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Career Development Peer Groups (CDPG) Program Co-Directors 2015-2016 Andrea Mislak & Jessica Miles Program Designer Becky Delventhal, GRD ‘15 Contributing Authors Megan Ericson, GRD ‘15 Liz Genné-Bacon, GRD ‘16 Kerry Hollands, Ph.D. Jessica Miles, GRD ‘16 Shalini Nag, Ph.D. Christal Sohl, Ph.D. Maria Tokuyama, Ph.D. Nikki Woodward, GRD ‘15 Victoria Blodgett, Former Director of GCS

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Page 1: Career Development Peer Group (CDPG) Program Web viewCareer Development Peer Groups (CDPG) Program. ... Cooking * * Dishes ... Below is a Word Bank of some terms to get you started

Career Development Peer Groups (CDPG) Program

Co-Directors 2015-2016Andrea Mislak & Jessica Miles

Program DesignerBecky Delventhal, GRD ‘15

Contributing Authors Megan Ericson, GRD ‘15

Liz Genné-Bacon, GRD ‘16Kerry Hollands, Ph.D.

Jessica Miles, GRD ‘16Shalini Nag, Ph.D.

Christal Sohl, Ph.D.Maria Tokuyama, Ph.D.

Nikki Woodward, GRD ‘15Victoria Blodgett, Former Director of GCS

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Ph.D. graduates underappreciate how in demand the skills that they develop during their study are for the diversity of career pathways beyond a tenure-track position at a research university. In fact, up to 80% of science and engineering (S&E) Ph.D.s are employed outside of academia within 3 to 5 years of obtaining a degree (NSF, 2008). It is important that Ph.D. candidates and graduates recognize how and why many professions value their versatile skill sets.

“Young people themselves don’t realize how valuable they are with a Ph.D. It means an ability to think deeply, solve problems, analyze data, criticize and be criticized. [Ph.D.s] often don’t realize the breadth of what they are capable of doing.” -Neal Lane (Director, National Science Foundation)

Today, most career paths will not follow a straight trajectory. The current job market requires candidates to be flexible to industry changes and adaptable to evolving demands. By mastering the fundamentals of a successful job search strategy, you will be better equipped to face these challenges, and this will ensure a lifetime of success in managing your career. Defining your professional skills and traits will not only heighten your awareness of your professional identity and relevant experiences, but it will also help you identify the “best fit” career path(s). Ultimately, you will be able to make deliberate career preparation choices and position yourself to obtain a fulfilling career in the future.

This program is not designed to meet all of your career development needs. It offers an opportunity to engage in individual and group activities geared towards understanding and articulating your personal and professional training and development, what you want may choose for a next career pathway, and how to navigate that process intentionally and effectively.

Through the CDPG Program, participants will: Actively engage in self-reflection through structured exercises to reveal

individual strengths, values and interests Obtain information about a variety of career paths both through independent

research and networking with CDPG participants Foster a supportive peer network for discussing individual strengths, values, and

interests to gain additional insights and perspectives The program booklet includes instructions for career development exercises and a suggested timeline for peer group meetings. Peer Group members are encouraged to develop a schedule based on a mutually agreed upon level of time commitment, which may or may not vary from the suggested timeline. The key is to discuss and make firm plans that will assure the completion of all aspects of the curriculum from the outset.

Throughout the process you are encouraged to seek additional information and support through the advising services offered by Graduate Career Services.

Please make the materials work best for you and your Peer Group!

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Table of Contents

General Timeline……………………………………………………………………….. 1-2

Meeting 1………………………………………………………………………………… 3-4

Meeting 2………………………………………………………………………………… 5-8

Meeting 3………………………………………………………………………………… 9-11

Meeting 4………………………………………………………………………………… 12-15

Meeting 5………………………………………………………………………………… 16-18

Meeting 6………………………………………………………………………………… 19-20

Exit Survey……………………………………………………………………………….. 21

Additional resources…………………………………………………………………….. 21

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General Timeline

While the majority of the CDPG program will be done at your own pace in your peer groups, we have partnered with the Office of Career Strategy (OCS) to offer several workshops for the entire CDPG program:

Your Career Strategy 101 (Monday, November 9th from 4-5PM, Office of Career Strategy)This session will help you to develop a strategy for your job search, and inform you of the ways to pursue opportunities through both on- and off-campus recruiting. You’ll learn how to reach out to contacts and conduct research to uncover more contacts, opportunities and information.

CV to Resume Conversion (Thursday, December 3nd from 4-5PM, Medical School)This session will help you turn your CV into a resume! Whether you have a CV or resume, this workshop will help you to understand the difference and offer tips for formatting one or the other depending on the job posting.

Salary Negotiation (Monday, March 7th from 4-5PM, Office of Career Strategy)Join Office of Career Strategy staff to learn about effective techniques used in salary negotiation. Whether you have negotiated before, or if this is your first time, they'll provide guidance on how to be (a) objective, (b) persuasive, and (c) strategic.

Career Focus Group Discussions (throughout the program, TBD)You’ll meet with a larger group outside of your peer group to share diverse perspectives, tips and resources. The meetings will be separated into broader career categories (e.g. separate meetings for science policy, teaching, industry, academia, etc.). You are encouraged to attend as many meetings in which you are interested.

Please register for these workshops on Symplicity at:https://yale-csm.symplicity.com/students/

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Program Phase Peer Group Meeting Individual Exercise Estimated time*

Suggested Dates

IntroductionYour Career Strategy 101 1.5 hrs Monday,

November 9th

Mtg 1) Introductory Meeting Reflect on goals and expectations for participation in program 1-1.5 hrs November

Self-Assessment

Mtg 2) Personality & Activity Preferences Assessment

Myers-Briggs, "Likes and Dislikes" Forced Choice Analysis 2-2.5 hrs December

CV to Resume Conversion 1.5-2 hrs Thursday, December 3nd

Mtg 3) Interests, Values and Skills Inventories

"Five Lives" and "Leadership Narratives" writing exercises, Subjects Chart 1.5-2 hrs January

Mtg 4) Strengths and Peer Assessment StrengthsFinder2.0, Solicit peer assessment 2.5-3 hrs February

Career Exploration

Salary Negotiation 1.5-2 hrs Week ofMarch 2

Mtg 5) Transition to Career Exploration

ScienceCareers’ Individual Development Plan (myIDP). Begin researching a few career fields and specific positions.

1.5-2 hrs March

Mtg 6) Career Exploration and Preparation

Construct and receive feedback on Archive CVsConstruct “Tailored” CV for selected job postingConstruct LinkedIn profile

2-2.5 hrs April

CDPG Program Career Focus Group Discussions November - April

*Estimated time for completion of individual exercises, prior to Peer Group meeting. Group meeting time will be determined by individuals’ contributions and availability.

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Meeting 1: Introductions

Getting startedWe suggest creating a personal Career Development journal to catalog all of your notes from professional development and job search activities. These may include workshops or career panels, personal reflections or ideas, and CDPG meetings and exercises. We also recommend that you use the journal to keep track of your expanding personal and professional network.

We strongly encourage your Peer Group to set tentative meeting dates and times for the duration of the program (every other Friday for lunch, for example). It will also be helpful to discuss any travel plans or scheduling restrictions that members of the Peer Group have.

Also, consider establishing some record-keeping policy – for example, you may decide to take notes for each other or audiorecord each discussion session. We have included note-taking sections in this booklet.

For Peer Groups that would prefer to meet less frequently, but for a longer time each meeting, we recommend combining Meetings 1 and 2.

Individual ExplorationTask: Reflect on and outline specific expectations for participation in CDPG program

Prior to your first Peer Group meeting, we encourage you to reflect on your personal goals for participation in the CDPG program. It may be helpful to think about the group discussion questions outlined below and jot down some notes beforehand.

You should take notes on your expectations of your Peer Group’s role and what you hope to get out of the relationship. Consider the following questions:

How often do you want to meet? For how long?Where would you like to meet? At a coffee shop, over lunch or dinner?What are your expectations for assignment completion?How do you feel about confidentiality of information shared? What can you contribute as a Peer Group member?

Peer Group DiscussionObjective: Get to know each other and set expectations for the group.

Where are you from?

What got you interested in science?

Why did you decide to pursue a Ph.D. or postdoc?

How did you choose Yale?

What are you studying now?

What were your initial expectations, and how well do they match your experiences at

Yale so far?

How do you feel about your current work and progress?

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What are your personal goals and professional expectations for the future?

What are your concerns or challenges about meeting those expectations?

Why did you decide to participate in the Career Development Peer Groups program?

What would you like to get out of participation in the CDPG program? What are your

goals?

How often would you commit to meet and for how long at each meeting?

Meeting 1: Notes

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Meeting 2: Personality Type and Activity Preferences Assessment

Individual exploration (complete prior to peer group meeting)

Task #1: Take Myers-Briggs personality type indicator

Please note: While personality type testing is popular in some circumstances, and sometimes utilized by organizations and employers to establish project teams and hiring strategies, it is not supported by all psychologists. Experts caution that personality type is only a preference indicator and should never be used as a reason to avoid doing something. There is no better “type,” and types can change over a lifetime. Personality indicator tool may offer you insights, but keep in mind that the results are simply categorizing information provided by you. These tools do NOT provide definitive answers to career paths and should be used as tools for discussion only.

Below are a few different free web resources; they all configure the test a little differently. You can also find additional free versions through Google.

Recommended tests: 1. http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html#Inventory

(Explains the philosophy behind the test, and allows you to self-assign categories)2. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

(Relates results to careers)3. http://kisa.ca/personality/

(Allows you to choose an “in between” option)

Task #2: “Likes and Dislikes” Forced Choice Analysis

Write a two-column list: 1) things you like, and 2) things you dislike about your current work situation (e.g. grad student/post-doc).

It may also be informative to write additional two-column lists for any other extracurricular activity at which you spend a significant amount of time (e.g. teaching, student organization, volunteer work, etc.), or former jobs.

Once you have completed your two-column list(s), perform a “forced choice analysis” to rank each item in the order of importance. Start by comparing the first two items in your “likes” column, decide which one is more important, and put a tally mark by it. Next compare the first item with the third, continuing down until you have compared the first item with every other item on the list. Then continue with second vs. third/fourth/fifth, third vs. fourth/fifth, etc. until you’ve compared every item to each other. At the end, count up the tally marks and assign a rank number to each item. See below for an example.

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Example: Daily Tasks

Likes DislikesLikes

(in order of importance)

Dislikes(in order of importance)

Cooking * * Dishes * * * Call parents Laundry

Work Take out trash Play w/ pets Dishes

Shopping * * * Laundry * * * * Shopping Pay Bills

Read the news * Emails * Cooking Emails

Call parents * * * * * Pay Bills * * Read the news Take out trash

Play w/ pets * * * * Work

Below is a Word Bank of some terms to get you started thinking about your “likes” and “dislikes,” and blank Forced Choice Analysis table for you to use. Don’t feel limited by these choices—feel free to come up with a framework that works for you!

Autonomy Work hours Problem-solving Planning Analysis Creativity Collaboration Writing Experimentation

Pay flexibility Promotion ability Application to “real

world” Leadership Helping others Socializing Recognition for work

Responsibility Shared

commitment Communication Learning Work Politics Control Management

Mentoring Teaching Project design Outreach Networking Administration, Conflict resolution Competitive work

environment

Create your own!

Likes Dislikes Likes(in order of importance)

Dislikes(in order of importance)

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Once you have your ranked two-column list, rewrite them in order to get a clear picture about which aspects of each “job” you like the most, and which aspects you dislike the most. If you wrote multiple lists, put all the “like” lists side-by-side, and do the same with the “dislike” lists. By doing this “meta-analysis,” you can see if there are any common themes across multiple aspects of your professional life.

Focus on the top three likes as qualities that you should strongly consider incorporating into a future career. Likewise, the top three dislikes should be qualities you want to minimize in a future career. Also, look to the bottom of each of your like and dislike lists for qualities on which you are willing to compromise.

Peer Group discussionObjective #1: Explore you and your peer group members’ personality characteristics and how they may apply to career development.

What was the result of your Myer-Briggs “type”?

How well do you feel it described you?

In what ways did it miss the mark?

Did you learn something unexpected?

Is there a “letter” you more strongly identify with? Why?

How informative/applicable do you feel this is to your career path?

Objective #2: Discuss your interests and preferred activities in a job or a career.

If you wrote multiple lists for different avenues of your professional life, what were some

commonalities that you found?

Were you surprised by any of the items on your lists and/or their ranking? Why?

Do you have common likes or dislikes with members of your peer group? Where do you

differ?

Meeting 2: Notes

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Meeting 3: Interests, Values and Skills Inventories

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Individual explorationTask #1: Writing exercises

The activities for this module may require more extensive individual preparation than those for other modules, but they will not necessarily require more time for group discussions. The first two activities are free-form “journaling” exercises designed to let you explore your personal and professional interests. Both of these exercises are adapted from Peter Fiske’s “Put Your Science to Work”.

“These exercises may seem nebulous and somewhat redundant, in fact they are. But they can sneak up on you and help to reveal things about yourself. Your answers to these questions will vary from day to day, depending on immediate as well as long-term concerns. But in the end, returning to these questions from time to time can help guide you to specific parts of your life that you find the most fulfilling.” -Peter Fiske

“Five Lives” writing exerciseIf you could live five lives simultaneously and explore a different talent, interest, or lifestyle in each, what would you be in each of them? Briefly describe.

Choosing a career is as much about professional goals as it is about your personal happiness and lifestyle choices. Use this exercise to describe factors in your personal life that are important to you. Some examples may include, but are not limited to, living close to family, being a primary caregiver for your children, having fixed work hours, traveling often for work, living in urban vs. suburban areas, etc.

“Leadership Narratives” writing exerciseDescribe at least three life experiences in the area of work, academics, or leisure that have the following characteristics: you were the leader or had a significant role, you regarded it as a success, and you enjoyed yourself in the process.

Detail each experience step by step. Reflect on why you considered it a success and what you found enjoyable. By examining these experiences, not only do you learn about what you like to do and what you do well, but you also generate “narratives” that you will be able to use in job interviews and cover letters.

Task #2 : Subjects Chart (adapted from “What Color is Your Parachute” by Richard N. Bolles) Write a list of all subjects you have acquired any knowledge in throughout your life. Think about the different things you’ve learned in all arenas of your life: academia (high school, college, grad school), on the job (all jobs you’ve had, not just your current one), conferences/workshops, at home, and volunteer/hobbies. You may find it helpful to organize this list into separate columns based on a field.

Once you have your list(s) of “subjects,” rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 for both 1) your enthusiasm for the subject, and 2) your expertise in the subject. You may find it helpful to visualize these ratings by plotting your subjects on a chart that has “enthusiasm” on the x-axis, and “expertise” on the y-axis. The goal of the Subjects Chart is to reveal those topics for which you have high enthusiasm AND high expertise, which will be in the top right quadrant of the chart.

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Peer Group discussionObjective: Share personal reflections on past experiences and imagined future lives. Discover not only which subjects interest you most, but also about which you are already knowledgeable.

Did you and your peer group have any similarities in your “five lives”?

Did you pick the same “life,” but describe it differently?

Did you have a favorite “life”?

What made your leadership narratives feel successful?

What skills and interests did you exhibit in the narratives?

Were there parts of the experience that you didn’t completely enjoy?

Were these writing exercises informative or not? Why or why not?

What were your high enthusiasm/high expertise subjects? How could you translate those

into a career path?

Which subjects do you have high enthusiasm for but low expertise? Are they worth

investing more time into to increase your expertise in the area?

How do you feel about subjects that you have high expertise, but low enthusiasm? Why

do you think you have developed such an expertise in a subject for which you have low

enthusiasm?

Meeting 3: Notes

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Meeting 4: Strengths Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment

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The exercises for this meeting focus on having you evaluate your strengths through self and peer assessment. Together, these activities will help you get a complete picture of your positive attributes, as well as those you can improve.

Individual exploration Task #1: take one or more strengths assessment(s)

There are a few different strengths assessments that we suggest. They are generally based on “positive psychology,” which encourages you to identify, understand, and apply your natural abilities in life and in your career (rather than focusing on your weaknesses).For more information on how positive psychology can improve your career, check out this TEDxCopenhagen talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq81wx6aPbA

StrengthsFinder 2.0This program includes descriptions of 34 strengths, anecdotes from people who exhibit those characteristics, and suggestions for how to develop them further. The book is available on Amazon.com for $14 and is paired with an online assessment tool that will determine your top 5 strengths and give more information about how your strengths complement each other. This assessment allows only a short amount of time to answer each question because the goal is to get your instinctual response.

http://freestrengthsfinder.workuno.com/This tool is a little less user-friendly than StrengthsFinder, but claims to be based on the same principles and uses the same 34 "Strengths." The results page has a less detailed description of each “Strength” and a video explanation. An advantage over the StrengthsFinder is that it is free (so you can take it multiple times if you wanted), and it tells you how you rank on ALL 34 Strengths (StrengthsFinder only gives you your Top 5).  

http://richardstep.com/richardstep-strengths-weaknesses-aptitude-test/free-aptitude-test-find-your-strengths-weaknesses-online-version/This tool is somewhat similar to StrengthsFinder in the content and wording of the questions asked (though the assessment is shorter in length), but the resulting strengths are named and categorized differently. It gives you a "Top 5" and a bottom one, a description of strengths, and advice for how to operate if you display the strength.

You can choose to do just one of these assessments, but it may be useful to complete more than one to give you different perspectives on your strengths.

Read Part I of the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book and/or watch the Tedx video.

Take the StrengthsFinder 2.0 and/or online strengths assessment(s).

Read your personalized report.

Read/watch descriptions of your top strengths.

Identify some “action items” or tips from your report that you can work on in the next

month, and commit to completing them!

Optional: read descriptions of the other strengths and see if you identify with them.

Task #2: Conduct peer strengths and weaknesses assessments

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This activity is loosely based on the “Johari Window,” a concept that there is an area of your identity of which you are unaware. By asking others to tell you what they perceive to be your qualities and skills, you may illuminate new strengths and areas to improve.

Ask 3-5 friends who know you on a personal level AND 3-5 co-workers who know you on a professional level to tell you what they perceive to be your top 3 strengths and top 3 weaknesses.

Try to ask a range of people in both your professional and personal networks, including those more senior (your PI, a mentor, or an older family friend), and more junior (an undergrad mentee or a younger family member). You can also ask members of your Peer Group. Make sure to record all of the answers you obtained in one place so you can reflect and compare.

Soliciting feedback may be difficult at first, but many career paths will include regular evaluations on performance (tenure meetings in academia, IDPs in industry, etc.). Soliciting guidance on weaknesses can be particularly intimidating, but we encourage you to use CDPG as an opportunity to seek feedback. It can give you critical self-awareness and motivation to improve.

If you feel that anonymity will encourage honesty and usefulness of your evaluation, we recommend creating a google form to send to your chosen evaluators. Do not make the questions and the response options too structured; by providing paragraph text boxes rather than multiple-choice answers and having “general comments” sections, you are less likely to bias the results. A sample form could simply include the following three questions:

"Please describe my top 2 or 3 strengths" "Please describe my top 2 or 3 weaknesses" "optional: if you think that identifying yourself will make this feedback more informative, you may do so here. However, feel free to stay anonymous if you prefer." 

For instructions on creating a Google Drive form, see: http://tinyurl.com/googleforminstructions

This exercise has the potential to give you really valuable feedback in your career development. Feel free to cite participation in CDPG program as an excuse!

Peer Group discussion

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Objective #1: Discuss your strengths and what they suggest about future career goals.

What is your reaction to the philosophy of Strengths/Positive Psychology? Are you

skeptical? Does it make sense?

How well (or poorly) do you feel your top strengths identify with you?

How well do you think your peer’s top strengths fit him or her?

Did you have strengths in common?

Did you find other strengths (not in your “top” list) with which you identified?

Objective #2: Share the feedback you received from peer assessments

Were there any trends? Did multiple people in your network identify the same qualities?

Were you surprised by any of the strengths and weaknesses identified?

Did people identify some of the same strengths that came up in your StrengthsFinder 2.0

assessment?

Does this change how you see your professional skills? Does this give you more

confidence in a particular area (e.g. communication skills)? Did you discover new area

for improvement?

Meeting 4: Notes

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Meeting 5: Transition to Career Exploration

Individual exploration Task: Apply knowledge gained from self-assessment to begin career exploration research

Take the Individual Development Plan (IDP) developed by ScienceCareers http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/

Now that you have explored your interests, values, and strengths, you may find it helpful to take the IDP from ScienceCareers. It is an online tool in which you indicate your level of proficiency, interest, and commitment to a list of skills, activities, and values to predict which career paths may be a good fit. This can help you narrow your search as you move into the Career Exploration phase of the CDPG program. Several departments within the BBS are now asking their students to complete this inventory and discuss their results during Thesis Committee Meetings, so this activity will help you get a head start.

Conduct research on a few general career fieldsPick a few career fields of interest (either self-identified, or those identified by the IDP) to research further using the following online resources.http://cnspyglass.blogspot.com/search/label/CareerFAQshttp://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/http://www.nyas.org/WhatWeDo/ScienceAlliance/Careers.aspxhttp://www.nature.com/nature/careers/index.htmlhttp://www.phdcareerguide.com/http://versatilephd.com/phd-career-finder/

Read specific job postingsWhile for some of you it may be too early to be looking for your next position, it can still be informative to read real job descriptions to learn about various expectations. They don’t have to be entry level; you could choose a position you might like to have in 10+ years. Once you’ve found several positions that seem interesting, ask yourself the following questions:

What appeals to you about it and what doesn’t? Are you qualified? If not, what do you need to be qualified? How would the job utilize your strengths? Under which general career field does it fit? How does the job description capture your skills and traits? In what ways might you demonstrate some of the traits they are seeking with

your experiences?

Some good places to look for job listings:LinkedInScienceCareersNatureCareersChronicle of Higher Educationhttp://www.idealist.org/http://www.bio.net/hypermail/biojobs/https://yalegsas.experience.com/experience/login

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Peer Group discussionObjective: Share information you’ve learned about career fields that are best fit for you (as self-determined or predicted by the IDP). Learn more about different jobs in your field of interest.

How do you feel about the careers that IDP predicted to be a match for you? Do they

make sense?

Are any of you interested in the same field/job? How do your impressions of the field

compare to each other?

On what information or experiences are these impressions based?

What do you still not know/want to know about jobs in your career fields of interest?

Share with your peer group the job postings you found.

Was it easy or hard to find positions in which you are interested?

For positions for which you are not immediately qualified for after leaving Yale, what

would you need to be qualified?

What questions were your searches unable to answer (work environment, salary, hours,

etc.)?

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Meeting 5: Notes

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Meeting 6: Career Exploration and Preparation

Individual exploration Task: Further career exploration research and prepare “Archive” and “Tailored” CVs

Continue to locate and read specific job postingsYou will benefit from repeating this activity many times. There may be many job postings on the web that might interest you. Continuing to locate, analyze, and discuss these postings is a rich source of preparation for your future career.

Prepare your “Archive” CVWrite a CV that contains a complete summary of all your education and accomplishments. It is important, even for those in the early stages of graduate school, to keep an up-to-date CV as many awards, fellowships, grants, etc. will require one. By actively maintaining a current version over the course of your career instead of creating one “from scratch” just before a deadline, you are less likely to forget past achievements and activities.

If you do not already have one, make a LinkedIn profile using the information on your Archive CV. For more information on what to include in your profile, visit: http://jobsearch.about.com/od/linkedin/ss/linkedin-profile-tips.htm

Prepare your “Tailored” CVWrite a CV designed for the type of career paths in which you are interested. Working from your “Archive” CV, can you tailor your document to emphasize any valued traits? Are there any holes you see that will need to be addressed before entering the job market? Seek advice from senior lab members and your PI for guidance in formatting. Graduate students can obtain feedback on their CVs by contacting the Graduate Career Services and postdocs can get guidance from the Office of Postdoctoral affairs.

Exchange Tailored CVs with your Peer Group prior to your meeting for review.

Peer Group discussionObjective: Share information you’ve learned about different jobs in your field of interest and exchange feedback on each other’s Tailored CVs

Share with your peer group the job positions you found.

Was it easy or hard to find positions in which you are interested?

For positions that you are not immediately qualified for after graduation, what would you

need to be qualified?

What questions were your searches unable to answer (work environment, salary, hours,

etc.)?

Did you see any ideas from others that you’d like to implement in your own CV?

How was the formatting of the CV? Was it easy or difficult to locate relevant information?

How compelling were the descriptions of different experiences?

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Were there any experiences that might have been relevant that were not included?

How did you would modify your “Archive” CV for your particular field of interest? Which

experiences did you highlight and which did you remove and why? Would changing the

order of achievements help highlight valued traits of your future fields of interest?

Did you find any common features of compelling CVs? What, in your opinion, are the

features of an effective CV?

Meeting 6: Notes

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Take Exit Survey(link to survey will be emailed)

You are not expected to have all the answers to your future career path by the end of this program. Hopefully you have gained a greater understanding of your strengths, interests, and values, and how they may be applied to your professional life. At this point, we would like all of our participants to take an exit survey. The purpose is two-fold: to receive feedback on the program design and materials for improvement in future years, and to measure how well the program met our goals for participants.

Concluding remarksIt is important to realize that professional development continues throughout your career. As you navigate through your future career path, you will need to periodically re-evaluate your values, interests and skills, as these may change over time. We hope that participation in this program has helped you begin this process and has provided you with tools for professional self-discovery that will assist you in years to come.

Additional ResourcesBooks

Put Your Science to Work, by Peter FiskeWhat Color is Your Parachute?, by Richard N. BollesSo What are You Going to Do With That?: Finding Careers Outside of Academia, by Susan Basalla and Maggie DebeliusCareer Opportunities in Biotechnology and Drug Development, by Toby FreedmanAlternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower, by Cynthia Robbins-Roth

Websiteshttp://www.asbmb.org/CareersAndEducation.aspx?id=8052http://webinar.sciencemag.org/webinar/archive/nontraditional-careershttp://thegradstudentway.com/blog/?tag=non-traditional-science-careershttp://thegradstudentway.com/blog/http://pathtopmf.com/getintogov/?goback=.gde_4127400_member_225052783

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