BGS Career Development

Making It Count!

Career Services (Penn)

LOCATION UPDATE: Walk-In Wednesdays with Career Services

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Beginning on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 Penn Career Services will hold Walk-In Wednesdays in a new location – Stemmler Hall Room 105. The last session will take place May 8, 2019.

These 15-minute sessions are great for reviews of your application materials (for academic jobs or industry career options), quick questions about networking, job searching, career exploration, or any other career-related question.

If you cannot make it to these walk-ins, then take advantage of daily walk-ins at Career Services in the McNeil Building from 2-3pm, or schedule a 30-minute appointment with a career advisor through Handshake or by calling 215-898-7530.

The particular advisor holding walk-ins rotates regularly.

“Acing the Reverse Interview”

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Dr. Joseph Barber, Senior Associate Director at Penn Career Services, published a helpful article on a job search challenge that is increasing in frequency – the reverse interview. Joseph explains that in a typical interview, most hiring managers tend to end the conversation with, “Do you have any questions for me?” In a reverse interview, this is the first and only question asked. Though Joseph has heard of this happening in all types of career fields and industries, it seems to be a trend with small start-ups with a less structured HR department, as well as during campus interviews for faculty jobs.

Preparing for this possibility with an extensive list of questions will lead to a one-sided conversation with you listening to the interviewer’s response. As Joseph describes, it is better to prepare a few strategic questions that will allow you to follow the interviewer’s answers with examples of your own. For instance, you might ask about cross-disciplinary work at their organization so that you can share stories about your own cross-disciplinary successes. Joseph provides dialogue examples and other suggestions to make a great impression.

Read more here.

CareerMail Communications

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Penn Career Services offers a number of CareerMail newsletters through Handshake. These are a great resource to hear about internships, jobs, postdoctoral opportunities, networking events, workshops, career fairs, employer info sessions, career development tools/resources, and more.

For step-by-step instructions on how to sign up, click here.

Workshop: Preparing for Academic Screening, Conference, and On-Campus Interviews

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Penn Career Services continues their Academic Job Search Series with a workshop on, “Preparing for Academic Screening, Conference, and On-Campus Interviews.” The workshop is designed for doctoral students and postdocs. It will cover preparation strategies as well as typical questions you might encounter during the academic screening process.

When: Thursday, November 29, 2018, 12-1:30 PM

Where: Graduate Education Building 007

RSVP 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

“From the Bench to the Business: Making the Transition from the Academia to the Pharmaceutical Industry”

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Today’s competitive pharmaceutical job market has been posing higher obstacles for Life Sciences students to transition from the academic world to the industry. Usually, the traditional syllabi from Life Science Schools do not fully address the development of competencies required by the industrial and managerial environment. This presentation will provide the angle of the industry of the skills and competencies required to succeed in pharma careers as well as the best practices during job search, networking, interviewing and negotiating a job offer.

Speaker Bio:

Alesandro Marangon, Ph.D., MBA

Alesandro is currently Head of Procurement Americas at Novartis. Prior to this role, he was in several leadership positions in R&D, Project Management, External Supply Operations, Quality Assurance and Manufacturing in Latin America, Europe and USA. Alesandro graduated in Pharmacy from the Minas Gerais University in Brazil, received his Ph.D. from the University of Tuebingen in Germany and his Double-Degree MBA in International Management from the Berlin School of Economics in Germany and Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge in England.

(Via Handshake)

When: Tuesday, November 6th 2018, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Where: Biomedical Research Building (BRB) Room 252 (The Jane Glick Classroom)