What to expect
To ensure top quality research we need top quality employees. Your creativity and innovative capabilities are the basis for the long-term success of our work. That's why we undertake a great deal to attract the best people to us. An important aim of our work is to continuously support and promote the motivation and dedication of our staff. Our young and talented researchers, for example, are trained and prepared for future tasks in a special program designed to develop credentials in science management. We support your career planning with individual coaching. We also offer a special service to our foreign colleagues and guests: in the spring of 2005, we opened our "International Office". The office provides foreign staff members with unbureaucratic assistance to get them started in their new jobs.
Family and career
The Audit berufundfamilie® assists employers to implement family-friendly personnel policies. To improve the balance between work and family, the Helmholtz Centre offers family-friendly policies in very different places. The most important prerequisites for an effective reconciliation is a reliable advice, organization and support of employees in the following areas:
- Demand-oriented child and family care
- The service centre to balance work and family gives all employees information on ways of family support services.
Flyer with additional information about the family office for download (in German)´
International Office
The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research set up its "International Office" in March, 2005. Here, foreign staff members and guests get assistance acclimatizing themselves to their new surroundings. They are helped with the bureaucratic hurdles that accompany any move to a foreign country. Whether visa formalities, residency or work permits, health insurance or finding accommodations, the International Office gives foreign colleagues all the help they need to cope with the everyday problems.
Living in Germany - Guide for Visitors 2009
Employee Development
The qualifications and motivation of our staff members are a fundamental prerequisite for staying competitive in international research circles. This means that our employees need to continuously improve their qualifications. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research supports this lifelong learning with a multi-faceted employee development program. In addition to the traditional continuing education programs, such as language skills and software applications, we also school the soft skills and leadership qualities of our employees. It is also important to us that our staff members improve their social skills between colleagues, so we also offer individual coaching and team development programs.
Management Curriculum
Enabling employees to take on positions of responsibility requires not only a keen interest in research and scientific excellence, but also soft skills and knowledge of management techniques. The Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research offers staff members, who wish to pursue new challenges, the opportunity to further develop their expertise within the framework of a specially-designed management curriculum program. The management curriculum consists of different seminars that last from one to two days. Topics include presentation and public speaking skills as well as team management.
Coaching
Since the summer of 2005, all employees of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research have the opportunity to receive systematic coaching for their personal development. One aim of such coaching can be, for example, to flesh out one's individual career development, or, to find the right balance between personal interests and career goals.
Team Development
The aim here is to improve the coordination and cooperation within a work group. In workshops, team members learn to set mutual goals; feedback and discourse are strengthened to improve team communication and cooperation.