My career

Where do your talents lie and which of your competencies are suitable for further development? A useful way of gaining a clearer idea of this is to ask your manager, colleagues, employees, or customers for feedback. This could be in relation to the competencies that form part of your current position, but also to a possible next step in your career.

Use the digital feedback instrument to ask other people to give feedback on competencies chosen by you. Log in to the UFO website to find the digital feedback instrument, together with an instruction guide in the menu.

Exploratory interview

Do you need advice on where you now stand in terms of your career and on the development opportunities available to you? Make an appointment for an exploratory interview. The purpose of the interview is to look at what exactly you are looking for and to advise you on the appropriate options.

If you decide, post-intake, to take part in a career guidance track or training course for example, or to take coaching, this will always be in consultation with your manager – this is because it may take time or incur costs.

If you would like a clearer picture of your own abilities and ambitions, then the abilities and ambitions scan could be helpful to you. The scan throws light on your options and opportunities. You can then discuss the results with your manager or advisors at the Career Development Centre (CDC).

If you would like to find out the challenges and lessons that lie in your current or possible future position, then the development assessment will be a useful tool for you. The assessment provides pointers towards the direction in which you could proceed and towards how you might work on your personal and professional development. You will receive a report with an assessment and advice.

The scans and assessments are not generally free of charge. Talk to your manager to find out whether a scan or an assessment would be appropriate in your exploration of your career options. For advice on which instrument would be most suitable to your situation, get in touch with an advisor at the Career Development Centre.

Getting a fresh perspective can sometimes be very stimulating – this could be achieved in an exploratory conversation with a colleague, for example, or by shadowing someone in a position that interests you. It is a chance to experience the ‘reality’ of the position and the ambience of a particular working environment. Other benefits include networking opportunities, learning from others, and acquiring new experiences and insights that you can use in your own work setting.

Who am I, what do I want, what am I capable of? To make any progress in your personal and professional development, an important first step is to have a good idea of your own personality, abilities, and wishes. To assist you with this, we are offering five tests that you can do at a time and place of your own choosing.

Only you will be able to see the results and they will not be stored. If you would like to keep the results, you can store them yourself at the end. Should you not do so, they will not be retained.

Digital skills tool 

In an increasingly digital UT work environment, our digital skills are increasingly important. Use this Digital Skills Tool to gain more insight into your digital talents and digital development opportunities. The tool is designed as a conversation tool, which you can walk through together with your supervisor or colleagues, but is also suitable for individual use.

Or take the 'Level up your digital skills' & 'Excel Essentials' courses on GoodHabitz

GOODHABITZ ASSESMENTS 

Get To Know Yourself

1. Pick a test that suits you and start right away
2. Receive your results in a report
3. Get started with personal tips

Are you looking to enhance your professional skills or broaden your knowledge of your field?

UT believes very strongly in the development of its employees, with a view to achieving inspirational teaching, ground-breaking research, relevant innovation, and outstanding professional support. Training courses are an excellent way of boosting your current position or of preparing for your next career move. Every training course for the University’s employees can be found at the Centre for Training and Development. They have been categorised according to six themes: 

• Research, 
• Teaching,
• Language and communication,
• Leadership, 
• Career development, 
• Personal effectiveness. 

There is also a specific range of options for PhD students and postdocs. Take a look at your training course options on the Centre for Training and Development website.

If you would like to work on your career or other development with the help of a senior colleague, then you should consider the mentor program. In four discussions with your mentor, you have the opportunity to examine your personal career issues. This could deal with such questions as to how to expand your network? What are the unwritten rules at UT? How can I prepare for the next step in my career? It is also a chance to spar with your colleagues during peer-to-peer review sessions.

Is your job right for you, or is it time to move on?

Do you actually know where your talents, qualities, and ambitions lie?

Careers' advice can help you achieve a better understanding of who you are, what you are good at and what you are looking for from your work. The result will be concrete advice on what your next steps should be.

The process is as follows. First, the Career Development Centre conducts an intake interview. We then jointly decide on the next step. Short programmes are managed internally by the Career Development Centre advisors. For more detailed programmes, we work in partnership with various companies that specialise in career advice.

The more detailed programmes are not free of charge; you should discuss the options for embarking on one with your manager.

In the annual performance appraisal you have with your manager, you look at both your performance and your development. What competencies would you like to work on in order to be able to do your current or future work more effectively? Are you in the right job? What might a suitable next step be?

Your annual interview is also a good time to talk with your manager about how the two development days that form part of the Collective Labour Agreement are to be used. You can use these days for a wide range of activities that contribute to your personal development and deployability in the context of your current or future work.

You and your manager may conclude that you would benefit from personalised advice. If so, please contact the advisors at the Career Development Centre.

360-degree feedback

The Career Development Centre offers a range of tools that can help you during discussions on your development. For example, there is a 360-degree feedback instrument (Log in to the UFO website, then you will find the digital feedback tool with a manual in the menu) in which you ask for and receive feedback from everyone you work with, manage, or who manages you. In other words, the feedback is more wide-ranging than what you receive from only your own manager.

Would you like to find out what developments are taking place in your field at universities abroad and would you like to learn from them? If you are planning to go abroad, you may be eligible for a grant. Visit the Staff Mobility website to explore your funding options. If you have found a suitable grant, discuss with your manager whether a visit to international university would be a good investment for broadening your knowledge and experience.

Being on an internship or secondment involves working at a different location or even with a different organisation. This could be to gain fresh knowledge for your current position or as a means of exploring possible future options.

It is a good idea to consider beforehand the purpose of your internship or secondment and where this purpose can best be served. You should discuss this with your manager or HR advisor.

The initiative for finding a suitable place in or outside UT lies with you, so you should use your own network for this. The Career Development Centre can help you find a suitable place by using its regional networks or at universities in the Netherlands.

If you are about to apply for a job at or outside UT, good preparation is essential. What constitutes a good CV? How do you write a letter that grabs the reader’s attention? What kind of questions will you get asked during a job interview? How important is social media nowadays?

The Career Development Centre will give you feedback on your letter or CV, on request. There is also a special training course for PhDs and you can check out the Career planner by Academic Transfer.

Are you ready for the next step in your career?

If so, keep a close eye on the vacancies at UT. One way to do this is to sign up for a Job Alert. You will receive an email whenever a new vacancy arises at UT.

Would you like to stay up to date regarding other vacancies? For academic positions, see Academic Transfer (or Academic position or Research Gate) and for jobs elsewhere in the region, twente.com.

Discussing individual development 

Discussing development can take place in any regular conversation, at the initiative of either party. Relevant questions are: What qualities does an employee have that could be better used? What aspects can an employee develop in order to improve his or her performance? What are the long-term aims with regard to his or her development? What would be a good next step from an employee’s current position, at UT or elsewhere?

As a manager, you are one of the most important discussion partners when it comes to personal development. You have a clear idea of your employees’ performance and qualities and you can provide them with valuable feedback. In addition, you are in a position to encourage and facilitate their development. Employees themselves are in control of their own development and careers. For professional support with personal development and career-related questions, you can refer your employees to the Career Development Centre. They can use the centre for an obligation-free interview and get advice on relevant steps to take and activities.

Team development

As well as the development of individual employees, you are responsible for the development of your team as a whole. Possible questions are: What professionalisation is needed now that our services are changing? How can we make the team work together more effectively? What aspects need to be developed following the reorganisation? You can contact the Career Development Centre for custom-made advice.

The annual performance appraisal

A good time to discuss personal development is during the annual performance appraisal. During the interviews, you look not just at each employee’s performance, but also at how they wish to develop in both the short and long term.

If, as a manager, you need broader-based feedback on the development of your employees’ competencies, then you have the option of using a 360-degree feedback instrument (Log in to the UFO website, then you will find the digital feedback tool with a manual in the menu.) This digital feedback instrument can be used by employees to ask the people he or she works with for feedback on pre-agreed competencies. The competencies in question could relate to the employee’s present university-job profile or those that belong to a possible next step.

For assistance in conducting a development-based annual or other interview, you can always ask your HR advisor. 

See NL site, EN parts need to be completed

See NL site, EN parts need to be completed

See NL site, EN parts need to be completed

See NL site, EN parts need to be completed

See NL site, English part still needs to be filled in

UT Strategy Game

A serious way to implement our UT Strategy Shaping2030 is with the UT Strategy Game. It brings UT's core values to life in a playful and interactive way. You play the game with 6 to 9 people, preferably from the same team. To end up with the most impact points, your strategic insight, entrepreneurship, and team player skills will be called upon. UT Strategy Game is there for anyone who values team development and wants to further integrate Shaping2030 into everyday work. If you want to plan a game session, please contact Elke van Bogget.