MMMIGS Career Orientation
In the summer semester 2025, the Minds, Media, Machines Integrated Graduate School (MMMIGS) will offer its first career orientation seminar for doctoral candidates in their second year and beyond, as well as for postdocs. In the seminar, participants will learn how to identify suitable career paths within and outside of academia and the next steps for achieving their individual career goals. The seminar will be offered in English; a more detailed description of the contents can be found below. The program will be presented in an online information session on the 24th of April, 2025, from 10-11 a.m. The seminar itself will take place online or in a hybrid format every Thursday from 10-12 a.m. from the 8th of May to the 12th of June, 2025. Attendance at all sessions is expected.
The seminar is based on the book "What Color is Your Parachute?" by Richard Bolles. We will work together on the exercises from the book to identify possible career options for participants. Participants will also be given various tools and strategies that can help them achieve their career goals. Click on the title of a session to see a description of its content.
The information session will provide an overview of the course contents and present the materials used in the seminar. Please use the following link to participate: https://uni-bremen.zoom-x.de/j/66903808726?pwd=99C5GIkgbxPClFmGucFkbqwQ3pbzUv.1
In the first session, the parachute approach from the book "What Color Is Your Parachute?" will be introduced and compared to the traditional job search. The flower exercise is one of the central tools of this approach and will also be presented in this session. In the following sessions, we will then focus on filling out the individual petals.
In the second session, we will focus on petals 1-3 and reflect together on people we would like to work with, our preferred working conditions, and the skills and abilities we would like to use in our future job.
In the third session, we will focus on petals 4 and 5: our areas of interest and the desired level of responsibility in combination with the salary we would like to achieve.
In the fourth session, we will focus on petals 6 and 7: the preferred geographical locations where we want to work and the meaning we want to give to our lives.
In the final session, we will explore tools and strategies for achieving career goals based on the insights gained from the flower exercise.
Participation in the seminar is open to doctoral candidates in their second year and beyond who are members of a doctoral program within the MMMIGS network, or whose doctorate is supervised by a member of the high-profile area Minds, Media, Machines. Postdocs from the doctoral programs and MMM working groups are also welcome. The status, doctoral program, and working group must be indicated on the registration form. If in doubt, please contact the MMMIGS coordinator, Dr. Lena Wollschläger. Attendance at all seminar sessions is expected.