Beyond the PhD: Bridging Academia and Industry with the BNF Program
"After earning your PhD, go straight to BNF.” That’s what I heard many times during my PhD journey.
The BNF program facilitates the employability of unemployed persons. BNF is active throughout Switzerland and has 25 years of experience in supporting unemployed academics. The organization assists highly qualified specialists at career crossroads through personal counseling, fostering professional networks, and focused training so that they can successfully place their professional know-how and skills in the job market.
As I wrote in a previous article, networking is very important in the Swiss job market. BNF proposes to network through project work. “As a national qualification program, we have an extensive network of excellent project partners in renowned institutions and companies throughout Switzerland. Depending on your situation, we can even create a new project, suited to your personal requirements.” A BNF project can be included in the participant's professional portfolio, serving as a showcase of their skills and achievements for potential employers.
To apply to the BNF program, you need the approval of your unemployment advisor. When I went to my first meeting with mine, I had one objective: I wanted her to allow me to apply to the program. To do so, I prepared a speech which I hoped would be persuasive. In a nutshell, I told her that the BNF would increase my chance of finding a job in the private sector in a very short amount of time. I was extremely lucky; my advisor was a former HR in pharma. She knew that I would benefit from the program. She also knew and loved the Life Science Career Day Lausanne, the career fair organized by BSNL, and that I supervised two years in a row. I also mentioned that I organized an information session with the former BNF Lausanne director a few months earlier. She loved my profile and knew that I had a full plan to get what I wanted, a job, very fast.
At the beginning of my unemployment, I was doing a 10% traineeship (4h per week) in the company I am currently working at. I knew that I wanted to continue to work with the team. Since my unemployment advisor allowed me to apply to the program, I suggested to my manager that we could create a BNF project for 6 months. I wanted to get more work experience as a project lead and in innovation scouting for Biotech, Medtech companies. I applied to the BNF program, was accepted, and could start my BNF project to acquire new skills.
What is wonderful about the BNF program is that I had access to trainings; I could follow a training in project management (10 days) and in project leadership (3 days). After each training, I received a certification from the University of Bern. I knew that for my work journey in the private, I would need the knowledge that I gained during those trainings.
During the BNF project, I was very clear about my wish to be hired to continue all the projects that I was working on and to continue my professional development within the team. That’s what happened; at the end of my 6 months BNF project, I got hired. The BNF program was a perfect launching pad for me. It gave me the opportunity to acquire the skills that I was missing through a professionalizing project and trainings.
