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. As interview season is in full swing, we are seeing and hearing a lot of anxiety from trainees about pending interviews. With the help of our Career Counselors and our Leadership and Professional Development Coach, we have come up with a few…
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Top 7 Reasons That You Should Visit A Career Counselor
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 were kind enough to introduce themselves on the blog a couple of years ago. What makes them an enormous asset for you is that they exclusively advise scientists. They understand the career dynamics of fellows here at NIH and researchers in general. They have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience in career counseling and have already helped hundreds of fellows take the next step in their careers. Whether you…
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Discussing Your Career with Your PI
Last week we challenged you to make your career a priority in 2012. We even provided a calendar you could follow for the year. As with most “resolutions” the first step is an extremely important step. In our calendar to job success, that first step is to have a conversation with your PI about your career plans. This is true no matter what career path you are planning, from academics, industry and beyond. We have conducted a random poll around the OITE and with fellows who have recently left. The results are clear: Having a conversation with their PI about the next step can be scary. You may be unsure…
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Career Resolutions: Setting a Calendar for Career Success in 2012
Happy New Year! It is time for the annual tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. Often the theme of resolutions is to better oneself through eating better, exercising more or changing a habit that drives us crazy (this will be the year that I paste every gel into my notebook and stop using paper towels for my calculations!). While healthy bodies and well organized notebooks are great things, we encourage you to resolve to prioritize advancing your career. Do you need to make a decision about what to do after your training? Do you need to network more and/or more efficiently? Do you need to develop skills to make a…
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Regifting! Giving You the Best Job Search Advice We Ever Received
It is the holiday season and we here at OITE are in a giving mood! To show our appreciation to our readers, we have compiled some of the best job search advice we have been given. We have wrapped them up neatly below and are regifting them to you! Yes, we are proud regifters! So, grab your holiday drink of choice (unless you are in the lab…no food or drink allowed), settle down in a cozy chair (or lab stool) and prepare to unwrap your gifts from us this holiday season! Enjoy and see you in 2012! Your job search begins before you start looking for a job: “The…
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Friday Follow-up: Writing a Cold E-mail
One of the more intimidating parts of building your network is contacting people you have little or no connection to. Before E-mail became the standard form of communication in science and business, this was even more daunting. Making a “cold call” to a person you had never met was a scary prospect. You never were certain how they would respond. However, e-mail is a little less personal and thus, less of a risk. Still, a poorly planned and constructed “cold e-mail” can get you nowhere, or worse, may actually work against you. To make sure that your e-mail is well received and effective, follow these few tips: Make it short…
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What’s An Informational Interview?
As we continue to post success stories from NIH alumni in our “NIH Alumni: Where are they now?” series, readers of this blog have seen and will continue to see the term, “informational interview.” While aptly named, many readers may be asking: What is an informational interview? How do I set one up? What type of questions should I ask? What, besides information, should I expect to get out of an informational interview? First you should understand the purpose of an informational interview. It is to gain information, not a job. You are asking a person who works in a field, a position or a company of interest to you…
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Can you hear me now?: Phone Interviews
Job interviews can be both exciting and stressful. You impressed the employer enough to be a final candidate yet you know that the interview will determine whether or not you get the job. It is very likely that the first round of interviews will be done on the phone. Often thought to be used only for industry interviews, we are now seeing a large increase in the number of first round faculty interviews conducted by telephone. There are definite pros and cons to phone interviews. One of the biggest challenges is losing the nonverbal cues that help direct how you answer questions: eye contact shows interest, facial expressions convey understanding,…
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Back to Basics: How to Prepare for an Interview
Great news! You have been invited to interview for a job that is a strong match for your educational level and past experiences. In order to enhance your chances of securing the job, it is critical for you to prepare effectively for the interview. Here are few tips to get you started. 1. Know thyself. Print out your CV and be prepared to discuss anything on it in great detail. Think through your past experiences, projects, accomplishments, and be ready with stories that go beyond what can easily be found on your CV. To prepare for interviews, I will print out the job description, highlight skills I think are key…
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To Share or Not to Share: Family Planning and the Job Market
I just got off the phone with a close friend who is currently on the job market–and initiating the adoption process. She is now thinking through her family planning decisions and the impact, if any, they might have on her job search and eventual employment. Starting a family can be a wonderful, overwhelming experience fraught with ups and downs, pain and joy. Throwing a job search into this mix of emotions (and for some, physical changes) can lead to a bevy of questions: How will an employer react if I am visibly pregnant? If I have an interview scheduled, should I disclose my pregnancy before the interview? Or tackle the…