Resources for Career Planning Conversations
What the data say about trainees:
- Students initiate pursuit of a PhD out of a love for science and without a career goal in mind
- Time from PhD to R01 is getting longer
- "Tenure track" positions are on the decline
- PhDs go into a lot of different careers and the data is getting better
- Students start thinking about their post-graduation careers by the 3rd year (whether they tell you or not)
- Students think about multiple career options at once
- Effective career planning increases productivity and personal satisfaction
What we hear from faculty:
- Range of beliefs about the purpose of a PhD
- Range of confidence in ability to advise on a variety of careers
- Should career conversations be planned out or informal (open-door policy)?
- Ongoing concern that extracurricular opportunities represent a distraction from research progress
What we recommend:
- Be proactive about career conversations (open-door policy is not enough)
- Set a reasonable agreement about commitment to lab work and time for career exploration
- Help your trainees set goals for both experiments and career planning
- Don't try to do it alone (see links to helpful resources below)
Resources to help you with career planning conversations:
