Determining the next step in life after nearly twenty years of education can be quite daunting. While you may have started your graduate program with one career path in mind, you may now be leaning towards another. Whether it is by choice or because of the tightening academic market, many PhDs are exploring different options outside of the "traditional" career paths. It's never too early (or too late!) to learn more about the different options available, and exploring different career paths will help you make a more sound decision in whatever career you decide to do. Check out the following resources to help you do just that.
Offline resources:
- NIH Career Symposium - held each year in May
Online resources:
- My Individual Development Plan (myIDP) from Science Careers and the AAAS
- "Starting up a career" by Trisha Gura, Science (2015)
- "STEM education: To build a scientist" from Nature (2015)
- "Feeling stuck" by Carrie Arnold, Science (2015)
- "Careers outside of academia richly rewarding for PhD physicists" from the American Institute of Physics (AIP) (2015)
- "Top 10 List of Alternative Careers for PhD Science Graduates" by Dr. Arunodoy Sur, The Cheeky Scientist (2015)
- "Cross-Train Your Graduate School Career" by Amy Rubens, GradHacker (2012)
- "Graduate School is a Means to a Job" by Karen Kelsky, the Chronicle for Higher Education (2012)
- "Guide to Life Science Careers" by Dr. Karen Peterson, Nature (2014)
- MLA Career Resources
- Science Careers
- Versatile PhD
- "Uncertain Futures" by Chris Woolston, Nature (2015)
Activities:
- Join a student group focused on specific careers
- CMIID: in addition to facilitating collaboration of graduate students and post docs between different labs and fields, this group also has a focus on career development through writing and oral communication workshops and inviting PhD and non-PhD speakers from a variety of fields. Please contact Lindsay Snyder if you are interested in finding out more about the group or joining it.
- CMIID: in addition to facilitating collaboration of graduate students and post docs between different labs and fields, this group also has a focus on career development through writing and oral communication workshops and inviting PhD and non-PhD speakers from a variety of fields. Please contact Lindsay Snyder if you are interested in finding out more about the group or joining it.
- Do your own research on different career options
- Set up informational interviews with people in jobs or fields that interest you
- Do an internship in a field that interests you (see Internships)
- Read job postings for careers you are interested in to see the requirements
The BRIDGE resources:
- Beverly Purnell Visit Recap: "Scientific Publishing from the Inside Out" (2015)
- Catching up with Rong Wang, Genetics 2014 Graduate (2015)