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CERN Yellow Reports: Monographs CERN-2019-004

Study on the career trajectories

of people with a working experience at CERN

C. Bianchin

Volkswagen Financial Services AG, Gifhorner Str. 57, Braunschweig, Germany, previously at Wayne State University, Detroit, USA

P. Giacomelli

INFN, Sezione di Bologna, viale B. Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy

L. Iconomidou-Fayard

LAL, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Sud, Paris-Saclay, 91440 Orsay, France

J. Niedziela

CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland

B. Sciascia

INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, via E. Fermi 33, 00044 Frascati, ItalyCERN Yellow Reports: Monographs

Published by CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland

ISBN 978-92-9083-543-1 (paperback)

ISBN 978-92-9083-544-8 (PDF)

ISSN 2519-8068 (Print)

ISSN 2519-8076 (Online)

Accepted for publication by the CERN Report Editorial Board (CREB) on 8 September 2019 Available online athttp://publishing.cern.ch/andhttp://cds.cern.ch/

Copyright

c

CERN, 2019Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Knowledge transfer is an integral part of CERN's mission. CERN publishes this volume Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) in order to permit its wide dissemination and use. The submission of a contribution to a CERN Yellow Report series shall be deemed to constitute the

contributor's agreement to this copyright and license statement. Contributors are requested to obtain any

clearances that may be necessary for this purpose. This volume is indexed in: CERN Document Server (CDS)

This volume should be cited as:

Study on the career trajectories of people with a working experience at CERN, C. Bianchin et al. CERN Yellow Reports: Monographs, CERN-2019-004 (CERN, Geneva, 2019),

This document describes the results of a study, aiming to measure the impact of CERN and of its environment

on the career of people who worked at the laboratory. The data was collected using two on-line question-

naires, launched in 2016 and 2017, targeting experimentalists and theorists, respectively. The mandate, the

methodology followed, the questionnaires and the analysis of the data collected are presented.

iiiivStudy on the career trajectories of people with a working experience at CERN, C. Bianchin et al.

CERN Yellow Reports: Monographs, CERN-2019-004 (CERN, Geneva, 2019)2519-8041- c CERN, 2019. Published by CERN under the Creative Common Attribution CC BY 4.0 Licence.vContents

1Introduction 1

1.1Overvie w.......................................1

1.3Preparationof thesurv eys..............................2

2Analysisof thequestionnair efor experimentalphysicists 3

2.1Collectingthe contactinformation.........................3

2.2Contentof thequestionnaire .............................3

2.3DemographicproÞle ofthe sample.........................4

2.4Ageof therespondents...............................7

2.5Geographicaland professionalmobility .......................7

2.6Careere volution ...................................12

2.7Satisfaction withCERNexperience.........................14

2.8Additionalcomments ................................16

3Analysisof thequestionnaire fortheor eticalphysicists 21

3.1TheTheory DepartmentatCERN ..........................21

3.2Thedata sample...................................21

3.3DemographicproÞle ofthesample .........................21

3.4Careere volution ...................................22

3.5Beinga theoristat CERN..............................25

3.6Satisfaction withtheCERNexperience .......................25

4Conclusionsand appendices27

AAppendix:Additional informationabout theexperimental questionnaireresults..29

BAppendix:Being atheorist atCERN........................32viStudy on the career trajectories of people with a working experience at CERN, C. Bianchin et al.

CERN Yellow Reports: Monographs, CERN-2019-004 (CERN, Geneva, 2019)2519-8041- c

CERN, 2019. Published by CERN under the Creative Common Attribution CC BY 4.0 Licence.121.3Preparationofthesurv eys

Initially,thestudyaimedto addressonlyyoung physicists, PhDstudents,who hadleft the high-energyphysics(HEP)community ,togivea quantitative measurementofthevalue ofthe educationandskills acquiredatCERN inÞndingjobs inotherdomains. Thisinformation is ofprimeimportance inorderto ev aluatetheimpact androleof theCERNculture onthewider jobsmarket. AÞrstversionof theonlinequestionnaire wasprepared, sentandansweredby282 people(outof about470 contacts).Theres ultswerepresented attheCERN Councilmeetingin

December2016.

Theexperience oftheÞrstquestionnaireindicatedthe potentialinterestof collectingin- formationfroma widerpopulation and,also,deepen andcustomizethe proposedoptionsin somequestions.Consequently ,inagreement withCERNÕsDirector-General,it was decidedto enlargethestudytoall personswho hadbeenor werestillin volved withCERN,without any particularrestrictions.Moreo ver, inadditiontoquestionsaskedtoallrespondents,setsofques- tionsdependingon whethertheperson whoansweredw asstillw orkingatCERN ornot were proposedwhenÞlling thequestionnaire. Thequestionnaireaddressed various professionalandsociological aspects:age,national- ity,education,domicileandw orkplace,time spentatCERN, currentposition,and satisfaction withtheCERN environment.Additional pointswerespeciÞc tothosewhowerenolonger CERNusers,in relationto theircurrentsituation andtypesof activity. Thesecondv ersionof thequestionnairew asopened forabout4monthsandobtained 2692answers. Duringthephase inwhich thesecondsurv eyw asopened,in agreementwiththe CERN TheoryDepartment,it wasdecided topreparea dedicatedquestionnairespeciÞcallydesigned tomatchthe typicalcareerpaths oftheoretical physicists.In additiontothe mainstreamof questionsdiscussed,this questionnaireaddressedto theoristsincludedtopics thathelped to investigatetherolethatCERNplaysforthis community. Overall,thedelicatepointof thispoll istheinherent riskofbias. Thesemayoriginate fromtheformulation ofthequestions, ormightalso dependonthe numberofrespondents tothe questionnaire,ifnot alltheconcerned peoplerespond.In practice,only20-30% ofthetar geted populationsanswered,depending onthe communityaddressed(e xperimentortheory; current orpastusers). Therefore,thisrisk maybesubstantial. Asnocorrections forpossiblebiases havebeenappliedtothedata, theresultsof thepollcannot beconsideredrepresentati veof the wholeCERNpopulation but onlyasnapshot ofopinionsoftherelativ elylarge sampleofpeople whorespondedto thequestionnaire. Inthefollo wingchapters,the pathsfollowed inorderto contactthelar gestpossiblenumber ofpeopleforeachcommunitywill bedetailed. Chapter2describes thestructureof thequestionnairesent tothee xperimentalistsand the analysisofthe results.Chapter 3presentsthe Theoryquestionnaireand itsresults.Chapter 4 drawssomeconclusionsfromboth studiesandpresents someideas onhow toimpro vesimilar studiesinthe future.Moreinformation fromthesurv eysis reportedinthe appendices.

2STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

34Last experimentATLASCMSLHCbALICEOtherNumber of answers02755508251100Fig.2.1:Distributionofrespondentsamongthe variousCERN experiments.The category ÕOtherÕ

containsmainlymembers ofthe NA62collaboration.

2.3DemographicproÞle ofthesample

Thetotalnumber ofpeoplewho repliedtothe secondquestionnairew as2692.Each question ofthequestionnaire couldhav ea differentnumber ofanswerssincemostofthemwerenot mandatoryorwere notaddressed toallcases. Moreover ,somequestions allowedmore than oneanswer. Figure2.1showsthenumberofrespo ndentstothe questionnairefromeach experiment. Asmentionedin Chapter1,theanswers received fromthedif ferentexperimentsarenotpropor- tionaltothe sizeofthe collaborations,whichare approximatelyorderedas ATLAS!CMS> ALICE>LHCb .Almost3/4 oftheanswerswerefromme nandthe remaining1/4 fromwomen (leftpanel ofFigure2.2).Thissubdi visionreßectsclosely thegenderdistributionatCERN andinthe LHCexperiments. Becauseofthe relatively easierconnectionwithcurrentCERN usersthanformer users,the twogroups represent72%and 28%ofthe answers,respectively.In particularweha ve 757answersfromthelattergroup(rightpanelof Figure2.2).Ase xpected, mostofthe peoplewhoreplied (85%)already holdaPhD, orarein theprocessof obtaining one. Forthequestionconcerningeducational background(Figure 2.3),sev eralanswerscould beselected.The greatestproportionof respondentshada backgroundine xperimentalph ysics. Thisreßectst hef actthatthequestionnairewas distributedamongcontactscomingfrom the experiments.Of252peoplewho answeredthatthe yalsohad atheorybackground, 217were attachedtoone collaborationand40% hadleftHEP ,comparedwith the28%found forthe full sample. areshown inFigure2.4.Abouthalf ofthesample wasmade upofItalians, Americans,and Germans.Figure2.5showsthecountryofcurrent residenceandw ork.

487102268977994Gender (total: 2692)Male (2049)Female (633)Other (10)Do you still work in HEP? (total: 2692)Yes (1935)No (757)Fig.2.2:Left:gender distributionofthepeoplewho completedthequestionnaire.Right:fraction of

peoplestillw orkingin thehigh-energyphysicsdomain andpeoplewho left.

Experimental physicsTheoretical physicsEngineeringITAccelerator physicsTechnicalAdministrationEconomyChemistry0750150022503000Fig.2.3:Educationalbackgroundof thepeople inthesample: several answerswereallo wed.

524%28%682645662372902522,29876%72%6Fig.2.4:Nationalitiesofthe respondentstothe questionnaire.Onlycountries withatleast 40respon-

dentsaresho wn.ÕOtherÕ includesallcountrieswithfewer respondents.(Afull listofcountries isgiv en

inAppendixA.) Fig.2.5:Currentcountriesof residenceof alltherespondents, atthetime ofresponding.Only countries

ofresidencefor nationalitieslistedin Fig.2.4areshown. ÕOtherÕincludesallothercountries. (Afulllist

ofcountriesis given inAppendixA.)

6Switzerland (496)Italy (452)UK (183)Other (515)Portugal (47)Brazil (64)Belgium (47)Spain (63)USA (416)Greece (15)Switzerland (53)Netherlands (59)Greece (53)Germany (297)France (183)Spain (101)Russia (76)Poland (51)India (97)France (215)Other (346)China (16)Germany (299)UK (157)China (43)India (58)Russia (59)Poland (36)Netherlands (50)Italy (247)USA (334)Canada (63)Canada (57)Portugal (32)Brazil (54)Belgium (50)STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

7Fig.2.6:Agedistribution oftherespondentstothequestionnaire comparedwiththe agedistribution of

CERNusersand formerusers astaken fromtheCERN databasefor1990-2016.

2.4Ageofthe respondents

Figure2.6showstheagedistribution oftherespondents incomparisonwith theagedistribu- tionfromthe databaseof CERNusers.This Þgureindicatesthat theagedistrib utionofthe respondentsdoesnot followthat oftheCERN database.Inparticular,thequestionnaire was preferentiallycompletedby peoplein their30sor 40s.Figure2.7showsacomparisonofthe agedistribution ofthepeopleinHEPand outsideHEP. Thedistribution forpeople outsideHEP peaksatslightly olderages.Both Þguresalsocontain retiredpeople,populating theregion of agesbeyond 65. ForpeoplewholeftHEP ,Figure2.8showstheyearinwhich theyleft. Obviously, most respondentsleftHEP inthepast 6-7years;this isane xpectedbias,o wingto theenhanced difÞcultyofreachingpeoplewho leftCERNman yyearsago.

2.5Geographicalandpr ofessionalmobility

Thegeographicalmobility oftherespondents wasstudied asafunction oftheir nationalities, thecountrieswhere they obtainedtheirPhDs andtheircurrentplacesofw ork.Figures2.9 and2.10showthenumberofpersons ofagi vennationa lity(y-axis)plottedby theircountry ofresidence( x-axis),forthose inHEP andoutof HEP,respecti vely. Figure2.9conÞrmsthat thelargest fractionofpeoplecontinueto workin theircountryof origin.Itcan benoticedthat Switzerlandhasan extremely diverse setofnationalities,owingto thefrequenttemporaryor permanentrelocation ofHEPresearcherstoCERN. Anon-negligible relocationofpersons with respecttotheir nationalitycanbe observedfor manyother countries,such asItaly, Germany, France,UK,USA andtheNetherlands. Figure2.10,showing therelocationforpeopleoutside HEP,indicatesthatSwitzerlandis av eryattractiv ecountry. Germany, France,theUK, and theUSAbeha vein asimilarway.Ingeneral,many personsgoback totheir homecountries whenseekinga joboutsideresearch. Theincoming-outgoingfractions inHEPand outofHEP

78Fig.2.7:Agedistribution oftherespondentstothequestionnaire. Circlemark ersrepresentall respon-

dents,trianglesreprese ntthe peoplewholeftHEP,and squaremarkers representthosewho arestillin HEP.

Year when leaving CERNPercentage / year0%5%10%15%20%19801990200020102020Fig.2.8:Yearsinwhichrespondentsleft CERN.

8STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

9USA UK Switzerland Spain Russia Portugal Poland Netherlands Italy India Greece Germany France China Canada Brazil BelgiumNationality vs. Residency (in HEP, total: 1522)10 40 80 100 170Belgium Brazil Canada China France Germany Greece India Italy Netherlands Poland Portugal Russia Spain Switzerland UK USAFig.2.9:Countryofnationality (y-axis)asa functionofresidence (x-axis).Theb ubblesizeis propor-

tionaltothe numberofpeople inHEPin agiv encountry. Onlynationalities withatleast 40entries are shown.(Afulllistof countriesis given inAppendixA.) aregiv eninFigures2.11and2.12,respectiv ely.Bothgraphsshowthedifferencebetween thenumberof peoplewhocurrently workin acountrywith respecttothose whoobtained a PhDinthat country,normalized tothe numberofPhDsobtainedinthat country,(N current N PhD )/N PhD (relativedifference).SwitzerlandhostsÞv etimesasmanyHEP members as thePhDsit producesand2.5 timesas manyform er-HEPmembers withrespectto thePhD produced. Professionalmobilityw asinv estigatedthroughquestionsputto peoplewhohadstopped asanswers,of whichmorethan onecouldbe selected.Figure2.13showsthepercentageof respondentswhoindicated aspeciÞcoption asthereason forlea ving.Themost common(43% oftherespondents) isthatthe pathto wardsa permanentpositionin HEPwas tooinsecure. FailuretoÞndapermanent positionw asthereason forleaving for24%of therespondents. For34%thejobin HEPw assatisfactory ,but theywished tomov etoanotherÞeld.About

19%wanted tochangebecausethey werenotsatisÞed withtheiroccupa tionand14%werenot

satisÞedwiththe worken vironment.Family reasonswerecitedby17%of therespondents.In

23%ofcases, therespondentsdeclared thatHEPw asatemporary stepandthat they moved to

adifferent domainaftercompletingtheirtemporaryassignment. Overall,foralmost 70%ofthe answers,careerinsecurityorfailure toÞnda permanent positioninresearch werethem ainreasonsfor leavingHEP .Another 34%ofanswersindicated thatpeopleleft HEP,although theywere satisÞed,becausetheywanted tomo vetoanotherÞeld. Finally,33%leftbecausethe ywerenot satisÞedandw antedtomo vetoadif ferentÞeldor were notsatisÞedby thew orkenvironment.

910Nationality vs. Residency (left HEP, total: 584)10 40 80 100 170USA UK Switzerland Spain Russia Portugal Poland Netherlands Italy India Greece Germany France China Canada Brazil BelgiumBelgium Brazil Canada China France Germany Greece India Italy Netherlands Poland Portugal Russia Spain Switzerland UK USAFig.2.10:Countryofnationality (y-axis)asa functionofresidence (x-axis).Theb ubblesizeis propor-

tionaltothe numberofpeople thatleftHEP .Onlynationalities withatleast 40entries areshown. (Afull listofcountries isgiv enin AppendixA.)

In HEPBelgiumBrazilCanadaChinaFranceGermanyGreeceIndiaItalyNetherlandsPolandPortugalRussiaSpainSwitzerlandUKUSA(N_current - N_PhD)/N_PhD-10123456(N

current - N PhD )/N PhD Fig.2.11:Relativedifferencebetweenthenumber ofpeopleinHEPwhocurrently workin acountry withrespectto thosewho obtainedaPhD inthatcountry .Onlyresponses fornationalitieswith atleast

40entriesare shown. (Afulllist ofcountriesisgiven inAppendixA.)

10STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

11Out HEPBelgiumBrazilCanadaChinaFranceGermanyGreeceIndiaItalyNetherlandsPolandPortugalRussiaSpainSwitzerlandUKUSA(N_current - N_PhD)/N_PhD-10123(N

current - N PhD )/N PhD Fig.2.12:Relativedifferencebetweenthenumber ofpeoplewholeftHEPwith respecttothose who obtainedaPhD inthatcountry .Onlyresponses fornationalities withatleast 40entriesareshown. (A fulllistof countriesisgi venin AppendixA.)

Path towards a permanent position too insecureSatisfied, but wanted to move to a different fieldDidn't manage to find a permanent positionYour task terminated and you moved to your following dutyNot satisfied and wanted to move to a different fieldFamily reasonsNot satisfied of the working environmentMoved to another research domain0%13%25%38%50%Fig.2.13:Reasonsforlea vingHEP ,withthepercentageofrespondents choosingeach:severalanswers

wereallowed.

1113%14%17%19%23%24%34%43%12Position vs Nationality - Fractions10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%Belgium Brazil Canada China France Germany Greece India Italy Netherlands Poland Portugal Russia Spain Switzerland UK USAFig.2.14:Fractionofrespondents stillworking inHEPwho are:student,PhD, post-doc,tenuretrackor

permanentcontractby countryof nationality.A largermark ersizeindicates alargerpercentage.Only responsesfornationalities withat least40entries areshown. (Afulllist ofcountriesis given inAppendix A.)

2.6Careerevolution

Thesampleof respondentsstill workingin HEPismade upof1937 peoplewithpermanent, tenuretrack,post-doc ortemporarycontracts. Figure2.14showsthepercentagesofpeople in thevarious positions,computedforeachnationality. Inmostcountries, peoplewith permanent contractsformthe majority, butsome countries(e.g.,China,GreeceandIndia) showalarger fractionofpeople withnon-permane ntcontracts.The contracttypeshel dbytherespondents werethefollo wing:permanentposition (35%),post-doc(24%),PhDstudent(22%), temporary contract(10%),tenure track(5%), undergraduatestudent (5%),assho wninthe leftpanelof Figure2.15.Themajorit yofthe respondents(76%)expressedadesire tocontinueto workin

HEP(Fig.2.16).

Thelasttype ofcontractheld whileworking inHEPby respondentswhosubsequently leftHEPw asmostlypost-doc andPhDstudent,assho wninthe leftpanelof Figure2.17.The majoritywerecurrently employedin thepriv atesector(58%),while28% wereemployed inthe publicsector(Figure 2.17,rightpanel). Afurther5% ofthes ampledeclaredthemselv estobe unemployed,withanav erageunemployment periodofa fewmonths. Thevariety ofsectorsinwhichthepersons wereinv olvedand thejob typecov eredby formerCERNusers wasquite wide.Themajority ofpeoplecontinuedtheircareersin the informationtechnology(IT) sectorand inacademia(Fig 2.18).Consideringonly employeesin thepriv atesectorandentrepreneurs,theleadingsectorswereIT ,Þnance,high-tech companies, andconsulting.Those working inthepublic sectorweremostlyinacademia,government,and education. Thejobtypes mostcommonlyheld byformerCERN userswere:softw areengineer, ana- lyst,managerand consultant(Figure 2.19).Theskills neededinthe actualwork ofaresearcher , namelyanalyticalthinking, programming,andproblem solving,justto mention afew ,arethe

12Permanent Tenure Temporary Post-doc PhD Student STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

13Current position (total: 1935)Permanent (675)Post-doc (460)PhD student (422)Temporary contract (194)Tenure track (93)Student (91)Fig.2.15:Currentpositionsof therespondents whowerestill inHEP

Are you willing to stay in HEP?0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%StudentPhDPost-docTemporaryTenure trackPermanentYesMaybeNoFig.2.16:Willingnessofrespondentstocontinue acareerin HEP,as afunction oftheircurrent position.

1322%5%1%1%4%4%6%4%8%5%23%29%35%23%92%94%74%67%59%73%35%24%5%10%14Last position before leaving HEP (total: 757)Post-doc (326)PhD student (242)Student (129)Permanent position (51)Tenure track (9)Sector of work (total: 727)Private (425)Public (203)Entrepreneur (38)Unemployed (38)Retired (23)Fig.2.17:Left:lastposition heldin HEP.Right: currentemployment sector.The numberofentriesfor

eachcategory isshowninparenthesis. basisforbeing competitiv einsuch professions.Figures2.20and2.21showtheprofessions coveredintheprivate andpublicsectors, respectively . Finally,Figure2.22showsalistofthe skillsthatpeople acquiredatCERN andthatthe y considerimportantfor theircurrent jobs.Sev eralanswerswere proposedandallo wed.The mostpopularskills (programming,dataanalysis, logicalthinking)were correlatedtosome of theprofessionssho wnin Figure2.19.Theskills acquired,suchas Õworkingin international

groupsÕ,ÕcommunicationskillsÕ, Õwork underpressureÕ,and ÕadaptabilityorßexibilityÕ,are

usefulforman yhighlyqual iÞedjobsandallowa widevariety ofprofessionstobeapproached, withexcellent prospectsforcareerdevelopment.

2.7SatisfactionwithCERN experience

Figure2.23showssatisfactionwithcurrent employmentoftherespondentswho leftHEP. In thiscase,the satisfaction washigh foralargemajorityof therespondents.Whenlookingatthe averagenumberofyearsspentat CERNforthe differentle velsof satisfaction(1 islow ,5is veryhigh),ahighersatisf actionwas obtainedfrom thosewhohad workedatCERN forlonger periods(seeFigure 2.24). TherespondentsÕfeeling ontheimpact oftheirw orkingexperience atCERN inÞnding anew jobisshownin Figure2.25.For 27%oftherespondentstheimpact wasneutral, while foralmostall theothers theeffect oftheirCERN experiencewasconsideredeither positiv eor verypositive.While theoverallexperienceatCERN ispositiv e,the practicalhelpprovidedby CERNandits servicesinÞnding ajob outsideHEPw asconsideredinsuf Þcientby69% ofthe respondents,assho wninFigure 2.26.Afraction of19%of formerCERNusers declaredthat

1432%1%43%5%58%17%5%28%7%3%STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

15AcademiaITGovernmentFinancial institutionHigh-tech companyEducation (high school)ConsultingHealth, medicalEnergyTelecommunicationElectronicsAutomotiveFraction of participants0%15%30%45%60%Private sectorPublic sectorFig.2.18:Sectorsinwhich formerCERN userscontinuetheir careers.Thepercentagescorrespondto

thefractionsof answers.Blue, resultsforthe private sector;green,results forthepublic sector.

Software engineerAnalyst ManagerConsultantTeacher/ProfessorStatisticianDirectorManufacturing engineerExecutiveTechnicianEducator/Instructor050100150200Fig.2.19:Currentjobtitles ofpeople wholeftHEP

theymanagedtoÞnda jobthroughcolleagues. Figure2.27showsthedegreeof satisfactionfor thewholesampleofrespondentswith respecttotheir workinge xperienceat CERN.Morethan80%ofthem wereeithersatisÞedor verysatisÞed.Theav eragesatisf actionsubdivided percountryofnationalitywasuniformata levelof4inascale between1and 5(Figure2.28).

151919232629346364851331710%0%1%3%7%1%12%2%3%17%5%51%5%5%4%6%3%11%1%12%12%0%36%4%16Software engineerAnalyst ManagerConsultantStatisticianDirectorManufacturing engineerExecutiveTeacher/ProfessorTechnicianEducator/Instructor037.575112.5150Fig.2.20:Currentjobtitles ofpeople workingin apriv atecompany orwhohadbecomeentrepreneurs

Software engineerAnalyst ManagerConsultantStatisticianDirectorManufacturing engineerExecutiveTeacher/ProfessorTechnicianEducator/Instructor015304560Fig.2.21:Currentjobtitles ofpeople whonow workin thepublicsector

2.8Additionalcomments

Theonlinequestionnaire alsocontainedan entryforfree commentsbythe respondents.In total,

331personsused thisopportuni tytopro videadditionalinformation. Thecommentsreceived

canbeclassiÞed infourgeneral categories:

1.ClariÞcationson somepartsof thequestionnaireor informationrelatingto someofthe

questions.

2.Suggestionsonpossible additionaltopicsto beaddedto thequestionnaire.The itemsin

questionrelatedmostly tothespeciÞc circumstancesofthe respondents.

16581113222632566094136141152104328253935STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

17ProgrammingWorking in international groupData analysisLogical thinkingCommunication skillsWork under pressureAdaptability/flexibilityEffectivenessSolving conflicts Reaction to failurePersistencyLeadershipNetworking skills0125250375500Fig.2.22:Skillsacquiredat CERNwhichturned outtobe importantforw orkingoutside HEP.Multiple

answerswereallo wed.

0%10%20%30%40%50%Very lowLowNeutralHighVery highFig.2.23:Satisfactionwithcurrentjob,for peoplewholeft HEP

3.Personalimpressionson theCERN environment,w orkandlife. Inthiscate gory,thepos-

itivecommentsunderlinedtheimpactofthe CERNe xperienceonthe personÕscareer ,the experienceobtainedwithinCERNand thefeeling ofcontributing toimportantscientiÞc results.Thene gativ ecommentsshowedissueswiththefrequentafÞliationchanges,the limitedhelpa vailableat CERNinÞndingjobsoutsideHEP,thecompatibili tybetween workandfamilylife, thew orkingconditionsandtheorg anization,theadministration, the opportunitiesoffered, theCERNrecruitment,andthesalary inequalities.Insome cases, theseremarksare mitigatedby theCERN satisfaction(ÕCERNisgreatb ut..Õ).

1714514514817418321533534638138945045946532%47%16%4%2%18Current job satisfaction level0123456average time at CERN4.04.65.25.86.47.0Average time at CERN (years)Fig.2.24:Averagesatisfactionlevel (1islow,5 isveryhigh)withcurrentjob,forpersons wholeftHEP ,

asafunction oftimespent atCERN.Error barsrepresentstandard deviationsof thedistrib utions.

0%10%20%30%40%Very negativeNegativeNeutralPositiveVery positiveFig.2.25:Impactofe xperienceatCERN inobtainingthecurrentjobfor respondentswholeft HEP

4.Impressionsrelatedto theinternal lifeanddynamics ofthee xperimentalcollaborations.

Afew verypositivecomments refertotheenrichingexperience obtainedwithinthecol- laborations.Themajority ofthene gativ eremarksunderline thepressure feltinsome groups,theinadequate teammanagement performedbysome conveners, thehardinter - nalcompetition,and thegaps intheor ganizationof thework. Thefulllist ofcommentswill beprovided toCERNand tothee xperimentalcollabora- tionsmanagements.

1835%35%27%3%1%STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

19Was CERN network useful in your job search? (total: 663)NoYes, through colleaguesI already had a jobYes, through companies working with CERNYes, through CERN networking eventsFig.2.26:Usefulnessofthe CERNnetw orkinÞnding ajoboutside HEP

Are you satisfied with your working experience at CERN? (total: 2685)0%10%20%30%40%50%Very unsatisfiedUnsatisfiedNeutralSatisfiedVery satisfiedFig.2.27:Degreeofsatisfactionof thew orkingexperienceatCERNfor thefullsample

1969%1%1%10%19%39%43%14%3%1%20Belgium Brazil Canada China France Germany Greece India Italy Netherlands Poland Portugal Russia Spain Switzerland UK USAVery satisfiedSatisfiedNeutralUnsatisfiedVery unsatisfiedGlobal averageFig.2.28:Averagesatisfactionsubdividedby nationality.Onlycountrieswithatleast40entries are

shown.(Afulllistof countriesisgi venin AppendixA.)

20STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

21Chapter3

Analysisofthe questionnairef ortheoretical physicists

3.1TheTheoryDepartment atCERN

SinceCERNÕs foundation,aTheorygrouphase xistedwiththe mandatetopro videfundamental contributionsonthev ariousaspectsof theoreticalphysics, tosupporttheneeds,andto guide andproÞtfrom theÞndingsof theexperiments onsite,as wellast oof ferahigh-quality train- ingenvironment [14].Today ,theTheoryDepartmentcomprisesasmallcoreof staffand a muchlarger communityofcurrentorpast fellows,associate physicistsand visitors.Students registeredintheTheoryDepartment aremembersof externalInstitutes.

3.2Thedatasample

Adedicatedquestionnaire was prepared,takinginto accountthespecialcharacteristicsofthe TheoryDepartment,on topofthe maintopicsdiscussed inthecase ofthe experimentalcollab- orations.Thequestionnaire wasaddressed tothemailing listoftheTheoryDepartment,which containedthedetails ofabout 1000currentand pastusers.The questionnaireremainedopen for10weeks intheautumn of2017.A totalof169 answerswererecei ved andanalysed.This sampleistoo small(about17% oftheaddress list)togi vea representati vepicture ofthetotal sampleoftheorists; theusualw arningsconcerningpossible biases,describedin Chapter1, must alsobeapplied alsoforthe conclusionsof thisstudy.

3.3DemographicproÞle ofthesample

Theleftplot ofFigure3.1illustratesthemain nationalitiesofthe analysedsample.Other na- tionalitieswithfe werthanthree entriesdonotappearinthe piechart:these includeRussia, India,Argentina, Canada,Portugal,Venezuela,Belgium, Ukraine,Denmark,Armenia, Brazil, Slovenia,Norway,Sweden,Romania,Israel, Austria,Finland,Pakistan,Serbia,Georgia,Lux- embourg,Vietnam,SouthAfrica andSlovakia.Theage distributionof therespondentsis shown inFigure3.2.Theleft panelofFigure 3.3showsthegenderdistribution oftheanalysed sample. Afraction of12%oftherespondents arewomen, infair agreementwiththe average percentage ofwomen intheoreticalphysics,which islower thanine xperimentalphysics.Avery large (95%)fractionof therespondents have obtainedtheirPhD (Figure3.3right). Thetimeduration ofthePhD isvariable asforthe experimentalists,from 3to 6yearsand more,assho wninthe rightplotofFigure3.4. Therespondentshad varioustypes ofcontractswith CERN,asusersintheTheory De- partment.Figure3.5showsthedistributionof contracts,where severalanswerswereallo wed. Themajorityof contractswere2 yearlongC ERNfellowships, whichare usuallyaw ardedto youngphysicists whodonotyethav eapermanent positioninoutside institutions.Associate andvisitor positions,foreseenmostly formoresenior physicists,come next.

2122Nationality of participantsFig.3.1:Distributionofthe mainnationalitiesof usersoftheTheoryDepartmentwho respondedtothe

questionnaire.

Fig.3.2:Agedistribution oftherespondents

3.4Careerevolution

Overthetotalsampleof 169respondents,four personslefthigh-ener gyphysics. They had becometeachers,professors andanalysts.The yleftHEP afterpost-doccontracts (3)or atenure trackposition(1). Twelv eotherpeople stillworkedinHEPbutwere nolongerCERN users. Theyspentfrom1to 9years asusersof theTheoryDepartment. Themajoritycurrently had permanentortenure trackpositions.T wohad post-doccontracts,while two otherswerestill students.Amongthem, 11wish tocontinuein HEPand9 donotconsider leavingthe Þeldat all.Elev enpersonsoutoftwelvebeliev edthattheir CERNexperience wasdecisi vefortheir

22Italy (45)Other (39)Switzerland (6)Spain (19)Germany (18)France (11)Greece (3)USA (6)South Korea (5)Poland (7)UK (10)STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

23Gender (Total: 169)Male (149)Female (20)Do you have a PhD? (Total: 169)Yes (160)No (9)Fig.3.3:Genderdistribution (left)andfractionofrespondentswho obtainedaPhD (right)

What is your current position?Permanent (104)Post-doc (29)Tenure track (13)PhD (5)Duration of PhD (in years)>6 (3)6 (3)5 (20)4 (51)3 (79)2 (4)1 (1)Fig.3.4:Left:currentposition fortheanalysed sample.Right:duration (inyears)of thePhD period.

2349%12%2%95%12%88%9%32%2%2%3%19%5%69%1%24What kind of contract did you have with CERN?FellowScientific associateVisitorLimited duration staffIndefinite duration staffPhD student0255075100Fig.3.5:Typesofcontractsthatthe respondentshad withCERN:se veralanswers wereallowed

Do you think your CERN experience useful to find a job outside HEP?01234Very littleLittleNeutralHelpfulVery helpfulFig.3.6:ImpactofCERN experiencein Þndinga joboutsideHEPforformerCERN theoristsstill

workinginHEP. career,whiletenconsideredit positiv eingeneral. Theopinionson CERNÕsimpact forÞnding ajoboutside HEPweredi verse (Figure3.6). Thevast majorityoftherespondentsjoinedCERN atanearly stageoftheir careers,as post-docs(51%),PhDs (11%)orunder graduatestudents(15%). Only24%joined CERNwhile havingatenuretrackor permanentpositionand thereforeasassociate orvisitormembers of theTheoryDepartment (Figure3.7left).Afraction of41%of peoplewholeft theTheory Departmentaftera fellowshipor ashort-termstaf fcontractwerehiredona permanentposition attheend ofthiscontract ,whilean additional16%were hiredwithtenure trackcontracts.

24434017722747492STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

25What was your position when you joined CERN for the first time?Post-doc (77)Permanent (25)Student (22)PhD (17)Tenure track (10)What kind of contract did you get after your appointment as a fellow or staff?Permanent (63)Post-doc (28)Tenure track (24)Temporary (20)Other (19)Fig.3.7:Left:Þrstcontract typewithCERN. Right:typeof positionobtainedafter theend ofaCERN

contract(fellowship orlimiteddurationstaff). (Figure3.7right).Thisdemonstrates thepositiv eimpactof CERNshort-termcontracts on thefuturecareers ofyoungtheorists. Noticethat78% oftherespondents currentlyoccupieda permanenttenuretrack position,as shownin right-handpanelof Figure3.4.

3.5Beingatheorist atCERN

Aquestionw asasked abouttheparticularinterestfora theoristofbeinguserinthe CERNThe- oryDepartmentin additiontoa positionina nationalinstitution.The aimwas toin vestigate the possiblediff erencecomparedwithexperimentalists,whoareoften membersofa CERN-based experiment,andare thereforerequiredto haveafrequentpresence atCERN.Se veralreasons wereproposedand sev eralanswerswere allowed.TheresultsareshowninFigure 3.8.The mainreasonse xpressedbythe respondentswerethepossibilityof meetingothertheorists and startingcollaborationsand becominginformed abouttheoreticalde velopmentsand thelatest experimentalresults.Promotionofindi vidualwork wasrank edafterwards. Theanswersnoted ÕOtherÕweredetailed inthefree commentsareaa vailablein thequestionnaire. Theyreferred totheenhanced possibilityoftaking partin workshops,deri vingbeneÞtfrom theCERNen vi- ronment,beingin volved inthecombinedtheorist-experimentalistworkinggroupsandha ving accesstothe CERNLibrary. MorespeciÞcinformation regarding theirinteractionswiththe experimentalcommunityandtheir scientiÞcpublicationsis given inAppendixB.

3.6Satisfactionwiththe CERNexperience

TheÞnalquestion concernedtheo verallsatisf actionwiththe work experienceatCERN.Aswas thecasefor theexperimental community,satisf actionwas gradedfrom1(very unsatisÞed)to5

2516%11%17%18%15%41%51%13%7%12%26Advantage of being CERN user on top of your position in your institutionMeet other theorists, discuss and launch collaborationsGet informed about new developments in theoretical physicsGet informed about the most recent experimental resultsCommunicate and advertise your recent workOther0306090120150Fig.3.8:RespondentsÕopinionson theadv antagesofbeing aCERNuser inadditiontotheirjobin their

institution:sev eralanswerswereallowed.

Are you satisfied from your working experience at CERN?0306090120Very UnsatisfiedUnsatisfiedNeutralSatisfiedVery satisfiedFig.3.9:Satisfactionofrespondentswith theirworking experienceat CERN

(verysatisÞed).Theanswers(Figure 3.9)show that96%oftherespondentshad ahighle velof satisfaction,distributedas66% atgrade5and31%at grade4;only 4%g ave aneutralanswer (grade3).

269498610013710148600STUDY ON THE CAREER TRAJECTORIES OF PEOPLE WITH A WORKING EXPERIENCE ATCERN

27Chapter4

Conclusionsandappendices

4.1Conclusions

Inthisreport, theresultsof astudyon thetraining, career,age, mobility,e xpertise,and satisfac- tionofscientists whohada workinge xperienceatCERN arepresented. Thisstudy wasbased onanonline questionnairethatw asansweredby 2692people.A separatequestionnaire aimed attheoreticalph ysicistsw asansweredby169people.The overallsamplewas composedof peoplewhostill worked inhigh-energy physics(1935)andpeoplewholeftHEP (757),mostly inthepre vious6-7years, aftertheirexperienceatCERN. Itshouldbe emphasizedthat, despite thelarge collectednumbersofanswers,thesamples correspondto20-30% oftheaddressed communities.Thisimplies thatsome conclusionsrepresentonly afractionof theCERNpopu- lationandmay notbetotally unbiased.Fromthis sampleofrespondents, thefollowing canbe noted: orists),themajority ofthencoming fromEuropeancountries. ÐExperimentalistscurrentlyworking atCERNpursued theirresearchintheirhomein- stitutesingeneral, andonlya smallfractionwere basedatCERN fore xtendedperiods oftime.The CERNen vironmentandw orkexper iencewereconsideredsatisfactoryor verysatisfactoryby82% oftherespondents,evenly distributedacross allthe different nationalities. ÐIn70%of cases,peoplewho leftHEPmainly didsobecause oftheoften longand un- certainpathto wardsobtaining apermanentjobintheÞeld.Otherreasons,quoted bya smallerfractionof respondents,were interestinother Þelds,alack ofsatisfaction atwork andfamily reasons.Themajorityoftherespondents (63%)wholef tHEPwere currentlyquotesdbs_dbs24.pdfusesText_30

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