A Career Outside the University as a Foreign PhD in Switzerland (202)

13 June 2016 COMPLET/FULL

Dr Evelina Breschi

Many doctoral candidates, once they complete their PhD, decide to translate their competencies towards private or administrative sectors. However, especially for foreign PhD candidates, this step seems complicated because they don't know the local customs or companies, and how to proceed. This workshop addresses the major issues of a PhD's career outside the university, with particular attention to the needs and challenges for foreigners.
 

Content

We will discuss in detail the following issues:

1) Job applications: How to apply for a job outside the university, which documents are required, how to communicate your skills. We will discuss participants' CVs and cover letters, and work on improving them.


2) Job market: How to identify your potential job market and how to find job ads, what conditions to expect, what to do if you have trouble finding a job. General information will be given about the job market in Switzerland, labor laws, customs, unemployment insurance, etc.

3) Job interview: What questions may be asked, what salary to negotiate.

 

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the day the PhD candidates will have better understood:

• Relevant Swiss labour laws and customs,
• The job market for a PhD outside an academic career,
• Difficulties a foreigner can encounter before integrating into the employment market,
• Ways to search for employment,
• How to prepare an appropriate CV and cover letter,
• What salaries and employment conditions one can target,
• What to do regarding unemployment and residence permits.


The seminar is based on a presentation to guide common reflection and a round-table discussion on the relevant topics. Moreover, we ask to the participants to prepare a CV and a motivation letter, in order to provide customized feedback.

 

Preparatory Work

Prior to the workshop, we ask participants to prepare a CV and one or two cover letters in English for a post outside of the academic career path (a real ad or a fictive one). The time needed to prepare these documents strongly depends on the ability of each student. Participants should allow up to 8 hours to complete both documents. They should bring the printed copy of both documents and the description of the job (if the ad exists, of course) to the workshop.


Audience

The workshop is designed for foreign PhD candidates of all disciplines, and is particularly valuable in the early stages of their PhD.

This workshop allows participants to build a realistic picture of job opportunities outside academia, and the difficulties foreign PhDs may encounter. Consequently, it helps participants better plan their PhD with an eye to their future career, and strongly reduces the risk of an unwanted interruption after completing their thesis.

The workshop addresses the needs of foreign PhD candidates, and for this reason it is held in English. We would expect the participants to have, at least, an intermediate level.

Université de Neuchâtel

The following information is subject to confirmation:

Date: Monday, 13th June 2016
Schedule: 9:15 to 17:15
Location: University of Neuchâtel
 

Trainer:

Dr. Evelina Breschi is project manager and responsible for the career coaching service at Scimetrica Sàrl. She holds a PhD in experimental physics and a project management professional (PMP) certificate. After ten years of an international academic career culminated by leading an Ambizione project awarded by the SNSF, she decided to translate her competences to private sector with the focus on career issues and science policy.

Participants are eligible for reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train between the town of their university and the location of the workshop (half-fare card, 2nd class). For full-day workshops, lunch costs will be reimbursed upon presentation of original receipts (no photocopies or scans). A reimbursement form will be supplied to all registered participants for this workshop.

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