Abstract:

Every year, the HLFF, an international networking conference where 200 outstanding young researchers in mathematics and computer science interact with the recipients of the most renowned prizes in the fields, provides an exclusive opportunity to selected and outstanding young researchers. During a one-week event, students are invited to interact with laureates of the aforementioned fields. Integral part of the conference are career focused sessions concluding the event. These sessions offer the chance to talk and reflect about students’ future career paths with experts from academia and business. Each session features a high-profile panel with representatives from global companies, alumni and laureates. The discussions mainly cover the topics of driving one’s career path from academia to business or vice versa, required skill-sets, how to build a successful career and how to stay motivated throughout the years. In order to gain deeper insights into topics that concern young researchers in terms of career development, the discussions are documented and analyzed. During the analysis over three years, important discussion points were clustered into different overarching subject areas and are combined with a qualitative content analysis. This paper will illustrate and further discuss the different pain points and provide insights about young researchers’ mindsets regarding career development.

Keywords:

Career Development, Young Researchers, Professional Development, Networking, Skill-Set.