Create an Individual Development Plan with myIDP

With the start of the new year comes time for personal reflection and goal-setting for the months ahead. Whether or not you already have resolutions in mind, it may be the perfect time to think about your career goals in both the short and long term by crafting an individual development plan. An individual development plan, or IDP, helps you map out your goals and serves as a tool to discuss them with your mentors and others.

MyIDP, a new tool from Science Careers, simplifies and delineates the process for those in the science fields. This interactive web-based tool consists of four steps:

1. Self-evaluating your skills, values, and interests
2. Matching and exploring 20 diverse career paths
3. Creating goals
4. Implementing the plan

The tool includes exercises, tips, examples, and resources to guide you through the process of creating your own IDP.

One of the myIDP creators, Dr. Cynthia Furhmann, visited campus recently to talk about how to use this new tool. She shared a lot of great tips to help students as they work through each of the four steps, which are outlined below.

General

• It’s never too early or too late to start thinking about your career goals
• Confidently discuss your career plans and goals with others – you never know what opportunities and connections might arise

Self-Evaluation

• Consider what is most important and most rewarding in a job. What do you enjoy? What are you good at? If these all overlap, you will be more satisfied in your work
• Not everything can be most important to you. Be honest with yourself about what you need to enjoy your work. What are the deal breakers?

Career Exploration

• Learn as much as you can about different careers, especially those that match up with your skills, values, and interests
• Consider the skills you dislike or are weak in – can you work on those to better fit into a desired career?
• Read articles, join professional associations (many have student discounts), attend events
• Most importantly, talk to people! The myIDP site has lots of helpful information about conducting informational interviews
• Remember, no career will be perfect one hundred percent of the time

Goal-Setting

• Career advancement and skills development goals often get set aside for more urgent project or research related goals – schedule time and make yourself accountable for these important, but not urgent tasks
• Write down your goals and tell someone about them to make yourself accountable
• Make sure your goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound). The myIDP site has some great examples of these for different types of goals.
• Don’t try to do too much at once – focus on one or two skills to work on at a time

Implementation

• Share your plan with peers and mentors
• Schedule a meeting with your advisor or other mentors to discuss the plan
  • Speak with confidence – explain why this is important
  • Think about what concerns your mentor may have
  • What outcome do you want? What can your mentor help you achieve?

Have you tried myIDP? What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Beyond Academia: Careers in Higher Education

As Robert Bochnak explains in the article, "A Graduate Student Guide to Developing Your Professional Profile — Part 2: For Professional Careers in Academia," finding a faculty job is relatively straightforward: publish, present, teach, serve on committees, and perfect your job talk.

What if you are looking for a job outside of academia? Bochnak's article on  Tufts' GradMatters Blog provides advice for building a "professional profile" for a higher education administration job. The article features tips from individuals in various higher education administration jobs (i.e., Dean of Undergraduate and Graduate Studies, Director of Admissions, Director of Communications).

Even though this article is geared toward higher education jobs, it includes a lot of helpful and useful advice that can be applied to any job (volunteering, interning, conducting informational interviews, getting leadership experience).

Read through the full article to learn how you can land your dream job: A Graduate Student Guide to Developing Your Professional Profile — Part 2: For Professional Careers in Academia

Do You Have the Qualities of a Remarkable Employee?

Given the tough economy we have been in for some time, people are looking for anything and everything that will help them stand out and be a more desirable job candidate, to improve their chances of getting hired. Michigan State University's MSU GradLife staff featured an article via LinkedIn on eight qualities of remarkable employees, which they contrast with great employees. Having been to my share of interviews and professional and career development workshops, I found the information and advice in this article new and quite valuable. I wanted to share it with you:

8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees

Social and Behavioral Sciences Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

The Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at The Ohio State University supports promising scholars who are committed to diversity in the academy and to prepare those scholars to enter tenure track faculty positions. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from individuals who are members of groups that historically have been underrepresented in the American professoriate.

Fellows will be affiliated with one of the eight academic units of the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences: Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Communication, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Speech and Hearing Science. The Division also houses six interdisciplinary research units: the Cognitive Science Center, the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Imaging, the Criminal Justice Research Center, the Center for Human Resource Research, the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, and the Initiative in Population Research. Fellows may also have the opportunity to participate in the activities of the Kirwan Institute for Race and Ethnicity, a multidisciplinary center founded jointly by the Divisions of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Humanities; and the College of Law.

Eligibility
Applicants must have completed all requirements for a doctoral degree in the social sciences by August 2013. Preference will be given to individuals who are within five years of their degree. Applicants must be committed to an academic career. Applicants must be citizens of the United States.

Awards
Up to three fellowships will be awarded. The appointments are intended for two years, with re-appointment for the second year contingent upon a successful performance review. The appointments will begin September 1, 2013. The fellowships provide a $40,000 annual stipend, university medical benefits, and some support for travel and research expenses.

All materials must be received by February 15, 2013, and should be submitted to SBSPostdocs@asc.ohio-state.edu. Questions can be directed to Professor Osei Appiah (appiah.2@osu.edu).

RAND Graduate Student Summer Associate Program

RAND's Summer Associate Program introduces outstanding graduate students to RAND, an institution that conducts research on a wide range of national security problems and domestic and international social policy issues. Research areas include Operations Research and Related Fields, Sociology/Demography, Economics, Engineering, Computer Science, Math, Physics, Psychology, Statistics, Anthropology, Criminology, and Policy Research.

Summer associates work at RAND full time for a 12-week period. Positions are available in RAND's three major U.S. offices—Santa Monica, Arlington, and Pittsburgh. The location of the project mentor determines the location of the summer associate. Students receive a stipend and are given the opportunity to conduct research that can be completed during the three months they are at RAND. The summer stipend in 2012 was approximately $12,000 for the 12 weeks of full-time research.

The program is designed for full-time students who have completed at least two years of graduate work leading to a doctorate or professional degree. Students must be enrolled fulltime in a graduate degree program during the spring and fall of 2013 to be considered for the program.

Applications received by January 15, 2013 will be given full consideration.

Please contact Summer_Director@rand.org if you have additional questions about the graduate student summer associate program.

Underrepresented Minority Postdoctoral Enrichment Program

The Underrepresented Minority (URM) Postdoctoral Enrichment Program, sponsored by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, provides $50,000 over a three-year period for underrepresented students to enhance their postdoctoral work at a U.S. or Canadian degree-granting institution. Although the funding can not go directly towards salary, it can be used for research supplies, education and training expenses, and enrichment activities. The program requires that post-doctoral students have a qualified mentor to serve as a role model throughout their fellowship tenure. In addition, applicants must have earned a Ph.D. in a biomedical or medical field and must be citizens of the United States or Canada. Applications for the upcoming cycle are due January 15. For more information or to apply, visit the program's website.

CareerWISE Professional Development Resource for Women

The CareerWISE program is a National Science Foundation-funded, interdisciplinary research program housed at Arizona State University (ASU) intended to help women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs find ways to better manage their immediate environments and to provide a long term resource to all women for overcoming barriers and for expanding personal supports in their future career environments.

CareerWISE homepageThe site provides advice from accomplished women in science and engineering, information about common concerns women face in STEM fields, training to solve personal and interpersonal problems, modules to strengthen skills, and tips for addressing specific questions or concerns. Learn about balancing your work and life demands, managing your relationships with advisors and peers, and setting career goals.

The CareerWISE resource was created by an interdisciplinary team of experts from fields including counseling psychology, psychology, engineering, and educational technology with generous support from the National Science Foundation. The content is current, significant, and relevant; scholarly references are also provided for all content pieces.

Let us know if you try out the program or if you have other helpful resources in the comments!

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Postdoctoral Scholar Program

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., is offering an 18-month Postdoctoral Scholar award for students in the following fields: chemistry, engineering, geology, geophysics, mathematics, meteorology, physics, biology, and oceanography.

The scholar program offers a $57,000-per-year stipend for 18 months, relocation allowance, group health and dental insurance, office and laboratory space, and limited travel and equipment expenses.

Only individuals who are currently completing or have received a doctoral degree in the last two to three years are eligible to apply. You must show a copy of your diploma or a certified letter from the university stating that you have completed your degree requirements before you can begin the postdoctoral appointment.

For more information, visit: http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8021

The Academic Job Search Survival Handbook

UC San Diego Career Services put together a comprehensive handbook to help guide you through the academic job search process. The Academic Job Search Survival Handbook includes the following:

• Timeline for hiring new faculty
• When and where to look for jobs
• CV and cover letter examples and tips
• Common campus interview questions

Whether you are applying to academic jobs right now or have plans to do so in the near future, browse through the handbook to prepare yourself for the job search process.

Keep Your Career Options Open

Some of us go to grad school knowing exactly what we want to do once we have that degree in our possession while others may change their minds somewhere along the journey to the degree. Yet some know what they want to research but maybe have not put too much thought beyond that. I know I've deviated from my initial career thoughts back during my first year of grad school here. The article linked to below discusses a recent California-based study that investigated what Ph.D. students wanted out of their careers.

A couple of interesting findings:

* "The majority of people surveyed — 74 percent of men and 84 percent of women — were concerned about whether their future career path would be a family-friendly one."

* "Forty-five percent of men and 39 percent of the women surveyed intended to become professors at a research institution when they started their doctoral program. However, once into their programs, the numbers dropped to 36 percent and 27 percent, respectively."

Grad Students Think Twice about Jobs in Academe

Note: Articles from The Chronicle can be accessed for free if you have an account with the site; aside from creating an account, these articles can be accessed on campus computers and via UCSB's wireless network.