BGS Career Development

Making It Count!

Rebecca Lopez

Penn Graduate Consulting Club Kickoff

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Are you interested in a career in consulting, but not sure where to get started? Or are you about to start interviewing? Or are you just interested in free food?

Let us help you.

Come join us on Thursday, September 5th, 5:30-6:30 PM in Jon M. Huntsman Hall (room 255) to learn about management consulting as a career path and upcoming PGCC events made to help propel your career.

We are also excited to feature Sudhir Kondisetty, Principal in Risk Advisory Services at RSM. Sudhir will be sharing his first hand account on what it’s like to work at RSM, and his personal journey to success in consulting.

Register for the event at www.tinyurl.com/pgcc2
Sign up for our email list at www.penngradconsulting.com to stay updated about more great events on campus.

PBG Fall Kickoff 2019

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PBG Healthcare Consulting

Interested in gaining real life consulting experience? Want to learn more about consulting and the healthcare industry?

When: Thursday, September 12th 2019 from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Where: Jon M. Huntsman Hall, Room 350, 3730 Walnut St

Join Penn Biotech Group Healthcare Consulting at the Fall Kickoff for:
–An intro to the consulting career path
–An overview of PBG, including what we do and how to apply for projects
–Grab food and then drinks at our kickoff happy hour (location TBD)
–Network with fellow PBG members
–For more information about PBG, visit our website at pbgconsulting.org
–No business/consulting experience necessary

If you cannot make it to the kickoff, please sign up for our email list at
tinyurl.com/PBGnews and we’ll be sure to include you in communications going forward about signing up for project teams.

Become a PBG member: tinyurl.com/PBGmember.

Penn Career Services

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Penn Career Services has compiled an extremely valuable list of resources for graduate students:

Updated website – new URL
https://careerservices.upenn.edu

Digital and real-world resources everyone should know about
Career Services subscribes to a variety of digital resources for the benefit of the students and postdocs we serve:

  1. National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity: The NCFDD is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for graduate students, post-docs, and faculty members. Resources for graduate students and post-docs include webinars, courses, discussion forums, and other resources on topics ranging from preparing for the academic job market to crafting book, grant, and fellowship proposals. Penn is an institutional member, so students can claim their institutional sub-account membership at no cost. To do so, click “Register Now” under “Institutional Sub-Account Membership” and be sure to register with your Penn email.
  2. Versatile PhD: The Versatile PhD is a web-based platform for PhD students and postdocs in STEM, Humanities, and Social Science fields to explore the full range of career fields that value the PhD experience, and the skills and knowledge associated with doctoral education. With information about common career paths followed by PhDs, a complete online course for exploring career options (Options 4 Success), samples of application materials that PhDs used to successfully obtain non-faculty roles in different fields and industries, and jobs, the Versatile PhD can help PhDs develop and demonstrate their versatility as professionals. Students should register for a free account here https://versatilephd.com making sure to list University of Pennsylvania as their doctoral institution during the registration process in order to gain access to the premium content.
  3. Imagine PhD: This tool has been specifically designed for PhD students in humanities and social science fields, and is a fantastic way to assess you own values, interests, and skills, and to use this information to help you to explore the full range of career options that value an advanced degree, and where you can find many PhDs working in roles that they find intellectually satisfying.
  4. myIDP: myIDP provides a tool to help STEM students/postdocs to examine their skills, interests, and values as a way to explore a list of more than 20 scientific career paths. myIDP also has a useful tool for setting strategic goals for the coming year, with optional reminders to keep students on track, together with articles and resources to guide them through the process. For students in the chemical sciences, there is also ChemIDP.
  5. InterviewStream: Get access to over 7000 questions for all career fields and industries (including academic/faculty interviews) by accessing InterviewStream – an online, mock interview resource to help you to practice interview questions from the comfort of your own computer.
  6. Carpe Careers: A weekly blog written by PhD/postdoc career advisors from academic institutions across the US who share optimistic, actionable advice on how to make the most of the PhD experience.
  7. Academic Job Search Handbook: The comprehensive guide to finding a faculty position in any discipline. We can provide this book to students at a discounted rate of $10.
  8. The Grant Advisor: Designed exclusively for U.S. colleges and universities, The Grant Advisor provides searchable databases of grant and fellowship opportunities organized by discipline and populations.
  9. LinkedIn – Penn Alumni: LinkedIn remains one of the most effective tools for finding Penn alumni in a wide range of career fields, including in faculty roles. Click on this link to explore the 150,000 Penn alumni and current students featured in an interactive, filterable and searchable table. Students can set up an appointment with a career advisor to learn how to take advantage of this resource, as well as the searchable QuakerNet database of Penn alumni.
  10. InterSECT Job Simulations: An online platform that allows PhD-level scientists and humanists, regardless of professional stage, to explore future career options. These true-to-life job simulation exercises can help individuals consider their professional interests and skills, determine how their interests and skills translate to potential careers, and discover additional career options?
  11. CareerShift: CareerShift offers a comprehensive online resource, designed to support the #1 request of job seekers: an easy to use website to conduct and organize their job search. With CareerShift, you can: 1) Search, store & record job listings at all publically posted websites, company websites, and newspapers. 2) Set job alerts. 3) Get inside contact information immediately, including email addresses, for millions of companies, even alumni, then save and manage your lists. 4) Upload/ Copy and Paste as many targeted resumes and cover letters needed or upload your current documents. 5) Create personal marketing campaigns, including unlimited resumes and cover letters easily, and save them to access, print or e-mail. 6) Manage your confidential CareerShift account securely from any computer 24/7, to update & maintain your organized and recorded job search. CareerShift is free for Penn graduate students and postdocs to use.
  12. Canvas course on networking, effective resumes, and interviewing: Encourage your students to take advantage of this course on Canvas to get a solid foundation for their networking, resumes, and interviewing. This course focuses primarily on expanded careers beyond faculty roles.

Engage with Career Services through Handshake

Handshake is our student and employer engagement platform. All students and postdocs have accounts on Handshake that they need to activate by visiting https://upenn.joinhandshake.com. Handshake users can book appointments with career advisors through the online scheduler, explore all of the programs, workshops, career fairs, and other employer events that Career Services provides, and search for internships and jobs. You can see a list of all upcoming career fairs provided by Career Services here, including the BioSciences Career Fair which is the one career fair developed specifically for STEM graduate students and postdocs. We hope to see lots of students/postdocs at this event on the 24th October to interact with the 41 employers that have registered so far who are looking to connect with advanced degree students and postdocs.

Setting up appointments with Career Advisors

One of the most helpful resources we offer to students and postdocs is the opportunity to have 1-on-1 meetings with a career advisor specialized in working with graduate students and postdocs. Students/postdocs are welcome to stop by any day for our scheduled walk-ins, or set up 30-minute appointments (or 60-minute mock interviews) to ask any career-related questions, or learn about the resources we have to offer. Students can even come as a group with two other students to have a Group Appointment – which can be great if everyone has similar questions, or is working on similar parts of the job search process. The easiest way for students/postdocs to set up appointments will be to use Handshake, but they can also call 215 898 7530. The advisors who serve graduate students, postdocs, and graduate alumni are:

  • Joseph Barber, PhD
  • Helen Pho, PhD
  • Dianne Hull
  • Marianne Lipa
  • Many of the efforts of the Graduate Student & Postdoc Team at Career Services are supported by our Administrative Coordinator, Kate Lawrence.

Students may also review the “10 ways to use Career Services as a PhD student/postdoc” handout.

Outreach Opportunity – Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research

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David Garbe (CAMB alum and Outreach Educator for nonprofit Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research) invites BGS students to volunteer. More info below:

“PSBR was established in 1990 with the goal of educating K-16 students about the importance and value of biomedical research, including the role of animals in that research.  We currently offer outreach and educational programs to schools throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia.  You can find information describing many of our programs here on our website (http://www.psbr.org/programs-18) as well as educational materials here (http://www.psbr.org/resources-53). We are on a mission to build outside relationships that support our work in hopes of developing additional programs, content, and digital media to share our message.   

Students who are interested in community science outreach might love to participate in a PSBR-sponsored activity.  Additionally, students with an interest in informal science instruction might like to design a new biomedical-related program or activity that could be adapted for use throughout the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Other ideas might involve assisting in the development of 1) an informal “coffeehouse” science seminar series for the general public or 2) a summer camp for local underserved students, or 3) creating a video/phone app to support our mission. These are just a few examples!”

For more information about PSBR and to learn about their novel Mobile Science Program titled SPARC (Science Program And Research Coach) see the following document. Contact david@psbr.org with questions and to get involved.

Job Opportunity – Medical Writing/Communications

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Fingerpaint, a company that specializes in multi-media communications of medical information, is seeking a Medical Content Strategist. They are looking for post-docs, or capable masters level students to fill this role.

Interested applicants can reach out directly to Patrick Gannon, PGG alum and current associate medical director at Fingerpaint.

Furthermore, the link to the job posting is here: https://www.fingerpaint.com/careers/2780812273_1/medical-content-strategist/

Cornell University – Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows 2020

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CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTIAL POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS are high-profile postdoctoral research positions with significant independence and resources to attract some of the world’s best young scholars to interact deeply with faculty and students on Cornell’s campuses.  Candidates from all areas of research and inquiry, who will be no more than two years past the award date of their doctoral degree by the application deadline, are eligible for this program. Successful candidates will have access to the full range of talent and considerable resources available at Cornell, and will be encouraged to interact broadly with the Cornell intellectual community, in addition to their postdoctoral research with a tenured or tenure-track faculty member (sponsor) and their research group. Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows will also receive lifetime membership in the Society of Cornell Fellows along with the participants in other named prestigious and competitively awarded Cornell postdoctoral fellowships. Approximately six to ten Presidential Fellowships are awarded each year, with the inaugural cohort of ten fellows chosen in the academic 2017-2018 year, and nine selected in 2018-2019. For the 2019-2020 selection cycle, as part of the Provost’s Radical Collaborations initiative, some of the postdoctoral positions each year will be reserved for applications focusing on one thematic area of Radical Collaboration outlined by the Provost’s office. This year, the chosen topic will be “Advancing Genome Biology”, in line with the Provost’s task force on Genome Biology which can be found here:http://provost.cornell.edu/academic-initiatives/radical-collaboration/genome-biology/.  Applicants whose research is not covered by this theme are still encouraged to apply.

Appointments are for up to three years, dependent on positive annual evaluations, and may include a teaching component where appropriate of no more than 25% averaged over the length of the appointment.  The stipend for appointments in the 2019-2020 academic year will be $68,000 plus full Cornell University endowed employee fringe benefits. Each Fellow also will be provided $5,000 annually for discretionary research expenses including travel. Interested individuals can contact any tenure-track or tenured Cornell faculty member(s), i.e. assistant, associate or full professor, who, if agreeable to serve as the lead sponsor(s), will endorse the candidate’s application. We recommend contacting prospective faculty sponsors as early as possible. A tenure track assistant professor may serve as a primary sponsor only if a tenured professor serves as secondary sponsor. All Cornell faculty may only sponsor a total of one postdoctoral candidate application (either as primary or secondary sponsor), however if an Assistant Professor is the primary sponsor, tenured faculty may additionally sponsor one as a secondary.

Applications will be judged on the qualifications of the candidate, including their ability to be an ambassador for Cornell University, and the quality and originality of the proposed research and its potential impact. Review and ranking of applications will be performed by a representative faculty committee, and decisions are expected between December 2019 and February 2020. 

More information can be found on our website here: https://research.cornell.edu/content/presidential-postdoctoral-fellows