Do you feel you have a clear career trajectory once you have completed your training at Yale?
On September 8th, 2015 the Biomedical Career Committee hosted a panel discussion featuring five BBS Yale Faculty with an audience of over 100 Yale graduate students and postdocs. Given the difficulties of career exploration in today’s job market, as well as the perceived stigma of pursuing non-academic careers after earning a Ph.D. or postdoctoral training, we sought to discuss the question “How do I start a conversation on my career with my PI?” Audience members were invited to pose sensitive questions anonymously using their mobile devices. Faculty panelists included:
- Tony Koleske, Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and of Neurobiology
- Valentina Greco, Associate Professor of Genetics, of Cell Biology, and of Dermatology
- Megan King, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology
- Daniel Colón-Ramos, Associate Professor of Cell Biology
- Daniel DiMaio, Professor of Genetics, of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, and of Therapeutic Radiology
Key insights and advice from the panel:
- Ultimately, “an advisor’s job should be to help you, the trainee, get you to where you want to go.” All Faculty panelists agreed that actively discouraging a trainee’s career aspirations to the point of delaying their PhD or job search is not beneficial to either party.
- Before you even choose a lab, it is in your best interest to find out about the mentoring style of different professors and how they feel about different career paths. Does their style and attitude align with your interests? Ask the PI directly if they seem open, and ask the lab’s current and past trainees as well as others in the department:
- How does the lab feel about pursuing academic versus non-academic career paths?
- What sorts of careers have former lab members begun?
- What sort of mentoring/writing/teaching experience can I gain while I work in this lab?
- Where can I get this experience outside of the time I dedicate to my research?
- Be straightforward and aware of your career goals when discussing them with your PI. The more clearly and professionally you can convey your interests to them, the more they can help by giving advice and offering opportunities to hone particular career skills in the lab.
- Assess how your science interests, research skills, and career values align, e.g. using the My Individual Development Plan (http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/Home/About) and reading through informational interviews and
- If a PI does not seem to encourage non-academic career exploration, this doesn’t necessarily mean they disapprove of alternate careers. PIs have trained their entire lives to be PIs, and it may simply indicate that they can’t directly offer as much help with giving advice and networking in alternate careers, but they may be happy to point you in the direction of others who can.
- There are many science-writing, teaching, outreach, networking groups at Yale where students and postdocs can gain the valuable experience that non-academic employers look for, including the Writing Center, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Biomedical Careers Committee, Yale Science Diplomats, the Career Network for student Scientists and Postdocs at Yale, Women in Science at Yale, and many more!
- One key question was “We know it’s difficult to balance our research training in lab while working towards our career goals. How can we get outside-lab experience, e.g. in science writing, teaching, or industry? Hiring managers are often explicitly asking for it in applicant-searches.”
- Many PIs believe that you can obtain most if not all job-requisite skills in the lab (not only hands-on research, but also teaching, mentoring, networking, and presentation skills), and may be hesitant to let trainees devote time developing these skills outside of lab, as it could impede their research progress.
- Establish clearly defined research goals week to week with your PI that you can accomplish and present while also working towards your career goals on your own time, so that you can demonstrate the ability to multitask scientific and career research.
- The Biomedical Career Committee is currently working with Tony Koleske and Yale administrators to help develop a Yale-approved internship program with nearby biomedical industries, thereby providing additional outside-of-lab experience that can bolster resumes for trainees looking to enter the job market.
- Afterwards we spoke to audience members for feedback on the event, who found it to be “extremely helpful in choosing a lab” for one first-year student, and “a necessary, important, and eye-opening discussion” for older students. Quote.
Other things?
- Anonymous question “What if I feel that my PI is punishing me?
- Someone had a question about how a Postdoc or student might to begin to build their own “research character,” possibly apart from the main focus of the lab.
- Faculty answers tended to be that ultimately, the PI does decide the research direction in the lab.