Would you like to prepare yourself for a future after your degree? Kick-start your career path! Find the job that is right for you? Career Services organises activities to support you while you prepare for your professional career.
We give various workshops, for example on: career planning, LinkedIn, networking, and job applications. Or you can book an individual appointment with one of the GSLS career officers about any career topic. We also share a large network in the Life Sciences field of which you can make use.
Join the GSLS Career Services LinkedIn community for up-to-date information about the available training possibilities and career planning, internship possibilities, and job offers.
The UU also offers several career activities. Visit their page for more information.
The GSLS organises 7-8 webinars per year that take place on Thursdays from 16:00 to 17:00.
During the Life Sciences Career Event webinars, (young) alumni who work in different jobs at different organizations, will tell you more about their work. Get to know how it is like to work at a pharmaceutical company, at a non-profit organization or within academia. This webinar will start of with a short introduction, after which two alumni will give a presentation about their career and the choices they made. You have the possibility to ask all your questions beforehand or during the webinar by chat.
Do you have questions about how to start your career? Would you like to discuss your resume or would you like to practice a job interview?
Plan an interview with the career officer Simone Kastelein (Faculty of Science) or Marte Otter / Michelle Ritman (Faculty of Medicine). Check the information below for the respective calendars to make an appointment.
Follow a workshop provided by the career services, for example self-analysis for career development, exploring the job market and networking, or LinkedIn.
If you are unsure about whether a given workshop is relevant to your interests or have any other question about one of our workshops, send an email to careerservices@uu.nl. Please include your phone number so we can get in touch with you.
The UU Job Explorer offers multiple online tests to find out where you are in the process of finding the right job and what your needs are in your future working environment. Start with the career check to create an action plan. You can also take a work-value test, the career choice test, or personality test.
MBTI personality test
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the most widely used questionnaire for talent development in the world. The instrument is based on the personality theories of Carl Jung, and describes differences between personalities in a positive way. There is no good or bad, each type has strong qualities and possible pitfalls. The test makes an inventory of ‘preferences’. Each preference indicates what gives you energy and what you are comfortable with.
If you would like to do the official test contact Rutger-Jan Scholtens. He is certified to perform the questionnaire and discuss the results with you one-on-one. Taking the test costs €60, including the report, other documents, and the feedback meeting.
Throughout your career, it’s beneficial to have a broad network. You may already have a broad network: your family, friends, fellow students, student society, sportsclub, et cetera. In addition to these contacts, you can actively start looking for people you do not know yet but who can potentially help you along in your job hunt. Networking tips can be found here.
More information about how to clearly structure your resume, how to write an attractive application letter, and how to prepare for a job interview is available here.
See also these instructional videos for more tips and tricks:
A lot of jobs are obtained by networking so connect with your supervisors, peers, and alumni of your Master's programme. Share the type of job you are looking for with your network. If you want to obtain a PhD position, you can contact the group leader of a research group which you find very interesting.
International students
After studying in the Netherlands, you might also think of finding a job here. On this page you can find links to websites that might be useful at the different stages of the job search. Other websites that contain useful information are StudyinNL or EURAXESS.
You can increase your job opportunities in the Netherlands if you speak (a little) Dutch. The beginners' course in Dutch offers you the opportunity to learn the basics of the language through fun interactive exercises.
Career prospects
When you complete your Master's degree, you are well-equipped to function independently in the international field of life sciences. With the provided (specialized) knowledge, skills, and insight into the fields of bio(medical) sciences, you are prepared for a career in science, either inside or outside academia.
The information below contains examples of companies where GSLS alumni are employed and is not exhaustive. There are of course more organizations within all the categories below that are interesting for you.
A significant proportion of the GSLS graduates go on to do a PhD. The GSLS offers several PhD programmes, but it is also possible to conduct a PhD at other universities and research institutes (i.e. Hubrecht Institute, RIVM, NKI, Sanquin, NIOO) in The Netherlands or abroad.
The best way to find a PhD is to contact the professor in the field you want to specialize in. Another option would be the websites of the universities and/or academic hospitals or AcademicTransfer.
If you do not want to obtain a PhD degree but still want to perform research, you can look for a position as a research technician or researcher in a (pharmaceutical) company (i.e. GenMab, Janssen Pharmaceutical Company, Danone Nutricia Research, Mercachem Syncom, Thermofisher scientific, TNO).
If you are passionate about how to make all kinds of knowledge accessible and useful for your target audiences, you can follow the Communication profile.
Career possibilities are working as a (freelance) science journalist (i.e. for Elsevier or the NewScientist), policy advisor (communication), or a program developer at a science museum (i.e. NEMO). If you would like to be more involved in clinical trials, you can consider a career as medical writer, where you are responsible for the writing deliverables for submission to regulatory agencies, like the FDA.
If you are passionate about sharing your knowledge, and you would consider a career as a teacher in secondary education, the Education profile might be right for you. You can also follow a one-year (Dutch language) teacher training programme upon completion of your current Master's degree. This will grant you a first degree teaching qualification for secondary education. That means you will be able to work in the upper and lower years of VMBO, HAVO, and VWO in the Netherlands.
If you are interested in life sciences business, you can follow the Management profile.
Thinking about a sales or marketing position in a (life sciences) company? Eli Lily, GenDx, or AbbVie might be interesting companies for you. As medical science liaison (for example at Novartis, AstraZeneca), you contribute to the positioning of a product.
More excited about the clinical operations within the pharmaceutical industry (i.e. Novartis, Abbvie, Merus and the Clinical company)? Have a look at positions like (junior) clinical research assistant, clinical research coordinator or clinical trial coordinator. Within those positions, the practical support and the monitoring of clinical trials is the main part of the responsibilities. With a few years of experience, the next step in your career could be a position as clinical research associate and/or clinical project manager.
As a consultant, in most cases, you will be hired by different companies, which provide you the opportunity to get to know different parts of the industry in a short amount of time. Examples of consultancy companies are IQVIA, Vintura, The Decision Group, Deltares, Gupta Strategists and Accenture.
Interested in using, analyzing and interpreting big-data? Follow the Applied Data Science profile or Bioinformatics profile! Consider a career as data scientist or data manager at a research institute, research-oriented pharmaceutical company, biotechnology company or health care companies (i.e. Altrecht). There are also consultancy companies that are specialized in data science (i.e. Big Data Republic).
If you passionate about policy and stimulating and facilitating research, you can consider a career as program secretary/manager or grant advisor of a charity or foundation (i.e. NWO, ZonMw, Nierstichting, Hersenstichting). Think about a Clinical Assessor at the Medicines Evaluation Board, policy advisor or academic counsellor of a Undergraduate or Graduate School (for example Biology or Biomedical Sciences) or a traineeship at the national government (i.e. Ministry of Education, Culture and Science or Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport).
