Design your Career

Target group

Doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers

Content

Are you unsure what's next in terms of your life and career? Do you sometimes wonder if you're going in the right direction? Do you have the sense that something needs to change in your life or career, but you're not sure what, let alone how you might go about making the change? Do you find that you keep going around in circles with the same ideas when it comes to your future? Do you feel stuck or overwhelmed?

This workshop is for individuals who want to step out of the busy, day-to-day reactive mode, press pause, and examine the big picture. Drawing on insights from positive psychology, design thinking, and other evidence-based approaches to career innovation and life design, will take the time and create the space to reflect on the following questions:

• What do I actually want?
• What strengths, skills, and passions do I bring to the table?
• What activities energize me?
• Am I going in the direction I want to be going in?
• What's my 'why' (purpose), and how can I align my actions with my larger vision and values?
• Are there any beliefs and thought patterns that are getting me stuck?
• What does work-life balance look like for me, and where do I want to make some changes?
• How can I break out of the box in my thinking when it comes to my career and life and generate innovative ideas for my future?
• How can I make better decisions that align with what’s important to me?

This workshop is NOT about finding or applying for a concrete job. Instead, it lays the foundation for figuring out what types of jobs you might want to apply for.

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:

• Identify and reframe thoughts, beliefs, and emotions that might be getting you stuck
• Develop a more productive mindset that will help you move forward with momentum
• Have a clearer sense of who you are, what’s important to you and where you want to go
• Break out of the box and generate fresh ideas for your future
• Create a plan of action to test your ideas
• Cultivate a supportive community of peers (inside and outside of the workshop) who can hold you accountable and offer encouragement along the way

Methods

Design Thinking, Positive Psychology, Co-Active Coaching.

Given the workshop's focus, we will touch on personal themes. To get the most out of our time together, you should feel comfortable sharing personal stories and feelings with the other participants (to the extent that feels comfortable with you). The instructor will do her utmost to create a safe, supportive, and generative environment.

This workshop is fast-fast-paced, energetic, and playful. Our emphasis is on learning by doing and discovering through interaction. Inputs will be kept short; this is not a lecture-style seminar.

Prerequisites

You will have 1-2 hours of "fieldwork" assignments before and between sessions.