One of the most important criteria to consider during the job, graduate school, or Postdoc search is to learn about the culture of the place where you are applying. This means to gather information about the employee’s opinions of the work environment, the support and benefits that they receive, and the values that drive the organization. This is important because you will work and /or study in this environment for many years and you want to find a good fit for your interests and personal style. But how do you assess this when you are applying? Step 1: Learn about and list your values Factor in your personal and work…
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Where Do I Begin? Industry Careers for Scientists
One of the most challenging questions that developing scientists must answer is, “Should I pursue an academic or industry career?” For some, the pursuit of an academic career is their path of choice. For scientists who wish to pursue industry careers, the answer is more difficult to come by because they lack sufficient knowledge of how to pursue the variety of careers in industry. This OITE Archives post will help scientists to answer this question by providing suggesting the following OITE Archives to begin gathering information about career paths for scientists. To begin, read the following articles about moving from Industry to Academia and the Top 10 Myths about careers…
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Making the Most of Your Experience at NIH: The Scorecard
I arrived at NIH in October 2015. I attended the workshop “English Communication for Visiting Scientists” (ECVS) workshop in February 2016 because, as non-native speaker, I wanted to improve my communication skills. I remember that I was afraid of asking my PI to sign the written consent I needed to register for it. I soon realized how unwarranted my fear was! My PI was glad to know that I wished to improve my communication skills. This has been the first lesson I learned from The Scorecard: “If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no.” The ECVS workshop. The 2-day workshop itself was very useful. I learned and practiced…