Young academics have to make a decisive career choice: either to pursue a science career or to look at alternative options of which there are many. The choice for a science career generally results in a postdoc position as a first job after one's PhD. But of course there are several other pathways to go into after finishing your PhD. At PE&RC, we notice, however, that people generally find it difficult to decide which direction to go into after finishing the PhD project. For one, this is because they do not so clearly know what to expect from the different career paths, or because they have never really analysed their ambitions, strengths, and weaknesses, or because they have just been too occupied with finishing the PhD to think about anything after that at all.
Here, we try to create a space where our PhD candidates and postdocs can find more information about the different career options following up on a PhD or postdoc position, and we also aim to share some of the PE&RC alumni experiences here. They provide perfect examples of career options after your PhD or after your postdoc.
From here, you can browse further into the different career perspectives, by clicking the items in the non-exclusive list of options below.
- Postdoc
- Teacher at a high school or at a university for applied sciences (HBO in Dutch)
- A job in industry
- A job at a para-university research institute, like the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO) or the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ)
- Work for an NGO, like WWF, Bioversity International, Zoological Society of London, Greenpeace, Rainforest Alliance, etc.
- A job in policy / government
Experiences of PE&RC alumni in their jobs after their PhD
We have reached out to our PE&RC Alumni and have asked them what to do now, and whether they'd be willing to share some details about their post-PhD careers and experiences. We received lots of positive replies, and that's why we're now making some of these short stories available to you! To inspire you and to give you an impression of the post-PhD experiences of our former PE&RC PhD candidates! You can read some of these experiences here.
Here, you will find an overview of career-oriented courses organised or supported by PE&RC or its partner institutes. If you know of courses that should be in this list, but are not currently here, please send the name and link of the course to office.pe@wur.nl, so we can include it here for others.
- Career assessment (Wageningen)
Individual assessment for PhDs who have questions concerning their personal competences, career opportunities and next career step - Career Development for Postdocs: Science and the Alternatives (Wageningen)
Supports in making career choice in science or beyond and making a plan of action how to reach the desired goal - Career Orientation (Wageningen)
Meant for PhD candidates and postdocs who are orienting themselves in what future career to choose, in or outside of science - Career Perspectives (Wageningen)
Meant for PhDs in their third or fourth year who want support in defining and taking the next step in their career - Entrepreneurship in and outside Science (Wageningen)
Analysis and development of entrepreneurial skills for young scientists in or outside academia - Competences and motives (Leiden)
This intensive 2-day course with afterwards an individual coaching session offers insight into career possibilities and helps you make choices for your future. - Job interview skills (Leiden)
How can I best present myself on the job market in a CV, a letter and in the interview, both for a vacancy that is a logical progression in my career, and for a career switch. - PhD Activating Career Event (PhACE) (Utrecht)
During this 2-days event PhD students in the penultimate year of their PhD can explore different career options. Do you stay in academia or not? What are the alternative possibilities and how do your skills and competencies fit in to these new career choices?