This year is the 10th anniversary of our Graduate & Professional School Fair! This amazing event features over 200 universities looking to recruit for their graduate, medical, public health, nursing, and dental programs. The fair is for postbacs and summer interns who are in college to help you prepare for your next steps in your career journey. It is a terrific networking event to help you understand the types of programs out there, determine what schools interest you, and gather more data to make informed decisions. Lots of advice on how to get the most out of this event here: https://www.training.nih.gov/assets/GP_Fair_Advice_-_508_-_ps.pdf But here are some highlights! The list of schools…
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Staying Sane During the Waiting Game for Professional School Admission
You successfully applied to a range of medical or dental schools and now are anxiously waiting to be contacted about interviews and (hopefully!) acceptances to these schools. During this time, it is normal to feel anxious, worry that you have not provided enough information, or think that there is something else you can do to improve your chances. Maybe you are tired of family or friends asking, “have you heard yet?” Here are common challenges and strategies to help you maintain your sanity and manage stress during this time: Common Questions Is it okay to call or email the schools and ask for an application status update? Call only once.…
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Why RCR (Responsible Conduct of Research) Training is a critical part of your NIH training
This week the OITE launches a new research ethics workshop for postdocs at the NIH. This addition joins our ongoing PostBac and Grad Student workshops. More info and upcoming events: https://www.training.nih.gov/ethics_training_home_page You may be wondering.. why should you attend one of these courses? Perhaps your institute requires it or it is needed for your grant/fellowship application. But above that, an understanding of research ethics is an integral part of your training as a scientist or clinician. Still not convinced?…How about this: To protect yourself. In a recent Nature article, more than 50% of people caught in acts of research misconduct stated they did not know the rules. As with judiciary…
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Life’s Got You Down? Staying Strong and Resilient in the Midst of Disappointment
Life can be challenging at times, as scientists in training you know this all too well. When daily life doesn’t go as planned it can lead to lack of motivation, frustration, and sadness. Stress and strain can be draining, leaving you with less than 100% of yourself to put into your work, relationships, and pleasurable activities. How do you make it through? Resilience—it can help you manage the tough times allowing you to persist and persevere in whatever the challenge may be. Resilience refers to our ability to bounce back, learn from our mistakes and come out of the challenge stronger. Years ago, in graduate school, myself and my fellow…
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How a Mentor Helped Me Succeed…and How I Now Get to Help Her
Post written by Lori M. Conlan, Director of the Postdoc Office and the Career Services Center at the OITE This week I had lunch with the first mentor I had outside of the lab environment. In 2006, I had just left my postdoc to join a non-profit in Manhattan—the New York Academy of Sciences. I knew I could do the job running a career development program for graduate students and postdocs, but I was clueless about how life worked in an office. I started on a Tuesday, and by Friday I was sent off on my first business trip to Miami. One of my colleagues, the VP of marketing and…
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Finding Time for Career-Enhancing Activities
Research is your top priority as a graduate student or postdoc. That, coupled with your passion for science, may drive you to devote every waking moment to your research. You love discovery. You need to publish. However, regardless of your career aspirations, your regular routine may benefit from a slight change of pace. Maybe there is a certain career you’ve always wanted to explore or skill set you’ve wanted to develop. Participating in activities outside of lab can help you learn a lot about yourself, forge meaningful networks, and potentially guide your future career path. Earlier, we discussed serving on the career symposium committee and how to make the most…
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NIH Alumni: Where are they now? Field Application Scientist
Name: Jill Hesse, PhD Job title and company: Field Application Scientist, GenoLogics Location: Raleigh, NC How long you’ve been in your current job: 9 months Postdoc advisor, IC, and subject: Richard Paules, NIEHS, micro-RNA’s role in damage response What do you do as a Field Application Scientist? We joke that I drink coffee and run my mouth professionally, but basically my job is divided into two parts: on the pre-sale side, I visit customers and give them demonstrations with high-level information on how my company can help them and their science. On the post-sale side, I help coordinate the implementation of their software and provide computer training to get the…
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NIH Alumni: Where are they now? Patent Examiner, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Last year we had a number of postdocs from the NIH Intramural Research Program leave to start their careers with USPTO, here we interview 3 that started in May of 2012 Names: Sean Barron, PhD; Andrea McCollum, PhD; and Julie Wu, PhD Location: Alexandria, VA Time in current positions: 8 months (all started at the same time) Postdocs: Sean: the affect of nicotine on the hippocampus with Chris McBain at NICHD. Andrea: biomarkers in ovarian cancer with Elise Kohn at NCI. Julie: the role of mTOR for aged related processes with Toren Finkel at NHLBI. What is a patent examiner? A patent examiner reviews applications and determines their patentability according…
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Interviewing advice from the hiring partners perspectives
We had a workshop on interviewing this week, here is a wrap-up of what was said, and more information to make your interviews a success. If you want to watch the videocast, it is archived here. We had three speakers to highlight multiple aspects of the hiring process; a hiring manager, a human resources person, and a recruiter. The advice here is mostly for non-faculty positions (although we have information on the faculty job hunt at www.training.nih.gov) Interviews questions are best answered in the Situation-Action-Response format. The basics of this format is that you need to have a story that you can tell that gives background to the situation, tells…
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You forgot your job packet email attachment– What now?
You found an awesome job posting or graduate program, crafted the perfect curriculum vitae, and created a cover letter capable of convincing the staunchest of holdouts that you are a vital addition to their team. The only problem is you remembered to attach your resume after pressing send on your cover letter e-mail. Forgotten attachments happen to everyone, but the job application process is where you are supposed to distinguish yourself as a better candidate than everyone else. So – now what? Unlike many career advice searches on the internet, there are not a lot of professional sites with comments on forgotten attachments. The obvious action requires you to send…