Arc.

It is estimated that only about 3% of young researchers (PhDs and Postdocs) actually end up as academic staff today. Together with mass layoffs in academia, low salaries and heavy workloads, recent PhD graduates and early career researchers find themselves either too burnt out to continue down the academic route, or unable to secure even short-term research contracts, leading them to have no option but look for jobs in the industry. This is a particular problem for international students, who find themselves increasingly out of options, not knowing how to secure a job as migrants, while having lost networks in their country of origin. While universities and research institutes offer career advice and mentoring tools for young researches, they are not particularly tailored for international researchers.

Therewith, not only does this substratum of consumer find themselves in front of the daunting decision to leave academia, take care of their mental health, and be financially healthy, but also where and how to build networks. This impacts the global economy - these highly skilled and easily trained people lose years until finding a position they can bring high value and productivity to. This impacts society negatively: having a highly educated, but burnt out and financially instable migrant researcher impacts the possibility of starting a family, taking years to recover and be productive. The largest negative effect is on an entire generation of global middle class.

The solution I propose is a free online platform that provides comprehensive assistance to early career migrant researchers in their pursuit of leaving academia and transitioning into the international industry into a new career. International PhDs and Postdocs who need support with finding a better paying job and creating a better work-life balance outside of academia need these four problems to be solved: job urgency, limited financial resources, mental health, mobility. My solution offers overarching resources of these aspects available for free, especially tailored for the international early career researcher seeking a career transition.

My assumptions are that having a comprehensive platform which will provide FREE resources targeting both the personal and the career aspect of transitioning out of academia, AND providing the space for interactive exchanges on all the facets of career trajectory of an international PhD/Postdoc will be attractive for the target consumers. I am currently testing my hypothesis by reaching out to to target consumers and asking which elements of the resources available currently they use the most. The potential impact of this solution is practical, coherent, positive goal-oriented way of saving time, boosting self-confidence and integrating these highly skilled people into the global job market, positively influencing the economy of their country of origin - all while creating a culture of life-long learning.

Existing solutions include individual career coaching, which is costly; websites that mainly target only the career change part, and do not include the emotional and mental aspect of dealing with this important life transition, and whose resources are predominantly tailored for the Western European/US consumer: Two examples are Cheeky Scientist, which offers free resources, but their business plan is oriented towards paid consultations; The Aspiring Professionals Hub, a forum that also includes exchange of experiences, transferable skills and education. The chances for the idea to be successfully implemented are solid, as the need for this especially tailored towards international researchers is growing.

I am currently in the process of identifying the necessary resources. The potential challenges that might arise are not enough revenue stream from website visitors, traffic, and that I might need to include a model which entails partnering with universities that have a high number of international PhD students, hold webinars and conferences which are paid, and partner with websites and career coaches for their services to be advertised.