Presentation of the best practices from the webinar "Setting up Career Development Centre" led by Lucas Zinner from the University of Vienna, 18.03.2020

1. Career development at the University of Vienna

2. • What are we aiming at?
• How did we start?
• What are we doing?
• What do we know about the careers?
• What is ahead of us?
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Career development at the University of Vienna
Webinar, March 18, 2020

3. Supporting Career
Development
Our vision is to enable researchers at all career levels, but
especially non-permanent researchers, to discover and pursue a
path to a fulfilling career, and to establish support for this as a
self-evident task of our university.
We see career and professional development as a process, and
our mission is to support researchers as they explore and
further understand themselves and their career options, to
ensure that they gain valuable experience, develop as
professionals and launch their career plans.
It is our specific responsibility as research service and career
development department to advocate within the university to
ensure that sufficient resources and attention are given to
career development, whether a career is pursued within or
outside the academic sector.Source: http://www.englishstudents.ch/
Webinar, March 18, 2020

4. • In 2008, the Rectorate mandated us to establish a central office to deal with the affairs of doctoral
candidates.
• We set up a project for this purpose and developed a concept involving all stakeholders.
• We have been operational since October 2009.
• Our core tasks are
◦ to advise doctoral candidates, supervisors and other stakeholders,
◦ to establish and continuously develop a training programme in the area of transferable skills,
◦ to participate in the strategic development of the doctoral studies,
◦ to bundle and coordinate activities related to the doctorate.
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How did we start?
Webinar, March 18, 2020

5. Raising Awareness: Preparing for careers
The time as doctoral candidate:
a progressively specializing process
for a singular career path,
or
a program of research, teaching, scholarship in which you
develop a broad skill set that can qualify you for a wide variety of
career paths.
!
5Webinar, March 18, 2020

6. • Providing a broad variety of events &
trainings for PhDs and Postdocs
• Regular coordination with other actors in
the university environment, e.g. Alumni
Association, Department of Human
Resources Development, Center for
Teaching and Learning, Quality
Assurance Office, Spin-off incubator
• For research-related activities we follow
a one-stop shop approach.
• We try to work evidence-based.
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What are we doing?
https://forschung.univie.ac.at/en/services/events-trainings/doctoral-candida
Webinar, March 18, 2020

7. What do we know about the careers?
 Tracking candidates using register data to better understand the employment status
 We use scientific literature to improve our services, e.g. to counter the mismatch between
academic skills and those that are in demand "outside".
 We try to keep in touch with our graduates through various measures, e.g. via our alumni
association or through career days, in order to be able to communicate first-hand information
about the demands of the working world to current doctoral candidates.
7Webinar, March 18, 2020

8. • University of Vienna uses administrative data to track careers of graduates
resident in Austria after they left an Austrian HEI; since 2005; level of
institution/study programme
• Different data sources, from universities and public registers are used.
• Register-based analysis of labour market entry, employment and income
opportunities in the first five years after graduation/drop out; for all public
universities, Statistics Austria aggregates and processes in anonymous form
• https://doktorat.univie.ac.at/analyses/graduate-tracking/hrsm-project/
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Career tracking using administrative and register data • Pros: efficient,
complete national
coverage,
information at study
programme level
• Cons: no cross-
border data, no
qualitative
information about
employment and
career
Webinar, March 18, 2020

9. 9
Key results are published
Webinar, March 18, 2020

10. Labour market participation
of doctorate holders
“[T]here is no evidence to suggest that the growth in
the number of individuals at the highest level of
qualification has resulted in some form of excess
supply that the labour market struggles to
accommodate.”
“The average unemployment rate for total graduates at
the doctorate level is roughly three percentage points
lower than that for other tertiary level graduates aged
25 to 64…”
“Most indicators point to a sustained, if not increasing
premium on doctorate skills, which is consistent
with rising demand for individuals with such skills.”
- Careers of Doctorate Holders,
OECD Science, Technology and Industry, Working Papers 10Webinar, March 18, 2020

11. Top 5 of valued skills for doctoral candidates and employers
De Grande, Hannelore, et al. "The skills mismatch: What doctoral candidates and employers consider important."
Unpublished manuscript (2011).
11Webinar, March 18, 2020

12. • to intensify the individual coaching for doctoral candidates and the overall services
postdocs;
• to embed career planning in the general topic of competence development for
researchers;
• to ensure that career planning is understood as an integral part of the job and is not
reduced to the nice to have add-on;
• to pay even more attention to the topic of entrepreneurship;
• to link the topic of individual career planning with the overarching role of the university
in and for society.
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What is ahead of us?
Webinar, March 18, 2020

13. 13
Contact
Dr. Lucas Zinner
Head of Research Services and
Career Development
University of Vienna
E: lucas.zinner@univie.ac.at
W: http://doktorat.univie.ac.at
in: at.linkedin.com/in/lucaszinner/
Chair of the Board
PRIDE Network Association for Professionals
in Doctoral Education
W: http://www.pride-network.eu/
All the best and good health, stay tuned!
Webinar, March 18, 2020