Career Development Toolkit
In addition to pursuing an academic career after graduation, you can also create a successful career beyond academia. Researchers are employed on various different sectors outside academia, and some are also running their own businesses as entrepreneurs. By introducing new perspectives of career possibilities beyond academia, we want to support early-stage researchers in acquiring the knowledge and contacts they might need when transitioning to job positions outside the academic world.
This Career Development Toolkit has been created to especially support the doctoral students and researchers who are interested in careers outside academia, but don't know how to begin to pursue them or might have not considered this possibility at all. The toolkit provides useful information about career planning, job opportunities and the competences needed in these positions. This information is also supported by a variety of self-assessment tools, career testimonials and self-study materials.
This Career Development Toolkit is part of a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement 101103476.
Where to start?
EURAXESS - Researchers in Motion
EURAXESS – Researchers in Motion is a one-stop shop for researchers and innovators seeking to advance their careers and personal development by moving to other countries. EURAXESS provides tailored information and support, free of charge, to researchers, entrepreneurs and research performing organisations. The unique web portal offers job, funding and hosting opportunities, career development guidance and free tools and much more. EURAXESS network counts 43 European countries and 9 worldwide hubs. With the support of EURAXESS, researchers are able to plan the next steps of their careers, learn about different job opportunities outside academia and assess their own competencies regarding this transition. Below you will find a list of useful information packages and tools regarding career planning and job opportunities beyond academia.
Career Handbook for Young Researchers Career Development Career orientation tool Jobs and opportunities
Webinars & trainings What do you want to be?
Researcher Careers Beyond Academia - REBECA Hub by EURAXESS
Researcher Careers Beyond Academia - REBECA is a hub working under EURAXESS that facilitates the early-stage researchers' transition to non-academic careers and contributes to the permeability of research talent among non-academic research jobs and employers. REBECA Hub provides researchers their own comprehensive toolkit and mentoring programmes to help them plan their future career steps. On their homepage you can also find news and upcoming events related to the Hub's actions. Below you can find more information about the tools and mentoring programmes offered by REBECA Hub.
REBECA PRACTICE Researchers Beyond Academia Mentoring Programme REBECA Explorer REBECA on LinkedIn
EURAXESS Finland
EURAXESS Finland provides mobile researchers with information and assistance, by means of its' own portal and national EURAXESS Service Centers in Finland.
EURAXESS Support Centres EURAXESS Finland network Information and Assistance
Career planning
Aarresaari states that career planning is about comprehensive future orientation and working on your own identity, with the key elements being agency and meaningfulness. It requires active thinking and work, which will not happen by itself. When you consider your future and the career possibilities it may include, various questions might become meaningful at different stages. Everytime you decide on a direction in life, it involves future orientation, more strategic or random in nature.
Useful information and tools for career planning
Aarresaari - Career planning EURAXESS - Plan you career JobMarket Finland - Career Choices and planning for your career
Imagine PhD KUDIN.FI - Career readiness self-assessment Labour force barometer
Vitae - Planning your career and your development by Vitae
"Start to Finnish" by Akava
This course piloted by Akava will introduce you to six distinctive features of Finnish society that are the key to understanding not only how Finns do things, but also why they do them. These features will pop up again throughout the modules to demonstrate how they are reflected in working life. The aim of the course is to give you a comprehensive picture of Finnish working life by diving into the practicalities, cultures, legal aspects, how Finnish life works as it does and the valuable experiences of other participants on the topic.
On this course you can study when it suits you best. However, the course provides a training timetable to make it easier to progress module by module and keep up with others.
The link for the materials will be published later. Please note that this material provided by Akava is meant for you to voluntarily accomplish, but the Graduate School will not provide credits for it.
Career services at the University of Vaasa
The Career services of the University of Vaasa also support degree students in career planning and the development of work-life skills by providing career guidance and job search counseling, organizing mentoring programs and providing information on job positions, working life, job search and trade union activities. The career services specialists are able to help with various work-life related matters and answer questions.
You can read more about career services, counselling and career planning on their homepage in Jolla. Please note that this page is only available for the university's internal users.
Search for job opportunities beyond academia
JobTeaser JobMarket Finland Looking for a job in Vaasa and in Finland Work in Finland EURAXESS Finland
Skills and training
To figure out what kind of professional positions beyond academia best suit you, it's good to start with mapping out the competences you already have acquired, excel at and could still develop. Below we have gathered information, different frameworks and tools to make use of with the mapping work of your expertise.
EURAXESS - Occupations by competency
The Vitae Researcher Development Framework
The Vitae Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is aimed for those who are doing a doctorate or are a member of research staff, pursuing an academic career or thinking about applying the skills developed during their PhD in another career. The framework describes the knowledge, behaviours and attributes of successful researchers and enables you to map your personal key competencies when transitioning to a career outside academia. At Vitae, they have created some questions to start your own reflections:
- What have you learned from significant achievements and challenges in your career so far?
- What are your values and what motivates you?
- What elements would a job need to have to give you a feeling of fulfillment?
- What are your areas of expertise and where can you fill in any gaps in knowledge?
- What is your communication style and how do you function in a team? Have a look at the Belbin team roles to reflect deeper.
The Vitae Researcher Development Framework
ResearchComp - The European Competence Framework for Researchers
ResearchComp is the first framework for researchers at EU level, developed on the basis of the most recent analysis of the transversal skills that researchers need for successful and interoperable careers in all sectors of the society (academia, industry, bsuiness, public administration, NGOs etc.). All competence areas and individual competences of ResearchComp are equally important and researchers are not expected to have highest level of profiency in all of the competences of ResearchComp. However, with a view to successful and interoperable careers in all sectors of the society, researchers are encouraged to have at least a minimum level in all competences, and to further develop those competences that are more relevant on the basis of their own situation, needs and expectations.
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is a framework divided in four different areas, to help you to consider your own personal skills and areas for development. The SWOT abbreviation stands for four key words: Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. In the context of career planning and recognizing your skills, you can adapt these words to your own competences:
- Strengts: the competences you already have and excel at,
- Weaknesses: any potential areas for personal or competence development,
- Opportunities: any potential opportunities for competence or career development,
- Threats: any potential threats to your overall career development.
Other useful tools for competence development
KEVA's Compass Workbook Hyria - Career Skills European Commission - Europass
Monster - 11 Free Career Aptitude Tests to Help Match You with a Fulfilling Job
Articles on competence development
- Skill development offers opportunities in working life by The Finnish National Agency for Education
- Why You Need to Clarify Your Career and Work Values by The Balance
- Your Work Values Can Help You Find the Right Job by Monster
Networking and mentoring
One efficient way to boost reaching your career development is to actively network with your peers, colleagues and doctoral alumni to create a wide network that in time might help you reach your own professional goals. Different mentoring programmes and platforms such as LinkedIn give you great opportunities to become a part of interactive groups that will provide you support in various phases of your career path and upcoming professional roles.
What is networking? The advantages of networking
Activate and network on LinkedIn
The meaning of social media in job search has grown notably over the years and LinkedIn has risen to be the most important platform regarding networking, sharing perspectives of working life and learning about job opportunities. If you haven't already created a professional LinkedIn profile for yourself, we highly recommend doing so. In addition to creating the profile, staying active with posting and networking on the platform will keep you visible to other users and potential future connections.
Create a good LinkedIn profile Get started with LinkedIn 20 steps to a better LinkedIn profile in 2024
The University of Vaasa's alumni network
The university wants to stay in touch with its’ alumni throughout their careers by hosting a wide alumni network. This network offers its’ members a wide range of opportunities to join its’ activities, e.g. university events, networking and mentoring. The University of Vaasa Society also regularly chooses the Alumni of the Year.
Mentors' Bar & Corner
Mentors’ Bar & Corner is a group mentoring concept developed to support the doctoral students and early-stage researchers’ employment and connections also beyond academia after their graduation. Our aim is to provide information on the value of the doctoral degree also on sectors beyond academia and new insights into different career paths already taken by the university’s own doctoral alumni and doctorates who have had an interesting career. Within the concept we will arrange two types of different events throughout the academic year to support doctoral students and researchers’ career planning, well-being and both internal and external networking.
Mentors’ Bar is a live event organized twice during the academic year at the University of Vaasa’s premises, where we invite doctorates with interesting positions and career paths outside academia as keynote speakers. After the keynote, participants are encouraged to ask questions, discuss and network. The event takes place in the late afternoon and refreshments are served to those attending.
Mentors’ Corner is a live event organized several times during the academic year online in Teams. Mentors’ Corners function more as agile workshops, where the focus is on more detailed subjects around the theme of transitioning to work on sectors beyond academia. In addition to the possible keynote speakers mentioned above, we also invite other potential specialists with a more specific point of view to visit. After the keynote there will be time for discussion and questions.
Researchers Beyond Academia Mentoring Programme by EURAXESS
REBECA also hosts its' own mentoring programme that facilitates a minimum of 6 meetings, where mentors and mentees get to know each other, share their experiences and reflect on their professional perspectives. The organizers of the programme provide the structure and contents to inspire a fruitful and beneficial relationship between all pairs. The trainings and meetings take place on-line and the meetings of pairs are mostly virtual. The duration of the programme is six months.
Researchers Beyond Academia Mentoring Programme
REBECA Explorer
REBECA Explorer is an innovative programme aimed at early-stage researchers that emphasizes the psychosocial support role of mentoring, helping the participants to progress and improve their career management skills. The programme consists of a group-based peer mentoring approach in which all members of the group act as both mentors and mentees at the same time.
Additional materials
Akava - "Start to Finnish"
This course piloted by Akava will introduce you to six distinctive features of Finnish society that are the key to understanding not only how Finns do things, but also why they do them. These features will pop up again throughout the modules to demonstrate how they are reflected in working life. The aim of the course is to give you a comprehensive picture of Finnish working life by diving into the practicalities, cultures, legal aspects, how Finnish life works as it does and the valuable experiences of other participants on the topic.
The link for the materials will be published later. Please note that this material provided by Akava is meant for you to voluntarily accomplish, but the Graduate School will not provide credits for it.
EURAXESS materials
EURAXESS REBECA Hub's toolkit REBECA Practice
Drafting CVs and applications
Ekonomit - CV Ekonomit - Job application Hanken - How to write a successful Job Application and CV
Europass - Create your Europass CV JobMarket Finland - Tips for finding a job
Vitae - Job applications - how to write an effective CV and cover letter Vitae - CVs outside of academia
Materials of other universities
Aalto University
University of Helsinki
Career paths for doctors Tips for job search
University of Jyväskylä
From Graduate School to working life: career planning in doctoral studies Working life skills and entrepreneurship
University of Oulu
Career centre Career guidance and career paths for doctoral researchers
University of Turku
Researchers' stories and achievements
Network on LinkedIn
Create a good LinkedIn profile Get started with LinkedIn 20 steps to a better LinkedIn profile in 2024 EURAXESS
EURAXESS Finland REBECA Hub The University of Vaasa's alumni network
Podcasts about career planning and working life
EURAXESS - Smart talks Hanken - Career Podcast King's College London - Careers in Your Ears
The University of Helsinki - Working life for everyone? University of Turku - Alumni Insights
Video materials
Get started with LinkedIn How does the University of Vaasa support students' career development?
Webinars & Trainings by EURAXESS Working life now by the University of Helsinki
Workbooks
Tampere Institute for Advanced Study Mentoring Handbook : Version 2.0 The Compass Workbook
Contact information
Oona Andrejeff
