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Career planning – My Future

As a scientist, have you already planned the next steps in your career? The next step in your professional life after your employment contract ends requires careful consideration and preparation. This takes time. 

Please start early enough to evaluate the options that exist outside academia (see external pageChanging demographics of academic careers). Be proactive and start managing your career now. We recommend following the procedure below:

Assess your professional opportunities in the academic world and beyond by looking at possible future areas of work and building a picture of what is required. external pageMyIDP is a well-established online tool that has been tried and tested in the field of science and can help you evaluate areas of work that might suit you.

MyIDP is sponsored by «Science Careers» and the external pageAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science. Any information you enter into the myIDP website is considered personal and will be kept strictly confidential.

external pageConsider Career Fit (free external pagemyIDP account required)

Obtain feedback on your strengths and areas for development from people who know you well and are familiar with your working methods.

external pageSkills Assessment (free external pagemyIDP account required)

Carry out your own evaluation of your skills, strengths, areas for development, interests and values and use this to examine compatible career paths (we also recommend using the external pagemyIDP “Assessments” for this). Alternatively you will find helpful information and guidance to evaluate your compentencies, interests and values in the Application Guide of ETH Zurich.

Your network can also be a useful source of information to find out more about possible career options. On social media platforms such as external pageLinkedIn you can see some fo the career paths of ETH alumni and find alternative options to working in academia.

external pageSkills Assessment (free external pagemyIDP account required)
external pageInterests Assessment (free external pagemyIDP account required)
external pageValues Assessment (free external pagemyIDP account required)

Please also check the ETH course offering for alternative support re. your upcoming career decisions.

Find a reliable sparring partner (this could be your professor, a mentor or someone else you trust from within or outside ETH) and discuss your skills, ambitions and opportunities with them.

Define your next career goal (in consultation with your sparring partner if possible).

Use the Downloadcareer planning form (PDF, 49 KB) to plan very specific steps in your professional development for the next 18 months to ensure that you achieve your targets by the time your ETH employment contract ends.
Remember to set yourself milestones as well as reminders. Note down your plan in writing to increase commitment in implementing your plans.

As a scientific employee, you have a high degree of personal responsibility over your professional development and employability. ETH Zurich is happy to support you when it comes to making career decisions. Please also check the variety of offerings and information regarding this topic published in the link list.

The Download“Scientific functions at ETH Zürich” (PDF, 1.8 MB) brochure outlines fundamentals of support and development in academia and explains the numerous academic functions offered by ETH Zurich.

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