Christelle Pillot is an experienced career change coach and consultant who specializes in helping international professionals navigate career transitions effectively. She is passionate about empowering individuals to identify their strengths, explore new career paths, and develop strategies for successful transitions.

With a background in Chemical Engineering and 15 years of experience in International Sales Management, Christelle brings a unique perspective to her coaching. Her own journey of transitioning from engineering to life coaching has equipped her with firsthand insight into the challenges and opportunities of career shifts. This makes her ideally suited to guide doctoral students and early-career postdocs transitioning from academia to industry, offering practical strategies and actionable advice.

As a multilingual coach fluent in English, German, and French, Christelle is skilled at working with diverse professionals across cultures. Her approach celebrates individuality, optimizes career potential, and strengthens professional connections. Through her coaching, she helps individuals uncover new sources of energy, clarity, and fulfillment in their careers and personal lives.

This workshop will provide you with actionable insights and practical strategies to successfully transition from academia to industry, focusing on identifying transferable skills, building a professional network, and crafting a compelling personal brand.

Marion Gürth and Barbara Janssens

The importance and positive effects of networking are obvious: It enables collaborations, can open doors, facilitates career orientation and career transition. Regardless of this, it is too often perceived as a chore - we tend to let it slide, procrastinate and nothing happens. In this interactive workshop, we want to encourage you to get started. There is nothing to lose but a lot to win! We will share and discuss hands-on tips and tricks on how to prepare for networking conversations, how to approach people best and how to follow-up to create long lasting relationships. A good prerequisite for effective networking is curiosity (which comes naturally to all scientists) and a mindset that everyone can learn to adopt. You will systematically analyze your already existing network (there is more than you might think!) and work on a strategy for using your network more effectively and expanding it in a targeted manner. Most importantly, you will have the chance to practice network conversations with your peers in a safe environment to eventually discover the fun aspects of it.

With this workshop, the participants learn to optimal shape the professional (as well as the personal) decision-making process by using various standardized methods. At the end of the course, the attendees know how to select the best alternative which fits best to the individual objectives out of a pool of possible options and how to consequently adopt it: 

• Goal setting – which target state do I want to reach? 
• Information searching – which information do I need in order to create a selection of alternatives? 
• Determination of alternatives – which alternatives are there to reach the desired target state? 
• Development of decision-making criteria – what is most important for me? 

 Decision-making – how do I utilize my developed decision-making criteria in the best way possible?

Überblick

Der erfolgreiche Einstieg in den Beruf erfordert nicht nur fachliche Kompetenz, sondern auch die Fähigkeit, sich selbst überzeugend zu präsentieren. Das Rhetorik- und Bewerbungstraining auf der Contact 2026 bereitet Sie optimal auf Vorstellungsgespräche, Networking und berufliche Kommunikation vor.

Trainingseinheiten und Inhalte

1.     Bewerbungstraining

• Erstellung von professionellen Lebensläufen und Bewerbungsanschreiben
• Erfolgreiche Präsentation von Fähigkeiten und Erfahrungen

2.     Rhetorik-Training

• Stärkung der verbalen und non-verbalen Kommunikationsfähigkeiten
• Umgang mit Lampenfieber und Nervosität

3.     Interview-Coaching

• Simulation von Bewerbungsgesprächen
• Feedback und Verbesserungsvorschläge

4.     Präsentationstechniken

• Visualisierungstechniken und Einsatz von Medien
• Stimme, Körpersprache und Präsenz als Schlüssel zum Erfolg

Vorteile des Trainings

• Selbstbewusstes Auftreten – Optimierung der persönlichen Kommunikationsstrategie
• Gezielte Vorbereitung – Praxisorientierte Tipps für Bewerbungsgespräche
• Karrierebooster – Steigerung der Chancen auf die Wunschstelle 

Curious about careers that let you stay close to science without staying at the bench? Join GenScript's interactive workshop to explore some key commercial roles in the biotech industry: Technical Account Manager, Field Application Scientist, and Sales Account Manager.
We'll walk you through what these jobs actually look like day to day, the skills and qualifications that help you succeed, and what to expect when transitioning from academia to a customer's facing scientific role. You'll also hear practical tips and an honest look at the career paths these roles can lead to.
If you're an MSc or PhD graduate exploring where science meets industry, this session will give you a clear, realistic picture of these exciting jobs.

In der Pharma- und Biotechindustrie ist es erwünscht, dass naturwissenschaftliche Absolvent*innen nicht nur naturwissenschaftliches Fachwissen, sondern auch betriebswirtschaftliche Kenntnisse und Soft Skills wie Teamfähigkeit und Kommunikationsstärke mitbringen.
Pharmaunternehmen nutzen Assessment Center, um High Potentials für ihre Traineeprogramme zu identifizieren und prüfen in deren Rahmen, inwieweit betriebswirtschaftliches Denken, Kommunikationsstärke und Teamfähigkeit bei den Bewerber*innen vorliegt.
Da die Aufgaben und Interviewsituationen, auf die man im Assessment-Center trifft, sehr vielfältig und komplex sind, sollte man sich intensiv auf ein Assessment Center vorbereiten, wenn man Erfolg haben will.
In unserem Workshop bieten wir die Vorbereitung auf zwei Module eines Assessment Centers:

• Wir geben Euch einen Leitfaden und ein konkretes Beispiel für eine überzeugende Selbstpräsentation
• Wir erarbeiten mit Euch einen Business Case, so dass Ihr in Zukunft auch mit betriebswirtschaftlicher Denkweise Überzeugen könnt

Wir freuen uns auf Euch!

In the interactive workshop held by two of our Consultants at Scitaris you will gain insight into the everyday life of a R&D consultant. You will work on the scientific validation of a drug candidate by analyzing clinical trial data. From this, you will make business considerations for clinical drug development. In this workshop you will also have the chance to ask all your questions about biotech consulting in a Q&A session.

Have you ever thought about joining a consultancy that specializes in your area of interest? ZS is a renowned consulting firm that specializes in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry. If you're interested in cracking a real-life business case within the life sciences field, then you should attend our Consultancy Case Cracking workshop. This two-hour workshop is designed to provide you with an honest look into our work, and an opportunity to gain firsthand experience in case preparation, frameworks, and life at ZS.

In this interactive workshop, the BioMed X team will share practical tips on how to build a strong scientific CV and prepare a compelling research project proposal. Learn how to present your achievements, structure your ideas clearly, and communicate your research vision effectively. Participants will gain insights into what organizations and partners look for when evaluating candidates and project proposals, helping them position themselves for exciting opportunities in biomedical research.