Workshops 13 & 14 November 2023
During the PhACE event 4 workshop sessions are offered.
You can choose 1 workshop per session, so in total you will follow 4 workshops. The workshops may be subject to change.
Workshop Session 1: Monday 13 November (11h00 - 13h00)
"Exploring your motivation and qualities"
Is your PhD coming to and end and are you in doubt about what to do next?
In this workshop, we will explore these questions to find out what is in your wheelhouse. By consciously and interactively engaging with these themes, you will find out what it is you really want.
Experienced career coach Rutger-Jan Scholtens (UU Career Services) will encourage you to look at different aspects of yourself and your life to extract information for your future. By mapping your interests, capabilities, motives and career values, you will determine what is (most) important to you.
After the workshop, you will be better able to consider the jobs, organizations and tasks that fit your preferences. And you will continue your job search with more self-knowledge and more self-confidence.
Everyone is born with a few core qualities, do you know yours? Don’t hesitate, name them! Are you aware of your challenges? Knowing them gives you the opportunity to develop and grow, both as a person and in your career. In this interactive workshop you will (re)discover your qualities and challenges. You’re going to work on a couple of core quadrants.
Core quadrants are useful to build your resume (or LinkedIn profile) and they lead to more self-confidence at job interviews. Besides that, it is just fun to know where you are good at!
Trainer
Marieke Noordam (www.mariekenoordam.nl) is an experienced coach and trainer. She will encourage you to look at yourself in a different way by challenging you to step out of your comfort zone.
In this workshop there will be given a way to explore your core-qualities and to see these strengths in yourself work mostly in your favour and sometimes against you. Self-awareness is fundamental to be a future leader and/ or project manager. We will give 3 important moments in the exploration of your next career step where it is very useful to have a good impression of your personal qualities. Except this the question: What do you bring for our company? Is a standard question in a job interview. Awareness of your 4 or 5 personal qualities is the basis for preparing a job interview.
Results
We will explore your strengths and weaknesses by:
- Exploring your values, cultural background and upbringing.
- Discovering your personal view on your strengths and weaknesses.
- Analysing 4 or 5 personal successes.
- At the end of the workshop a fairly clear image of your personal qualities will emerge. The workshop gives you guidelines to continue to explore your core qualities and how to use this knowledge in a job interview.
- Furthermore, it will give direction for personal coaching topics.
Trainer
Harry Linders (Bureau Loopbaanplanning) is a career counselor since 1993 and he was involved in several projects on different levels regarding employability. His working experience is divers but PhD candidates are a regular part of his work since 1996. In 2000 he became a registered career advisor in the CMI program. In 2007 he started his own bureau and now he has several assignments in training and advising people entering the working process or continuing their career. During this period he collected a fair knowledge about the actual labour market.
As a PhD candidate preparing for the job market, you are going to make choices concerning your future career. The question of this workshop is: how do you make the right choices? How do you live a worthwhile life that aligns with your values?
You will actively work on personal and practical strategies to help you make choices in life. The workshop is designed for PhD candidates who are willing to reflect deeply, who are not afraid to challenge themselves and who dare ask themselves: "what do I really base my choices on?"
In our workshop you will discover how to make important decisions in life, from your career to personal choices. We will delve into personal values, navigate complex decisions, and develop your own wisdom. You will create a personal compass that you can use to align future choices to. Get ready to reflect deeply, challenge yourself, and uncover the foundations of your decision-making process.
Trainer
Imre Végh (Project Wisdom: www.projectwisdom.nl)
Gaining more insight in how your ideal job would look like, will make you more happy in life. Therefore, this workshop will help you to discover how your ideal job would look like and which actions you can take to find that job.
By doing a couple of lively exercises, you will discover which activities give you energy in your (work) life, which activities drain your energy and which values are important for you in your (work) life.
With this information you will select the important elements of your ideal job. You will share the elements of your dream job with the other participants, identify possible barriers and ways how to overcome these barriers. After this workshop, you will go home with a personal action plan how to take the first steps towards the direction of your dream job.
Experienced trainer Ellis Vyth (Mennen training) will guide you through this process.
Workshop Session 2: Monday 13 November (15h15 - 17h15)
"Enhancing your skill set"
Do you find it stressful to negotiate about salary? Do you tend to give in, because you don’t dare to say ‘no’? Do you want to win in negotiations, even if it means that the relationship with your interlocutor is at stake?
Even though you negotiate every day, stress at the bargaining table can’t be avoided. Whether you are negotiating with your future manager, your partner or a car dealer, conflicting interests lead to stress and emotions.
Negotiation is not about winning or losing; it is about resolving an issue in a way that both parties find acceptable. Therefore you need to make a connection with your interlocutor. Under stress, this can be challenging!
Hostage negotiators are masters in creating connections, even with people they dislike, who are potentially dangerous, and who at first do not even want to talk to them. It is all about creating a dialogue, building trust and form a bond to do what has to be done.
In this workshop you will experience what you can learn from a police negotiator in your negotiations.
You will explore your own reaction in a stressful conversation. Through self-reflection, advice and tactics you learn how to create connection to get the best out of your negotiations.
RESULTS
o Increased awareness of your own emotions and reactions under stress; don’t be a hostage to your emotions
o Increased ability to build connection: no impact without connection
o Increased ability to get results and keep the relationship in negotiations
TRAINER
Heidi Nieboer (MA Police Negotiations)- is a former Chief Inspector of Police and highly experienced police leader and hostage negotiator.
tbd
When looking for a new job, newspapers and the internet are NOT your most valuable sources of information. Your personal network is!
By strategically using and enlarging your network, you can drastically increase your chances of finding the right position for you. This workshop helps you fill your networking ‘toolkit’. You will gain insight in the current status of your network and will learn a step-by-step approach to enlarging your network in the direction important to you. The workshop consists of a little theory mixed with a lot of practice. You have lively interaction with the trainer and your fellow participants.
Target group
Anyone who wants to know how they can make more use of their network for finding career opportunities.
Results
Through the exercises in this workshop you will gain hands-on experience in making your network work for you.
Trainer
Bas Dijkhuis
Do you already have a LinkedIn account but an incomplete profile? Are you unsure what LinkedIn can be used for at all? Do you want to know how to make LinkedIn really work for you?
Nowadays, a strong online presence is essential. With LinkedIn, you can profile yourself even better than with a CV. In this workshop, you will learn what a strong profile looks like, how to add different elements and how to describe them best. You will also get tips on how to write a good summary, how to use groups and company pages and how to find jobs.
To participate, you need to already have a LinkedIn profile. Don’t have one yet? Sign up and get yourself started prior to the workshop. After the workshop you will know how to finetune your profile and how to make use of the various functionalities.
Trainer
Marte Otter (Career Officer UMCU)
In this workshop there will be given a way to explore your core-qualities and to see these strengths in yourself work mostly in your favour and sometimes against you. Self-awareness is fundamental to be a future leader and/ or project manager. We will give 3 important moments in the exploration of your next career step where it is very useful to have a good impression of your personal qualities. Except this the question: What do you bring for our company? Is a standard question in a job interview. Awareness of your 4 or 5 personal qualities is the basis for preparing a job interview.
Results
We will explore your strengths and weaknesses by:
- Exploring your values, cultural background and upbringing.
- Discovering your personal view on your strengths and weaknesses.
- Analysing 4 or 5 personal successes.
- At the end of the workshop a fairly clear image of your personal qualities will emerge. The workshop gives you guidelines to continue to explore your core qualities and how to use this knowledge in a job interview.
- Furthermore, it will give direction for personal coaching topics.
Trainer
Harry Linders (Bureau Loopbaanplanning) is a career counselor since 1993 and he was involved in several projects on different levels regarding employability. His working experience is divers but PhD candidates are a regular part of his work since 1996. In 2000 he became a registered career advisor in the CMI program. In 2007 he started his own bureau and now he has several assignments in training and advising people entering the working process or continuing their career. During this period he collected a fair knowledge about the actual labour market.
Workshop Session 3: Tuesday 14 November (10h30 - 12h30)
"Enhancing your skill set"
tbd
After you have created a CV, motivation letter and applied to your preferred company, you have taken the first step. Now you are invited to the first round of the application procedure: the job interview.
In this first contact it is very important to make a good impression. Before going to the interview, make sure you know the application procedures and what you have to offer your potential employer (skills/qualities). A good preparation is a key factor to a successful job interview. In this workshop we will share information about how to prepare a job interview and practice possible questions which may be asked during the first interview. For example; how to present your PhD in the Dutch labour market and how you can benefit from this.
Trainers
Harry Linders (Bureau Loopbaanplanning)
Caroline Vermeulen (Specialist in Strategic & Executive Recruitment)
Many people encounter stress when they are working on their PhD project. When this feeling of stress continues over a longer period, this may lead to negative side effects among which a feeling of incompetence and a decrease in self-confidence.
During this workshop you will learn how to deal with feelings of stress. You will also discover what drives you into stress, and how to prevent having negative thoughts that may lead to stress. A couple of lively exercises will give you practical tools to boost your self-confidence, even at stressful moments. You will get insights in your personal qualities and how you can use them to feel more confident and to deal with stress during your PhD, but also in the future. By practising and sharing experiences, ideas and stories you will learn from each other as well as the trainer.
Results
At the end of this workshop you will know:
- how to stimulate a feeling of self confidence
- what makes you feel stressed
- how to diminish the feeling of stress
- how to use your qualities during your PhD and afterwards
Preparation
- you are asked to fill in an intake form before the workshop takes place
Trainer
Giustina Ferone (Mennen Training and Consultancy)
Do you also find it difficult to make contact? Or to approach someone you don't know? This workshop provides you with tools that you can benefit from for the rest of your career. What are pitfalls and laws in communication? How do I gain confidence when networking and connecting?
Components of this workshop are:
Communication styles
What kind of communication styles are there? What do the different styles need? How do you recognize them? How do you connect to it?
Ask questions
Why do we ask questions? What kind of questions are there? What are effective questions in networking? What is the difference between academic curiosity and genuine wonder? What are the pitfalls when asking questions?
Feedback
How do I use positive feedback to connect?
Tips and tricks
What are good opening lines? How do you keep a conversation going? How do you finish a conversation? What can you do to perpetuate and maintain your contact?
Mental models
What are unhelpful thoughts when making contact? How can you substitute constructive thoughts for it ?
About the workshop
The workshop is interactive and lasts 2 hours. We will cover a bit of communication theory, some guidelines on giving feedback, and we're going to practice and try out a lot. You will learn practical and personal tips with which you can get a better grip on networking and making contact.
Target group
Anyone who wants to improve their communication skills to get a better grip on a conversation.
Trainer
Erik de Vries
Persuasion is an art! In order to position yourself well for your future job, it’s important to consider how you present yourself and your ideas in a persuasive way. Yet, although sharp arguments and a compelling vision go a long way, being more empathic and understanding turns out to be a key ingredient for more effective influence.
Respectful persuasion is about setting people in motion without using nasty tricks. During this workshop you will gain insight into what moves people and how to motivate them for your proposals. It’s about sensitivity and understanding group dynamics. We will work on practical techniques that will make your communication authentic and respectful as well as more effective.
We will work on the basis of four themes:
- Inspiration – speaking from what truly matters and motivates others
- Emotional intelligence – understanding others and dealing with resistance
- Intention – awareness of how intentions shape effectiveness in communication
- Empathic communication - creating support and building relations
Learning by doing is the motto, so you can expect practical exercises in which you will put the effectiveness of your communication style firmly to the test!
Trainer
Imre Végh (Project Wisdom: www.projectwisdom.nl)
Workshop Session 4: Tuesday 14 November (13h30 - 15h30)
"Repetition & Additional workshops"
This workshop will help you orientate on entrepreneurship and gives you a better understanding of the possibilities. We will discuss the first thinking steps and will facilitate you in deciding whether it is something you would like to do fulltime, or if it suits you better to combine it with other (scientific) work activities. Even if you’re just starting to think about becoming an entrepreneur, you will get hands on information on the things you could encounter when entering the process of becoming an entrepreneur.
Questions that will be addressed are:
- Could you start a business based on your research? Or on another opportunity you see?
- Is it possible to combine an academic career with entrepreneurship, and what would that be like?
- What if you decide to become an entrepreneur: what can you expect, what do you need to consider, and what steps do you need to take if you decide to start?
UtrechtInc
If you consider becoming an entrepreneur, UtrechtInc can be of help. UtrechtInc is a startup incubator of the UU and UMCU for technology driven startups. It has helped many PhDs to start their company. During this workshop you will also hear more about the support and programmes UtrechtInc has to offer.
Trainer
Stefan Braam (UtrechtInc)
Do you know what skills you’ve acquired during your life as a PhD? People tend not to think much about these things. Transferable skills are useful in all kinds of professional contexts and you carry them with you from one job to the next.
If you want to convince an employer that you’re the right person for a job, you need the ability to present your skills with clarity and conviction. This workshop will make you aware of the transferable skills you’ve developed in your studies, during your PhD, and in your extracurricular activities.
Furthermore, you’ll analize a job offering and try to assess, as accurately as you can, what the employer is looking for. You’ll learn to distinguish between specialist and generic (though job-specific) skills. You will then catalog your transferable skills and practice by providing examples that show what skills you possess.
Upon completing the workshop, you’ll know exactly what your skills are and you’ll be able to advertise them better.
Trainer
Tirsa de Vries (Career Services)
When looking for a new job, newspapers and the internet are NOT your most valuable sources of information. Your personal network is!
By strategically using and enlarging your network, you can drastically increase your chances of finding the right position for you. This workshop helps you fill your networking ‘toolkit’. You will gain insight in the current status of your network and will learn a step-by-step approach to enlarging your network in the direction important to you. The workshop consists of a little theory mixed with a lot of practice. You have lively interaction with the trainer and your fellow participants.
Target group
Anyone who wants to know how they can make more use of their network for finding career opportunities.
Results
Through the exercises in this workshop you will gain hands-on experience in making your network work for you.
Trainer
Bas Dijkhuis
After you have created a CV, motivation letter and applied to your preferred company, you have taken the first step. Now you are invited to the first round of the application procedure: the job interview.
In this first contact it is very important to make a good impression. Before going to the interview, make sure you know the application procedures and what you have to offer your potential employer (skills/qualities). A good preparation is a key factor to a successful job interview. In this workshop we will share information about how to prepare a job interview and practice possible questions which may be asked during the first interview. For example; how to present your PhD in the Dutch labour market and how you can benefit from this.
Trainers
Harry Linders (Bureau Loopbaanplanning)
Caroline Vermeulen (Specialist in Strategic & Executive Recruitment)
Do you also find it difficult to make contact? Or to approach someone you don't know? This workshop provides you with tools that you can benefit from for the rest of your career. What are pitfalls and laws in communication? How do I gain confidence when networking and connecting?
Components of this workshop are:
Communication styles
What kind of communication styles are there? What do the different styles need? How do you recognize them? How do you connect to it?
Ask questions
Why do we ask questions? What kind of questions are there? What are effective questions in networking? What is the difference between academic curiosity and genuine wonder? What are the pitfalls when asking questions?
Feedback
How do I use positive feedback to connect?
Tips and tricks
What are good opening lines? How do you keep a conversation going? How do you finish a conversation? What can you do to perpetuate and maintain your contact?
Mental models
What are unhelpful thoughts when making contact? How can you substitute constructive thoughts for it ?
About the workshop
The workshop is interactive and lasts 2 hours. We will cover a bit of communication theory, some guidelines on giving feedback, and we're going to practice and try out a lot. You will learn practical and personal tips with which you can get a better grip on networking and making contact.
Target group
Anyone who wants to improve their communication skills to get a better grip on a conversation.
Trainer
Erik de Vries