Are you working at a university in Bern and looking for a new professional challenge or are you aiming for a career change? Let us help you find out where you might want to go from here.
Regardless of whether you are looking for a change of job in your professional field, want to leave your field or want to start further education – are you thinking about whether and in what way the requirements you need to meet can be reconciled with your current concept of life and your life situation? Will investing the time and effort and temporarily giving up certain things in your life be worth it for what you hope to achieve with your professional project?
Where do I stand, what can I do?
The first step is to take stock of your current situation. This will help you to clarify which of your personal values, interests and needs the future job profile or career goal should reflect.
In the next step, make a list of your competences and identify the qualifications you already have to achieve your professional goals. Our competence profile allows you to record, clearly present and weight all the competences you have acquired and developed.
This makes it possible for you to see where your strengths lie and where there is a need for development and further training in order to achieve your goals:
You will find comprehensive information on these topics on the official Swiss information portal for vocational, academic and career counselling – berufsberatung.ch. In addition, you can find the relevant offices in your canton of residence:
- Berufsberatung.ch – Overview – Occupations (German or French)
- Berufsberatung.ch – Career opportunities after university studies (German or French)
- Berufsberatung.ch – Switzerland's vocational, academic and career counselling service (German or French)
Before you make any long-term decisions, we recommend that you take a deeper look into your new career. For example, visit a taster day or take a company tour! An interview with an experienced professional in the desired company or occupational field can also be very informative.
Changing jobs
If you are looking to change jobs in your current field, the next steps are to update your application file and develop job search strategies. You can find more information on our website:
- Universities of Bern Counselling Centre – Application
- Universities of Bern Counselling Centre – Job Search and Networking
If you are looking to move into a leadership role, first consider your university's internal job market and inquire with Human Resources. Internal advancement to a leadership position is often easier to accomplish than gaining the appropriate confidence for a leadership position with a new employer without proven leadership experience.
Further training
Extended further training requires prudent planning. You need to consider the cost of training, the temporary reduction in workload and reduced income. If you have children, the possible additional care requirements may entail further costs.
To meet the admission requirements for certain further training courses, you must go through admission procedures or complete internships. This in turn requires time and resources. Some further training institutions also have waiting lists for interested parties.
For more information on further training programmes at the universities, please visit our website:
Health reasons for a professional reorientation
If you are considering a professional reorientation for health reasons, we recommend contacting the AHV-/IV office in your canton of residence. You can get advice there. They will tell you whether you are entitled to support and which occupational measures may be helpful in the process.
- ahv-iv.ch – Eingliederungsmassnahmen (Integration measures, in German)