BGS Career Development

Making It Count!

Online Resources

OITE: “Using Online Job Simulations for Career Exploration”

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InterSECT Job Simulations

InterSECT Job Simulations

A recent post from the NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE) careers blog features a useful tool for career exploration: InterSECT Job Simulations.

As OITE explains, “It can be difficult to find internships or detail opportunities that allow you to see if a field is a good fit for you in real life. And while informational interviews are fantastic, they don’t allow you to try things out for yourself. This is where an online job simulation can be of help.”

Each task has been reviewed by professionals in that field for authenticity. Read more here.

Career Services – Handshake Job Lists

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Handshake is Penn Career Services’ primary tool for communicating with students. All students have been pre-assigned a Handshake account, but you will need to activate it by logging in with your PennKey and password.

When you first log in, you will be prompted to fill out your career interests. This is a critical part of the process, because these selections will dictate what you hear from Career Services in terms of specific emails about jobs, workshops, employer events, and so on. For people who already have activated their accounts, they can (and should) keep their career interests updated. This is how:

Click on your picture in the top right hand corner and select “career interests”:

Students should fill out as much as possible on the next page. You can always come back and change, add, or delete selections. The monthly newsletter sent to the “Current PhDs in STEM fields” contains a wide range of information for this population, including job postings:

The next two sections are the most important ones for the job postings Career Services sends. You should select “Biotech & Life Sciences” and “pharmaceuticals” if you are interested in industry opportunities. You can select “higher education” if you want to follow the faculty path, and you should select any other field of interest.

Once you complete these selections and begin exploring events, jobs, and employers, you will see recommended jobs on the main student log-in page based on your activity. If you “favorite”an employer, you will receive an email when they post a job or register for an upcoming career fair.

Finally, students who are actively seeking opportunities should upload a resume to Handshake and make it public. (Be sure to have a Career Services adviser review it first!) Employers can search public resumes and reach out to students directly. Here’s how students can do this: https://vimeo.com/294839748

iBiology: “Let’s Experiment: A Guide for Scientists Working at the Bench”

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iBiology is offering a free, 6-week online course that teaches how to think through the design and execution of experiments.

Scientists from a variety of backgrounds give concrete steps and advice to help you build a framework for how to design experiments in biological research. Case studies make the abstract more tangible. In science, there is often no simple right answer. However, with this course, you can develop a general approach to experimental design and understand what you are getting into before you begin.

By the end of this course, you will have:

  • A detailed plan for your experiment(s) that you can discuss with a mentor.
  • A flowchart for how to prioritize experiments.
  • Tips and best practices for how to get started with an experiment.
  • A lab notebook template that is so impressively organized, it will make your colleagues envious.
  • A framework to do rigorous, reproducible research.

The course is built with a busy schedule in mind and is designed to take 1.5 to 3 hours per week. It begins Tuesday, February 19, 2019. Content will be released week-by-week each Tuesday.

For more details and to register, click here.

ASBMB, “Industry Careers: Medical science liaison”

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The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology developed a guide for those interested in the career path of medical science liaisons. They provide the following overview of the role and responsibilities:

“MSLs play an integral role as part of the medical affairs team to serve as a subject matter expert within a specific therapeutic area (e.g., cancer biology, autoimmune diseases). They educate internal (e.g., sales and marketing) and external (e.g., physicians) stakeholders on the most updated scientific and clinical data and best use of products (e.g., drug treatment, medical device), gather pertinent clinical insights from healthcare practitioners to inform product needs, and establish relationships with key opinion leaders across the field.”(Via ASBMB)

The post also delves into salary information, typical work schedules (flexible, with remote working opportunities and lots of traveling), qualifications, and various resources to learn more about the MSL career path and where to find open job postings. Students strongly considering this field may be especially interested in the Interactive Simulation Exercises for Career Transitions website, which contains job-simulation exercises.

Read more here.  

SfN: How to Prepare for a Science Policy Career

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The Society for Neuroscience has published a number of insights for students interested in a career in science policy. These include:

  • Learn about different science policy careers.
  • Track the issues.
  • Participate or plan advocacy activities.

The author provides fuller detail on these and other recommendations. For even more information, they recommend reading the government program management and policy and advocacy career path guides.

Read more here.