The paper focuses on the European Charter of Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers in the framework of the construction of the European Research Area. These documents are discussed in the light of the debate of Mode-1 and Mode-2 typology, and academic and post-academic science. In the second part, the paper analyses the Portuguese case focusing on the mission and strategy of associated laboratories (ALs) and analysing data from European Research Area careers regarding the recruitment of researchers The argument is that, although research careers are traditionally linked to academic careers and to the university, there is a trend in European policies impacting on the construction of autonomous and sustainable research careers. So far, this trend has not been translated into national recruitment procedures and into the "ethos" of ALs, universities, research centres, polytechnics and industry in Portugal.