LBG CAREER CENTER OF THE LUDWIG BOLTZMANN GESELLSCHAFT
The Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft (LBG) is a research organization for scientific research in the field of health sciences as well as in the field of humanities, cultural and social sciences. Its activities cover both basic research and applied research, and it has a strong focus on interdisciplinary and corporate partnerships
As part of its structure, LBG established a Career Center in October 2016 with the aim of improving the career perspectives of pre- and post-docs, especially in sectors outside of the scientific field, due to the fact that there is a large pool of qualified researchers who cannot all be absorbed by the scientific system on the long term.
LBG Career Center offers both, individual and institutional services:
- Individual services: general career advice within or outside the field of science, potential analysis, coaching, career consulting, start-up advice, mentoring, education and training (individual career budget), , research project support (support to prepare applications to get R&D funding),
- Institutional services: job portal, career workshops, expert talks, skills trainings, and Internships.
A common objective of most of these services is to promote networking among different stakeholders in order to enrich pre- and post-docs’ career development and professional perspectives.
Engagement activities
Temporary mobility/Internships.
Depending on the scientific discipline, the education, discipline-specific socialization and professional experience of pre- and post-docs differ. The sooner and more directly the insight into different areas or industries takes place, the more certain of success is a possible switch between the different systems, such as between science and business.
Through so-called internships – 2 paid months of practical experience in a host (partner) organization outside the field of research in Austria and Europe (from regional start-ups to public organizations to international corporations) – the LBG Career Center offers pre- and post-docs the opportunity to get to know potential employers and possible areas of work.
A mentoring relationship is also an integral part of the internships financed by the LBG Career Center.
Mentoring.
Mentoring is a personal, non-hierarchical relationship in a professional context between two experts of different ages or with different experiences, whereby the mentor passes on formal and informal information to the mentee. At the LBG Career Center mentor-mentee-pairings should also come from different scientific disciplines or industries (institutional and institute-encompassing cross-mentoring science - business & Co) to foster “out-of-the-box” thinking and to gain insights into different career paths.
Mentoring focuses on the personal question: Who or what can support me in attaining my goal? The LBG Career Center provides support with the search for compatible mentors, whereby it strives to utilize the already existing mentoring networks (in particular from other non-university research organizations and universities). Hence, the networking of mentors and mentees is arranged through the submission of a request with the LBG Career Center, the mentoring relationship arrangements are made on an individual basis.
Sharing information on job offers.
The purpose of job portals is to provide search options for matching job offers depending on the scientific discipline or industry and to obtain helpful information related to the job application process. The LBG Career Center provides a list of the most important general job portals maintained by science institutions, businesses, etc. -incl. descriptions and websites- which is posted on the LBG Career Center website.
Expert Talks
At the LBG Career Center, Expert Talks are ad hoc presentations and discussion sessions with business experts or experts from the public sector. Expert Talks aim at looking into the topic “Open(ing) Careers” – to highlight and open alternative career paths, including those outside of the science field – from various perspectives. Expert Talks comprise career stories told by role models or LBI alumni (“I did it my way – individual career paths and detours”) as well as the networking with headhunters and recruiters (“Professional scientists – self and third party image and career options”).
Stakeholders involved
- Researchers and highly skilled professionals working at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institutes (LBI) and Clusters (LBC): ca. 200 predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers
- Companies hosting researchers
- RPOs and RFOs
What can EURAXESS learn from this?
Although the LBG Career Center received external funding (Österreich-Fonds) to support its creation, the key issue for designing the support measures was being able to carry on a systematic needs analysis based on the question "what are the needs of pre- and postdocs in the context of career development, in and outside the field of science?"
This implied covering the needs of the scientific disciplines included at LBG, the needs of the different Ludwig Boltzmann Institutes (LBIs) and finally the needs of the researchers themselves, which was done through the organization of
- Kick-off event with the directors of the LBIs
- Expert Interviews with LBIs directors
- Focus Groups with representatives of the pre and post-docs (3 groups with 7 - 10 each, thus ca. 25 people)
- Kick-off event with pre- and post-docs
- LBI visits
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