For Researchers

A Career Development Plan is a valuable tool to help you explore your career possibilities and set your objectives. 

As an early-career researcher, it is essential to carefully plan your next steps from the beginning. 

What is the added value of a Career Development Plan? 

A Career Development Plan (CDP) is a tool to explore your career possibilities and set objectives to follow the professional path that fits you best. A CDP will guide you throughout proactive planning and implementation of all the steps towards your professional goals. These steps can evolve as you develop skills, change interests, or reconsider your career objectives. 

Regardless of your career goals, your next job will not appear magically. Your chances of entering any career path can significantly improve if you have a clear professional strategy. 

The value of deliberate career planning is underscored by an extensive body of scientific literature. Research shows that people who develop and implement strategies to pursue career-specific objectives achieve greater career success as measured by remuneration, promotions, and level of responsibility. They also report greater career satisfaction and rate themselves as more successful than their peers compared to those without career plans. A study of 7600 postdoctoral researchers found that, postdocs who developed training plans with their advisors at the start of their appointments, reported greater satisfaction, published more papers, and experienced fewer conflicts with those advisers. 

A CDP can be very beneficial. By developing, implementing and reviewing your plan, you will be able to: 

• Better recognise your strengths and identify areas for improvement. 

• Fully realise and maximise your potential as researcher and/or a research leader. 

• Proactively identifying and maximising the development opportunities within and beyond your organisation. 

• Equip you with new skills, knowledge and techniques to carry out excellent research. 

• Improve your ability to work effectively in your current role and preparing for future positions you aim at achieving, within or beyond your organisation. 

• Become a world-class researcher, who can make a real-world impact on society.

• Successfully pursue your career aspirations, in academia or beyond. 

When is Career Development most effective? 

Your Career Development Plan will be most effective if you start early, and continually update it. You may be at a point where you are considering your overall career development and growth in academia, or you are thinking about a career change. The EURAXESS Career Handbook and E-Tool offer some basic principles to help you reflect on your career and create a career strategy. 

#CareerStories

Would you like to hear how to concretely use these tools and resource? #CareerStories can help! Read the testimonials from researchers at different stages of their careers. 

#CareerStory1 

Anna was accepted as a PhD student at a University in Germany. Her supervisor suggested that they put together a Career Development Plan, as this was a pre-requisite of the University. Anna had no idea where to start, until she got her hands on the EURAXESS Career Handbook. She then decided to use SWOT analysis for her self-assessment, and to find out what skills she needed to develop and how she could go about it. She then created a draft Action Plan covering the duration of her PhD studies. 

#CareerStory2 

Mark has submitted his PhD thesis and is waiting for his Viva. Meanwhile, he’s contemplating what he should do next. He goes through the Handbook and decides to use the myIDP app for all the steps of his Career Development Plan. He also goes through the VITAE Researcher Career Stories and decides to pursue a career in Academia to gain a tenure track position. He uses the PIPERs resources to find out how he could develop the necessary skills, and the EURAXESS Jobs Database to find a postdoc position in his field. 

#CareerStory3 

Ruth is halfway through a postdoc position she previously found via EURAXESS Jobs. She feels that she wants to see the results of her research taking actual shape, and she’s thinking of pursuing a career in industry. She goes through the Handbook​​​​​​ and decides to use the Career Development Toolkit for Researchers for her self-assessment. After flipping through a Booklet by Science Careers (Science Journal, AAAS) suggested in the Handbook, she decides that she wants to pursue a career in consultancy. 

#CareerStory4 

After finishing his PhD, Alain was able to secure a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship in Portugal. As part of his work during the fellowship, he needed to develop, in collaboration with his supervisor, a Career Development Plan. With the help of the Handbook, he used the NPA Core Competencies Self-Assessment Checklist to identify the skills he needed to cultivate and puts together an Action Plan. 

Access the Career Handbook for Early-Career Researchers

One can never learn too much! EURAXESS offers a series of virtual seminars that follow the career path of a researcher. The trainers are experienced researchers in the field and/or career advisors. They are all members of EURAXESS network and mentors in our EURAXESS Mentoring programme. Trainers have provided their short bio and contacts to answer your questions, or comment on your exercises. Access for free and learn more about soft skills, project management and other competencies that can help you boost your research career. 

Access webinars & trainings

Thinking about valorising your research results? 

The manual for Scientific Entrepreneurship will guide you through the major steps for research results valorisation offering practical tips, links and recommendations. 

Access the manual

Take part in the Mentoring Programme "Shape the future of a researcher coming to Europe" to refine your professional and interpersonal skills by mentoring researchers coming from outside of the European Research Area. Find interesting, international networking opportunities while you support researchers’ integration in another country. 

Discover the International Mentoring Programme

PIPERS Project Career Kit is a collection of learning resources on the topics of entrepreneurial skills, information literacy, disciplinary working, IPR, leadership skills, managing a research career, professional development, public engagement, researcher self-assessment, market exploitation of research results and working with industry.  

Discover the PIPERS Project Career Kit

A new culture is a new experience. This tool will help you adapt and integrate in a new cultural environment after moving, or if you plan to move, to a foreign country. Test and develop your intercultural competence and learn how to become a part of a new community, while reaching your research goals and making the best out of your new job. 

Explore the Intercultural Assistant Tool

The Talent Development Suite (TDS) is a tool to assist postdocs with personal career development planning. Unlike other existing career support tools, it does not evaluate researchers' skills and abilities, but focuses on a researcher's vision. 

The TDS is structured into four different assessment sections, called "Future", "Present", "Past" and "Personal Journey Map". Please remember that the TDS is not only about your professional life, but also about your personal life. 

Try TDS now

You can find extensive support and information in the field of career development at any EURAXESS Career Development Centre in the location of your interest.

Publications, specialised events and a vibrant community will provide you with all the information you need.

Find a Career Development Centre