg.asso.fr - Tel.: +33 1 42 74 45 46

3. ABG today
• A French non-profit established in 1980 and still funded in part by the French
Ministry for Higher Education, Research and Innovation
• We publish PhD, post-doc and job offers on our website: www.abg.asso.fr –
4585 ads in 2018
• We help companies recruit PhDs
• We coach PhD students, post-docs and researchers to steer their career –
5.000 people trained in 2018 (mostly in France ; also in Belgium, Germany, Italy,
Luxembourg…)
• We set up events and share information about opportunities outside academia
• EURAXESS Career Development Centre since 2017
• More and more involved in EU-funded (post)doctoral programmes:
COFUND, ITN, JED, Interreg…

4. Objectives
 To make you familiar with the concept of
career development by givng you first
insights into this very large topic
 To give you an overview of the job
market for PhDs in Europe
 To help you think about your role as
career advisor and/or as career
development center

5. Agenda
 Career development: meaning and
purpose
 The context of PhD employment
 The job market for PhDs beyond
academia and PhD career development
 The transition from academia to
industry: from the perspective of
recruiters and of PhDs
 Your role as career advisor

6. Career development: meaning and purpose (1)
Career
Sequence and variety of work roles,
paid or unpaid that individuals
undertake throughout their lives; but
it is also the construct which enables
individuals to make sense of valued
work opportunities and how their
work roles relate to their wider life
roles.
Career Development Institute (2017)

7. Career development: meaning and purpose (2)
Career development
Unique and lifelong process for each
indvidual of managing learning,
work and transitions in order to
move forward and participate
effectively in work and society.
Successful career development is
important to individuals‘ personal
and economic well-being.
Career Development Institute (2017)

8. Career development: meaning and purpose (3)
Career planning
„Navigation system“ which
still enables individuals to
take other roads by seizing
opportunities and making
conscious choices. It
includes self-assessment,
research and
experimentation.

9. The context of PhD employment (1)
Academic employment
 Very competitive: very few permanent positions in
comparison to the number of PhDs produced by universities
 Lack of stability: 3-year long perspective (or less), higher rate
of fixed-term work contracts
 Legislative constraints: 5-year rule in Luxembourg,
Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz in Germany, loi Sauvadet in
France…

10. The context of PhD employment (2)
A few statistics
 France: success rate for permanent positions in public
research institutes = 4,5%
 Germany: 73% of scientists under 45 have a fixed-term
work contract; succes rate for professorship = 4,2%
 Belgium (Flanders): 10,2% of PhDs have a permanent
position in academia, 8 years after PhD completion.
 Italy: success rate for permanent position in academia =
9,5%
 Japan: for a tenure-track position, 300-400 applicants

12. The job market for PhDs beyond academia
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Researchers by level of qualification
Without PhD
With PhD
Source:OECD

13. PhD career development beyond academia (1)
Some examples in STEM
 PhD in computer sciences → teaching activity at university → R&D engineer (large and
international company) → patent examiner at EPO → director at EPO → director of
operations at EPO
 PhD in volcanology → geographical information systems manager at National
Geographic Institute
 PhD in chemistry → scientific editor → managing editor → publisher (open access
publishing platform)
 PhD in parasitology → quality manager (ME) → head of group management systems
(large company)
 PhD in chemistry → R&D engineer → development and marketing manager → head of
marketing intelligence → supply chain manager → global product safety and regulatory
affairs manager → global product safety and regulatory affairs director
 PhD in genetics → research associate → regional representative for a foundation on
rare diseases

14. PhD career development beyond academia (2)
Some examples in Humanities and Social sciences
 PhD in geography → consultant in social innovation (cooperative company)
 PhD in anthropology → postdoc in a research institute on food and culinary arts
(bringing digital in the kitchen) → innovation project manager (company producing
small domestic equipment – cooking appliances) → senior consultant (MIC) → owner
and consultant + teaching activities at universities
 PhD in history (joint degree) → European project manager for life-long learning
(national training organization) → European and crossborder project manager for
vocational training (national training organization)
 PhD in geography → postdoctoral research fellow → project manager (non-profit
organization)
 PhD in ethnomusicology → executive producer (national radio) → artistic director
(foundation) → newscaster for classical music broadcast (European TV) → head of
artistic (philarmony)

15. Focus on recruiters’ expectations

22. The transition from academia
to the economic sector (1)
From the recruiters‘ perspective
 Need to be sure that the candidate
can do the job
- motivation, adaptability, trust
- „business“ open-mindedness,
experience outside academia
 „Past behaviour is the best predictor
of future behaviour“

23. The transition from academia to the economic sector
(2)
From the PhDs‘ perspective

24. Your role as career advisor
 Implementing activities:
- by yourself (→ think about it in terms of your own development: do you see yourself as
a career advisor or rather as a coordinator for such activities?)
- with the support of already existing career services in
your organisation
- with external partners
 Guiding PhDs and postdocs:
- making them autonomous in their job search
- questionning their approaches/methods to make them
move forward (→ strong need for feedback)
 Providing them a space and time where they can freely talk
on their plans

25. Useful links by ABG
 Job advertisements
https://www.abg.asso.fr/en/candidatOffres
 ABG perspective: success stories, testimonials of recruiters,
career advice
https://www.abg.asso.fr/en/vue/regard-abg
 DocPro: online skills portfolio for PhDs
www.mydocpro.org

26. 239 rue Saint-Martin, 75003 Paris, France
Tel. +33 1 427 427 40 – www.abg.asso.fr – international@abg.asso.fr