academics

Site's statement

Jobboard Finder’s opinion

Summary: Academics was created in 2008 by Zeit Online, which as its own job board for a larger range of jobs, and Forschung & Lehre, which is comprised of articles on development in universities and in science. The second website is primarily run by professors and doctors. Academics is a specialist job board with a focus on jobs within faculties and universities mostly, in Germany and around the world. It also provides its users with information on a variety of subjects revolving around the academic world.  Every month, Academics.com attracts about 95 750 views (mostly from the Czech Republic, Turkey and then Germany) and Academics.de attracts 469 870 views. As far as social media is concerned, Academics has a German and English page for Facebook and Twitter. On the English version, there are 1 695 followers on Twitter and 25 884 on Facebook. On the German one, there are 1 876 on Twitter, 8 595 on Facebook, 135 on Linkedin and an extra 24 447 on Xing.

Design: The logo looks like a puzzle and the site is easy to navigate. If you use Zeit Online, then you won’t have any trouble with Academics. The only different between their two homepages is that one has changing backdrop images (displaying different happy professionals) and articles at the bottom of the page, whereas the other has company profiles. There are top jobs (with logos) on the homepage, a search engine (keywords) and a job alert field. In the job listing, you can narrow your search thanks to the filters (the branch, the type of work, the positon, the location, the type of employer, the type of hours), which appear as an advanced search. Some of the jobs are “top jobs” and they all have visible publication dates, employers, job titles and locations.

The job board objective: Academics makes it easy to fill academic positions in universities.

Recruiter observations: It does not have a CV database, but the prices are available online and it’s easy to create an advert.

Jobseeker observations: If instructions are included in the job offer, you cannot apply through the website. Otherwise, an “apply now” button is available at the bottom of the advert. You can create an account but you don’t really need one and there is no CV database.

The job offers: On the English site, there are 121 job offers, and the different categories have between 5 (internationals cooperation) and 60 (engineering, IT, mathematics) offers each. On the German one, there are 2 927, mostly in IT.

Reactivity: They answer quickly.

Special features: The advertisement for a guide to a career in science (in German); the articles (in German); studying in Germany; PhD in Germany; graduate schools in Germany (an introduction and how to apply); very detailed presentation of some employers; the events; Postdoc in Germany (tips on what to expect); research and development in Germany; living and working in Germany; industry guides; young research prizes;  and more.

Verdict: Be very careful when using this website because the German and English versions are very different. It’s easy to use and efficient, but the varying information on either site is unfortunate.

Written by Ali Neill

As the job board tester and blog editor for the Jobboard Finder, Ali works on job boards from all around the world and keeps a close eye on the recruitment trends thanks to a number of sources, including the website's social media pages.