Personnel development concepts and support for different career paths

Higher education institutions and non-HEI research institutions run personnel development schemes and offer suitable support and guidance for different career paths.

Academics in early career phases are supported in acquiring subject-specific and transferable skills by means of schemes that prepare them for both the academic and the non-academic job market, depending on inclination, competencies and individual life planning.

There are dedicated points of contact or responsible contact persons for postdocs, since advice on their transition to the next career stage is very important.

Further education and training programmes, counselling and mentoring schemes, possibly also the facilitation of practical experience, are coordinated to match the respective career level. Cooperation between higher education institutions and non-HEI research institutions, and with the private sector, has proven successful, as opposed to isolated solutions. The advantages and disadvantages of different career paths are clearly communicated, providing doctoral and postdoctoral researchers with an overview of the wide-ranging options available. Expertise from outside the research institution is also sought for this purpose; alumni are invited to share their experience.

Personnel progress reviews for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers focus on the further development of the employee. The focus here is not on the academic side but on whether personal interim goals have been met or agreements observed. The individual qualification steps are to be regarded as part of a continuous career planning process. Higher education institutions and non-HEI research institutions establish reliable framework conditions for this. Individuals with the appropriate profile who decide to pursue a career in academic research are given a reliable perspective on how they will be able to shape their career at the institution in question, based on clear target agreements for a tenure track, for instance.

To address the problem of researchers having uncertain career prospects over a very long period of time, individual institutions developed the idea of a “permanent position scheme”. Here, postdocs can choose their own development and activity focus from a portfolio consisting of various options (network coordination tasks, graduate schools, teaching, transfer, etc.). Further career planning is then based on these focus areas, backed up by regular interviews with the supervisor and a self-evaluation report submitted by the researcher that is also forwarded to the institute’s management.

This structured approach has the following advantages: the researchers take responsibility for their own career and have to undergo evaluation; in return, they receive professional and personal feedback on a regular basis. What is more, superiors are directly concerned with their staff’s career prospects; and finally, the institute or department is involved with the situation of researchers who are (still) on fixed-term contracts.

The vast majority of doctoral-level researchers leave academia, so it is both sensible and legitimate to consider different career options and provide these individuals with the appropriate training or preparation. Many skills acquired in scientific training that are required for research are also useful or necessary in other sectors such as business.

Postdocs who prefer to prepare for a further career outside academia gain not only leadership and management experience by developing/coordinating projects but also practical skills, e.g. by taking on administrative tasks or by being involved in transfer or cooperation with partners in business, politics or culture.