A few years ago, LinkedIn (LI) rolled out a new feature to help make it clear to employers that you have the necessary skills.  LI developed online assessments which have been designed by subject matter experts and are in different topic areas like business, technical, and design.

LI users can take an assessment by navigating to the skills section of your profile and selecting the relevant Skill Assessment. These assessments are timed. If you have a disability, you can activate the accessibility feature for Skills Assessments which should give you more time to complete the test.

We have often remarked that a job search is more akin to a marathon than a sprint. In truth, job searches can be long, exhausting, and demoralizing.  Even in the best of economic times, job searches average six to nine months. The hiring landscape during Covid has been pretty bleak, although we are seeing signs of improvement on the horizon.

Post written by guest blogger Angie Snyder, PsyD, Wellness Advisor

Career decision making is something that everyone struggles with at some point; in a recent blog post, we wrote about this struggle, which can lead to a tendency to drift into decisions. Turns out, there are two basic decision-making styles. Which one are you -- a maximizer or a satisficer?

Post written by guest blogger Anne Kirchgessner, Career Counselor at OITE

Post written by guest bloggers Jenn Wiggins, Wellness Advisor at OITE and Andrea Naranjo Erazo, Research Ethics Training Coordinator at OITE.

Everyone should have an elevator pitch ready – a quick introduction to your professional self. Reflect on your pitch and see if you are making any of these common mistakes:

Lack of Confidence

Confidence is key when selling anything, including your own skills and experience. Some phrases that belie a lack of confidence include:

“I don’t have a lot of experience in _____ yet.”

Pronouns including, they/them/theirs, he/him/him, and she/her/hers, etc. are becoming more common to see in email signatures and Zoom boxes, but should you put them on your job search documents? There is not one blanket rule/policy that can apply to all and your decision to include your pronouns is a very personal one.

The mentor/mentee relationship is symbiotic and it holds tremendous value in the world of science.  Mentees often come into the partnership yearning for knowledge and skills training. Likewise, mentors need mentees so that they can continue their research effectively and so that they can help train the next generation of scientists.  

Post written by guest blogger Angie Snyder, PsyD, Wellness Advisor