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NL

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Function Associate professor HRM & Talent Development, Academic Director Global Leadership Program, Academic Mentor Executive PhD Program

Email sofie.jacobs@ams.ac.be

Phone +32 3 265 47 44

Discover publications

Expertise

Sustainable career management & development
Freelance and atypical workers careers
Talent management & career mobility
HR & Leadership in cultural & creative organizations
Organizational learning & personal development
Business research methods & Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)

References

House of HR
SD Worx
Argenta
Port of Antwerp
Janssen Pharmaceutica
Flemish Government

Sofie Jacobs obtained her PhD in 2017 (University of Antwerp) with a thesis on different roads to objective and subjective success for small-sized creative organizations. Since her PhD, Sofie was a researcher and lecturer at the University of Antwerp, Antwerp Management school and the Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL). At this moment, Sofie is Associate Professor HRM & Talent Development at AMS and guest lecturer HRM at the University of Antwerp.

Sofie teaches in full-time master programs (including Master in Strategic HRM and Master in Sustainable Innovation & Entrepreneurship), various executive masters and 'company-specific' programs. She is also Academic Director of the Global Leadership Program, the personal development track in the full-time master's programs in which students are guided in developing self-knowledge, personal growth and self-leadership with a view to their future careers.

Current research projects include sustainable careers from a multi-stakeholder perspective, challenges pertaining to non-standard careers (freelancers), flexible talent management, career development and mobility. Furthermore, Sofie is specialized in Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA).

Sofie has over 10 years of academic and professional experience. She is an experienced lecturer and published her research in several academic journals. Sofie provided research and consultancy services for government authorities, foundations and organizations in Europe, with a focus on HR topics and a diverse range of topics within the creative industries.

Programs

Master Class Innovating with Business Design Thinking

Master Class Sustainable HR

Master in Strategic Human Resource Management

PhD Program for executives

Discover our programs

Recent publications

AMS HR2030 loopbaanspijt

1 in 3 employees has “career regrets”

What makes employees happy when working? A question that many employers bear in mind against the background of the current ‘war for talent’ and the shortage of skilled employees. A study of AMS, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and House of HR shows that, on average, employees rate their career satisfaction 7.4 out of 10. Nonetheless, 20% of employees are not happy with their career. It's about time then for more equal opportunities and more realistic professional prospects.

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Sustainable careers

Careers in perspective - Proactive career behaviour, career shocks & regrets

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Human Resources

Careers in perspective - Career Goals and Success

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Human Resources

Blog5 open blik op talent

HR in 2030: Open view of talent

In 2030, what will our jobs look like? What competencies will be "hot"? How will employees and employers engage with each other? What do we see a leader doing? How do team members connect? And what about 'employee experience'? How do people build their careers sustainably in 2030? Are we evolving toward more flex workers? These and other questions were posed to us by our knowledge partner Janssen Pharmaceutica as part of a 2030 strategic talent exercise. Based on our current insights and storylines, we set to work on a future forecast. The result is five concrete innovation slopes, based on 5 central themes within our Competence Center 'Next Generation Work'. Talent is one of these themes.

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Talent & labor organization

Couple working 1

What does science say about work-family conflicts among dual earners?

Two earners are the norm in our society today. According to the most recent figures, an estimated 65% of families in Flanders consist of two working partners (Bourdeaud'hui et al., 2019). Combining a busy work week and children in the home is not always easy for couples. Dual earners with young children are more sensitive to stress and regularly experience conflict between work and family responsibilities (Allen & Finkelstein, 2014). Recent Flemish research also shows that becoming a mother or father is highly impactful with implications for returning to work (Abraham, 2022). How do we best address this?

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Sustainable careers

Careers in perspective

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Human Resources

Duurzame loopbaan

How to build a sustainable career

In essence, a career is the pattern of work-related experiences a person has during his professional life. It is a complex mosaic of objective situations and events and their subjective interpretations. In short, the work we do every day and how that makes us feel. This turns a career into an individual and highly complex matter.

Ans De Vos, PhD

Sustainable careers

Flexible talent

Structural commitment to flexible talent

Organizations today must look for talent in a tight labor market. In June 2021, the VDAB received a record number of job openings: 33,760. That's more than twice as many as in June 2020 and 2019. The increase is greatest for jobs with experience, permanent contracts and highly skilled workers. With the outflow of a large generation of baby boomers, tightness in the labor market will only increase in the coming years. At the same time, in the first half of this year, more than 60,000 start-ups are already taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. A quarter more than last year, despite the corona crisis and despite all the corona restrictions that were also in effect for much of 2021. A significant number of those startups are freelancers.

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Sustainable careers

Resolutions jobs

Mentors, job switches and finding your calling: 5 great resolutions for your career

2021 was a year of upheaval, both in our private and professional lives. ‘The Great Resignation’ made us rack our brains about the future, the relevance of medical certificates was questioned, and we definitely know now that virtual coffee breaks and office gossip don’t mix well. But what lies ahead of us and our jobs in 2022? Professor Sofie Jacobs surveyed, together with House of HR, 1.600, respondents from Belgium and the Netherlands about their career choices and job satisfaction and distilled 5 professional resolutions from this.

Sofie Jacobs, PhD

Sustainable careers