The EMBL Fellows’ Career Service offers a comprehensive set of information and resources covering all stages of the career-planning process, aiming to support early-career researchers in the life sciences to make informed decisions about their future careers.

The resources are free and open to all researchers who want to work on their career planning independently. Within EMBL, these resources are used in individual career guidance sessions and career workshops.

The career planning process  – Where are you?

Career planning is an ongoing process that should continue throughout your career. It is particularly important during a PhD or postdoctoral appointment, where the choices you make can have a large influence on your future trajectory.

Before getting started with our information and resources, it may be helpful to first consider which steps of the career planning process you have been working on. If you have not been proactive with your career planning, think about which constraints, conflicts or factors are preventing you from doing it. Think about which of these obstacles you may be able to overcome (on your own or with help), and if any of the obstacles you perceive are based on assumptions you have made. You may also wish to consider who your career decisions affect and how best to involve these people in your career planning process.