BGS Career Development

Making It Count!

Rebecca Lopez

BGS Professional Skills Series: “Mentoring 101”

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BGS presents the next installment in the Professional Skills Series, “Mentoring 101: Think Globally, Act Locally.”

Each of us at every point in our professional development is both mentor and mentee; it’s the balance between the two that can change with time. Case in point: many PhD students, while identified as mentees within the context of training, already serve as incredibly important mentors to undergraduate or new graduate students and are in fact critical to the career decisions those students make.

Please join us as our own Dr. Michael Nusbaum discusses the dynamics of mentorship from all its perspectives, both within and beyond academia. Please register by November 30, 2018. To register, click here or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser:

https://goo.gl/forms/hM32Z3OX0LHoJUNX2

If you have any questions, please contact Rebecca Lopez.

Careers at Community Colleges

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In this Careers Blog post, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) sheds light on a typically overlooked topic related to academic hiring – faculty and support positions at community colleges. With free tuition programs on the rise, enrollment at community colleges is increasing. The author then describes the similarities in structure between community colleges and other higher education institutions. The former is a subset of primarily undergraduate institutions. Finally, the author provides a sample of job postings as well as other job seeker resources.

Read more here.

Career Guide for Graduate Students and Postdocs

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Included among the many valuable resources Penn Career Services provides is a detailed guide to informational interviews. Informational interviews are a critical component of any well-thought networking strategy. As the guide explains:

“If you don’t know what informational interviews are, they are simply opportunities for you to talk to people to gather in-depth information about career fields and positions that interest you. Talking to different people can help you understand what skills are needed for particular roles, learn the language and vocabulary that are commonly used in a career field, and develop your own professional narrative as you explore careers.”

The resource details with whom, when, and where these interviews should be conducted. It also provides an email template to request such an interview, as well as sample questions. Finally, it concludes with instructions on following up after the interview, common mistakes to avoid, and additional resources.

Read more here:

Career Services – Informational Interviewing Guide

ASCB: “Trainee survival tips: the importance of self-care”

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Acknowledging the difficulty of being a graduate student or postdoc, this ASCB article provides tips for self-care. Notably, the author recognizes that stressors can arise even when everything is going well, so self-care should be considered an ongoing priority. Five general tips include:

  1. Find something that you enjoy and try to incorporate it into your daily routine.
  2. Choose the right people to socialize with.
  3. Take a break when you need it.
  4. Take time to decompress each day.
  5. Love yourself.

The author provides further explanation and specific examples of each. Read more here.

Science: “How to find the right place for your Ph.D. or postdoc”

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This Science Careers post features insights from various researchers at different career stages. They each discuss their experiences when searching for a lab, principal investigator (PI), adviser, or training position. As they describe the pros, cons, and specific questions they considered, readers may gain perspective on their own career path.

Read more here.

Call for Proposals: The Science for Public Good Fund

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“The UCS Science Network is excited to announce another round of the Science for Public Good Fund for science advocates. Science Network members can apply to the Fund for financial support of up to $1000, to be used for advocacy actions or related events to promote the role of science in public policy, with an emphasis on understanding and addressing local impacts.

If you are an early career scientist looking for ways to get involved with advocacy or a faculty member who wants to engage your students in advocating for the role of science in public policy, this fund is for you. We want to support the next generation of science advocacy leaders today.” (Via Union of Concerned Scientists)

Deadline: Applications must be submitted by midnight pacific U.S. time on November 30, 2018.

For more information on eligibility, examples of appropriate proposals, and how to apply, click here.