Everything you don´t learn in the lab
Job application and interview strategies for scientists
Topic area
Career development
Format
Online or in-house workshop
Workload
Online: 4 x 2.5 h-webinars plus self-paced work on our learning platform
In-house: 2 workshop days
Trainer
Karin Bodewits, Philipp Gramlich or Lisa Steinhauser
Target group
PhD students and postdocs
In brief
Find the right opportunities, create applications that stand out and prepare convincingly for interviews – using AI where it helps, without losing the human touch.
Description
Competition for academic and industry positions is increasing, while AI is increasingly used by both applicants and employers. If everyone can produce a grammatically perfect cover letter in seconds, what actually becomes more valuable? Simply sending out more applications is therefore not necessarily the best strategy. Knowing where to use AI—and where the human touch matters more than ever—is becoming a key asset in any job search strategy.
Are you a scientist looking for a position inside or outside academia? In this workshop, you’ll develop a job-search and application strategy that fits your profile and the changing recruitment landscape. You’ll learn how to find suitable opportunities, communicate the value of your skills and experience, write targeted applications and prepare convincingly for inter-views and negotiations. Participants work with real job ads and their own application materials, practise interview situations and receive individual feedback.
In this course, you’ll learn about:
• Application strategy: where to invest your time instead of simply sending more applications
• Finding opportunities: job platforms, the hidden job market and AI-supported job search
• How to tap your network
• Reading job ads strategically: what employers are looking for and when a position is worth applying for
• Your professional profile: identifying and communicating the skills and experience you bring as a scientist
• CVs and cover letters: writing targeted application documents that sound like you, with or without AI
• Applying in AI times: where AI genuinely helps, where it produces generic applications, and how employers use AI in recruitment
• Job interviews: preparing convincing answers, developing your personal pitch and practising common interview situations
• AI-supported interview preparation: using AI as a sparring partner without outsourcing your thinking
• Salary and contract negotiations
Workshop format and materials
Online: Four interactive 2.5-hour webinars, combined with self-paced work on our learning platform. Alongside the webinar phase, participants have three weeks to deepen their learning and can receive individual feedback from the trainers.
In-house: All participants receive a PDF script of the course, allowing them to revise the material at their convenience.
More information and next steps
Combined with PhD, and next? Career options, skills and orientation for scientists, this forms our extended Goodbye academia? workshop, covering career orientation, job search and the application process.
AI will change the job landscape and our view on human skills forever. If you want to dive deeper into this topic, we have written two articles about it:
Applying for Jobs in the Age of AI and
The unique selling point of humans.
Already interested in learning more about the workshop content? You might be interested in our articles Trade fairs for job hunting or Photo? Yes! Kids? No! or In the job interview: Braving the gaps or Body language during the job interview- About dead fish and a lovely smile.
In our Career resources, you can find helpful material for your job hunt: Example cover letters and CVs for scientists and Interview questions, to name just two.
Do you want to see a preview of the Online Workshop?