Investing time and effort to reflect on who you are as a professional and to better understand your skills, interests, and values – such as intellectual freedom, recognition, salary and geographic location –  is the first step of the career planning process.

Building self-awareness can help you:

• be effective in your current role, by identifying strengths that can help drive progress in your research project(s), recognising skills that require further development, and understanding how you work best with others;
• clarify what you want from your career, recognise jobs where you can excel, and identify career paths and employers that would provide the rewards, motivation and lifestyle you need to be satisfied and productive in the future.

Starting your career planning with self-awareness can therefore help you be more strategic in your career development, and explore potential careers with clarity.

Key questions:

• What skills, interests, values, and personality traits do you have? Can you identify and articulate these easily? 
• How might your skills, interests, values and personality traits inform your career choices?
• Are there specific skills you need to build for your target career?

Additional considerations

Career planning can be both exciting and challenging. If you are facing difficulties that affect your wellbeing or make it harder to focus on your next steps, consider exploring what support mechanisms are available to you.

At EMBL, several confidential support services are available, including an online mental health platform, the Ombuds Office, Human Resources, Trusted Advisors, Mental Health First Aiders, the Health and Safety Office, and the Staff Association. Early-career researchers can also seek guidance from the Graduate Office, Postdoc Office, and Predoc and Postdoc representatives.