Careers

Applications as an overqualified person are challenging to write. How do you ease the employer’s fear that you will quickly leave again and be perceived as appropriately ambitious?

The Value of Early Grant Applications.
Does applying for a small travel grant make sense even if the professor has enough third-party funding?

We often perceive the poster as a compulsory exercise. To be allowed to attend conferences, we usually have to contribute – the poster is considered the low-threshold version of the prestigious lecture. Why does industry attach such importance to it?

It happens surprisingly often that a position is advertised that doesn’t even exist – or that there is someone who will get the position, regardless of how strong the other applicants are. “How can you tell that there is an insider, so you have no chance from the start and could save yourself time?” I ask the group.

“Chemists get a doctorate! If you don’t like that, drop out!” First-year students are still greeted with such words. Is that still up to date? 25 years after the Bologna reform was signed, are Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees still not established as professional qualifications in chemistry?

In a seminar on self-marketing, we discuss the use of social media. “It might be a nice way to pass the time, like feeding ducks or watching Netflix.” “…everyone has to decide for themselves which century they want to live in.”

Moral considerations are always deeply personal. Don’t push these aside, but ask yourself: Do your development perspectives and moral values fit with this employer?

Moral considerations are always deeply personal. Don’t push these aside, but ask yourself: Do your development perspectives and moral values fit with this employer?

In a workshop on the topic “Your path into industry,” we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of future employers. “More money, more jobs, more opportunities” is how Bertrand summarises the arguments for large companies.