Post written by Sharon Milgram, Director of The Office of Intramural Training & Education. Science careers, at or away from the bench, require us to be life-long learners. To be successful, we are always learning – and teaching – new skills. While many of us enjoy this, it also comes with frustrations and challenges. In considering how we learn, I was struck by the excellent and concise explanation of the stages we typically go through as we learn and develop new skills.

Last week at the NIH, Daniel Goleman delivered a talk about Emotional Intelligence and how it influences leadership.  The premise of Emotional Intelligence is that understanding your emotions, the emotions of others, and how the two interact allows us to be more successful and happier.

Emotional Intelligence suggests that to be successful the following traits are important:

If you’ve been following the OITE blog this year, you know that in the start of 2012 we decided to help you make a Calendar for Career Success.  We picked topics, and blogged about them, giving you advice (and sometimes challenges) each month to help you drive your career.  In short, we wanted 2012 to be the ‘Year for Your Career.’ And given that it is December, it is time to sit back and reminisce about the past year – because that is what everyone does in December, right?  Some of the things we talked about this year included having conversations about your career goals.&nb

If you have been following the blog calendar, you have been thinking about your career, and maybe have even met with a career counselor.  That means (hopefully) that you have a few ideas about career options, and some questions that an informational interview might help you answer.   Now that you have filled in your networki

Interviews are often essential stepping-stones to the next career stage. You know you are qualified, yet you may worry that you will be too nervous to perform well enough to get the position. If even the thought of the interview makes your palms sweaty and your heart race, believe it or not, that’s normal.  According to some estimates, as many as 40 million Americans suffer from situational anxiety. 

In the beginning of January, we posted a calendar with monthly steps to move your career forward.  The February task was to meet with a career counselor.  Here at OITE, we have two career counselors on staff.  Anne and Elaine&nbs

From the Archive: original post from Jan, 2012

n the spirit of Halloween, today we are blogging about job search horror stories that have happened to OITE staffers. Can you match the following events to a person in the OITE??

1. On my first interview I was dressed in my finest. At dinner I had a plate of chicken served in a sauce. As I cut into my meal I splashed sauce all over my shirt! I cleaned myself off and continued the meal and conversation.

So first, the good news...I finished my first triathlon this weekend! It was a slog, to be sure, but I finished, and that is what I was hoping to do.

The tri was not without incident, though...about halfway through the 12 mile bike loop, I got a flat on my bike. Argh! First time out - what luck.

The best part of it was that I had a spare tube - and no pump. Great! I rode on it until I found a race official, who didn't happen to have a pump either.