Job Searching & Career Development
Please note: The Postdoctoral Association at UT Southwestern does not officially endorse any of these organizations, websites, or books. We are providing the opinions of individual postdoctoral scholars in an effort to help our colleagues.
UTSW video podcasts of career-related seminars and classes
Highly recommended! Provided by UTSW Graduate School. Includes PDA career seminars, information about grant writing, information about teaching skills, and a full course on biostatistics
Academic job search at Scripps Research Institute Career and Postdoctoral Services Office
Chronicle of Higher Education
Especially good for: job listings for faculty, job listings in academic administration, their salary survey has information about academic salaries by rank at over 1,000 US institutions
Recommended reading:
What Color is your Parachute? 2009: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers, by Richard Nelson Bolles
Put Your Science to Work: The Take-Charge Career Guide for Scientists, by Peter S. Fiske
• Has great exercises to help you focus and figure out which jobs are right for you
A PhD is Not Enough: A Guide to Survival in Science, by Peter J. Feibelman
The Pathfinder: How to Choose of Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success by Nicholas Lore
• General career advice. It’s not specific to science, but really great if you have absolutely no clue what you want to do next with your career
Career Opportunities in Biotechnology and Drug Development, by Toby Freedman
The Academic Job Search Handbook, by Julia Miller Vick and Jennifer S. Furlong
UTSW career resources
1) UTSW Office of Career Services
Especially good for: setting up an appointment for 1-on-1 career help!!
2) UTSW video podcasts of career-related seminars and classes
Highly recommended! Provided by UTSW Graduate School. Includes PDA career seminars, information about grant writing, information about teaching skills, and a full course on biostatistics
3) UT Southwestern Postdoctoral Affairs Office
Especially good for: contact information for people who can help you with postdoc-related issues; information about the UT Southwestern certificate program
4) Classes at the UT Southwestern Library
The class schedule changes each semester, so keep your eye out for classes that you might like to attend
Online Career Centers
1) National Postdoctoral Association
• Especially good for: their annual conference; opportunities to get administrative experience by volunteering on their committees
2) NIH Career Center
• Especially good for: links to articles on networking and interviewing
3) University of California, San Francisco Career Center
• Especially good for: Samples of job application materials, including research/teaching statements, academic and industry CVs, and cover letters
4) Scripps Research Institute Career and Postdoctoral Services Office
• Especially good for: list of resources for academic job search and lab management
5) Duke University Career Center for Graduate Students
• Especially good for: really fabulous podcasts of panel discussions about preparing for academic and alternative careers (click on “podcasts: audiotips and workshops” or look up Duke Career Center on iTunesU)
6) MIT Careers Office for Graduate Students
• Especially good for: streaming podcasts of several career seminars; decent list of links to web resources on academic and non-academic careers
7) University of California, Davis Career Center for Grad Students/Postdocs
• Especially good for: decent list of links to academic job search sites and articles on academic job interviewing and job negotiation
8) Medical College of Wisconsin Virtual Career Center for Postdocs
• Especially good for: self-assessment tools if you have no idea what you want to do; CV/resume guidelines
9) Science Careers
• Especially good for: great how-to articles on different career skills; articles with general career advice; job listings in industry and academia
Negotiation and Interviewing
Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, and Stephan R. Covey
The 250 Job Interview Questions You’ll Most Likely Be Asked by Peter Veruki
• Not for academic interviews, but useful if you’re going on your very first non-academic job interview
Managing Scientists: Leadership Strategies in Scientific Research, by Alice M. Sapienza
At the Bench, by Kathy Barker
• Contains some *very* basic info about lab protocols, how to set up a lab notebook, etc
At the Helm, by Kathy Barker
• Contains basic info about how to set up your own lab, including information about other resources
Teaching
1) UT Southwestern Effective Teacher Seminar Series
Especially good for: seminars about pedagogy (but choose seminars carefully because many are clinically oriented)
2) Tomorrow’s Professor
Especially good for: weekly information and advice about college teaching, in blog and e-mail listserv formats
3) Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education
Especially good for: peer-reviewed articles about tools and methods for teaching neuroscience
4) Recommended reading:
What the Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain
The Joy of Teaching: A Practical Guide for New College Instructors, by Peter Filene
McKeachie’s Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, by Wilbert McKeachie and Marilla Svinicki
Mentoring
1) Different types of mentoring
This article discusses the idea of having a network of different mentors and mentions different types of mentoring.
2) The basics of group mentoring
This link provides a brief overview of the advantages and disadvantages of group mentoring.
3) Example of a successful peer mentoring group
This is the first of a series of columns written by the members of a long-standing peer mentor group.
4) Recommended reading:
Entering Mentoring: A Seminar to Train a New Generation of Scientists by Jo Handelsman, Christine Pfund, Sarah Miller Lauffer, Christing Pribbenow, and Hilary Handelsman
Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies from Successful Women Scientists, by Ellen Daniell (An example of a successful peer mentoring group)
Grants and Fellowships
1) Grant Writing Seminar Videos
2) UT Southwestern Website on Postdoc Funding Opportunities
• If anyone wants to see examples of successful fellowship applications and research proposals, e-mail Deirdre Brekken
3) COS Database
• Use this database to find funding opportunities and ask a UTSW librarian if you have questions about how to use it
4) Individual postdoctoral NRSA fellowship from the NIH
• This popular fellowship is only open to US citizens and permanent residents.
• Website is especially good for: links to application forms; information about policies and stipend levels
5) List of awards and funding opportunities for women in science that was put together by WISMAC at UT Southwestern
6) Here is a list of some funding agencies that offer funding opportunities for postdoctoral scholars: National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), United States Department of Defense, American Heart Association, Helen Hays Whitney Foundation, Autism Speaks, Life Sciences Research Foundation, American Cancer Society
Scientific Writing
1) Grant Writing Seminar Videos
2) Research Proposals: A Guide to Success, by Thomas Ogden and Israel A. Goldberg
3) Writing Successful Science Proposals, by Andrew J. Friedland and Carol L. Folt
4) Successful Scientific Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences, by Janice R. Matthews, John M. Bowen, and Robert W. Matthews
5) Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers, by Mimi Zeiger
1) Vault
• Especially good for: company and salary info for biotech and pharma; advice about job hunting
2) Management Consulting Companies that hire PhDs
• McKinsey & Company
• Boston Consulting Group
• Bain & Company
3) Science Policy Fellowships
• AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships
• Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program
• Calfornia Science and Technology Policy Fellowship
4) LinkedIn
Especially good for: online professional networking (you can join a group for UT Southwestern or for any job interest)
5) Recommended reading:
• Alternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower, by Cynthia Robbins-Roth
• What Else You Can Do with a PhD: A Career Guide for Scholars, by Jan Secrist and Jacqueline Fitzpatrick
General overview of how the world outside of academia works; good general advice on interviewing and other job hunting skills
Dr. Michelle Tallquist presented to the postdocs along with Dr. Ondine Cleaver (both Asst. Prof. of Molecular Biology) a PDA career seminar based on the BurroughWellcome Fund and HHMI course in Scientific Management for the Beginning Academic Investigator.
Academic Job Searching: From Application to Acceptance and Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty
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