Shape your Career

Career planning and advice for scientists | Further training and professional development | Leadership culture

Your professional future is in your hands! While you can’t plan every last detail, change brings new opportunities – and with the right preparation, you can make the most of these. Whether you are looking for a new direction, want to expand your skills, or are ready to take the next step in your career, we can offer you valuable support. Some of our support measures are aimed specifically at scientists, guiding them within their research area and/or research management area.

Career planning and advice for scientists

The Career Center at Forschungszentrum Jülich offers doctoral researchers in the final stages of their doctoral degrees and postdocs comprehensive support in terms of career planning, such as consultations, mentoring, networking opportunities, and events, for example on topics including the reconciliation of work and family life.

The video provides an overview of the services and support that our Career Center offers to Jülich employees.

Further training and professional development

Employees can choose from more than 500 internal training courses each year for their own professional development and they can also contact Human Resource Development if they are interested in external training. This allows employees to take advantage of specific opportunities that meet their personal needs. Training is offered in various areas. Here are a few examples:

• Scientific research: data management plans, protecting innovations through patents, tools for academic writing, programming, and data analysis
• Leadership skills: lateral leadership, preparation, and basics for a new leadership role, effectively shaping change processes
• Flexible working arrangements: change and transformation – the changing world of work, virtual and hybrid collaboration, desk sharing
• Health and sport: first aid courses, mental health first aid, healthier eating, business yoga, Zumba

E-learning often offers a high degree of flexibility in terms of time and location, making it particularly well suited to balancing work and private life.

Leadership culture

Our leaders are key to cooperation, motivation, and success. We promote dialogue and mutual understanding to combine individual strengths constructively. Leadership is a means of effective collaboration, which is essential for a successful research centre.

We foster a leadership culture characterized by diversity and equal opportunities. Services include support before taking on new management roles, as well as coaching, mentoring, training, networking, and feedback. Leadership is also possible part-time or through top-sharing (tandem leadership).

Family-friendly leadership and the reconciliation of private and professional responsibilities are always taken into account.