Fall 2015

Geometry Ascending a Staircase, Pratt School of Engineering

The Fall 2015 Career Beyond Academia Series is co-sponsored by the Office of Postdoctoral Services and the Graduate School’s Professional Development Series.

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Science and Engineering Seminars

Week of Sept 14

WHAT: Webinar: Careers in Technology Commercialization for STEM PhDs
REGISTER:  https://gradschool.duke.edu/student-life/events/careers-technology-commercialization-stem-phds-online

In this free online panel discussion, panelists are ABDs and PhDs from STEM fields who have made the transition to careers in technology commercialization. Panelists introduce themselves on Monday and take questions all week. You can interact with panelists through the discussion forum or follow the conversation via email. All questions welcome, from the most general to the very specific.

Duke’s subscription to The Versatile PhD is sponsored by The Graduate School. Registration at Versatile PhD is free and can be anonymous; use your Duke NetID upon registration to access subscriber-only content.

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Tues Oct 6, 10-11:30 am

WHAT:  Managing Your Research Career Using an Individual Development Plan (IDP)
WHERE: Rm 143 Jones Bldg
REGISTER:  https://duke.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_23Jd7D3LYqYrQup

For better or for worse, your experiences and the training you receive as graduate students and postdoctoral researchers can greatly impact and shape the rest of your career.  However, there are strategies and resources that can enhance your chances of getting what you came for. During this program participants will learn how to develop clear and specific goals and objectives, along with a plan for executing them. Topics covered in this RCR module include:

  • The importance of setting goals and developing an IDP
  • Introduction to the SMART goals model
  • Resources for crafting and executing your IDP
  • Strategies for establishing expectations and effectively communicating research and career goals with your mentor/PI

SPEAKER: Dara Wilson-Grant, LPC is the Associate Director at the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and a National Certified Career Counselor. With over fifteen years experience providing career management education and counseling, Dara’s mission is to help individuals develop a framework for choosing a meaningful and rewarding career path, plus develop the skills necessary for a lifetime of career success.

NOTE: This Forum provides Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) credit. Duke postdocs are required to take yearly RCR training.  If you are a Postdoctoral Associate or Postdoctoral Scholar and have attended either the day-long Postdoctoral RCR Forum or the 5-part Trent Center RCR Course, you are thereafter required to attend one RCR Forum (such as this one) every subsequent year of your postdoctoral training.

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Fri Oct 9, 9-10:30 am

WHAT: Career Options for Science PhDs
WHERE: Rm 143 Jones Bldg
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/Fall2015Career

SPEAKER:  Melanie Sinche is the Director of Education at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, CT, developing programs for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars in genomic education. Prior to this position, she served as a Senior Research Associate in the Labor and Worklife Program at the Harvard Law School, where she conducted survey research on careers for PhDs in science. She was also the Founding Director of the FAS Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard University, held the same position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health in building the first NIH Career Services Center for over 9,000 intramural trainees. Her current research explores employment patterns of recent science and engineering PhDs. Her work also addresses skills and experiences required to enter different scientific occupations, and illustrates whether these were developed in the educational/training period of the PhD or on the job, thus contributing to the national discussion of efficacious training of PhD-level scientists and engineers.
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Mon Oct 26, 2:30-3:30 pm 

WHAT: Editorial Careers at a Science Journal
WHERE: Mumma Commons, 3121 FCIEMAS Bldg
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/Fall2015ScienceJournal (limited to 20 registrants)

Two editors from AAAS Science Translational Medicine and AAAS Science Signaling will discuss editorial careers in a small-group setting. Light snacks will be provided.

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Week of Nov 16

WHAT: Webinar: Careers in University Administration for STEM PhDs
REGISTER: https://gradschool.duke.edu/student-life/events/careers-university-administration-stem-phds-online

In this free online panel discussion, all panelists are ABDs and PhDs from STEM fields who have made the transition to careers in college and university administration. Panelists introduce themselves on Monday and take questions all week. You can interact with panelists through the discussion forum or follow the conversation via email. All questions welcome, from the most general to the very specific.

Duke’s subscription to The Versatile PhD is sponsored by The Graduate School. Registration at Versatile PhD is free and can be anonymous; use your Duke NetID upon registration to access subscriber-only content.

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Humanities and Social Sciences Seminars

Week of Oct 19

WHAT: Webinar: Careers in Publishing for Humanities and Social Sciences PhDs
REGISTER: https://gradschool.duke.edu/student-life/events/careers-publishing-humanities-and-social-sciences-phds-online

In this free online panel discussion, panelists are ABDs and PhDs from social sciences and humanities fields who have made the transition to publishing careers. Panelists introduce themselves on Monday and take questions all week. You can interact with panelists through the discussion forum or follow the conversation via email. All questions welcome, from the most general to the very specific.

Duke’s subscription to The Versatile PhD is sponsored by The Graduate School. Registration at Versatile PhD is free and can be anonymous; use your Duke NetID upon registration to access subscriber-only content.

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Seminars for All Postdocs and Graduate Students

Fri Sept 11, 11 am -12:30 pm

WHAT:  Duke Etiquette Luncheon
WHERE: President’s Ballroom, Washington Duke Inn
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/postdocEtiquetteLuncheon

Professional relationships are often developed in social settings such as formal meals and cocktail hours. At the Etiquette Luncheon, students and postdocs will learn rules for navigating a professional lunch or dinner – often part of the interview process in both academia and industry. Attendees will learn how to select restaurants, proper seating arrangements, what food to order, rules for tableware (i.e. which fork to use when), appropriate conversation topics, and other essential social skills. The guest speaker for the luncheon is Sue Harbour, Associate Director of University Career Services at UNC-Chapel Hill.  Attendees should wear business casual attire.

COST: To confirm your seat, you must pre-pay $30 to Duke Postdoctoral Services by no later than noon on Mon Aug 31 (cash only, and exact amount; we are unable to make change). This amount is non-refundable. Duke Postdoctoral Services will subsidize the remaining cost of the luncheon. If you register and fail to pay for your seat, it will be released to the next person on the waitlist.

REGISTRATION DETAILS: Seats for this event are extremely limited. Attendees must have the job title of Postdoctoral Associate or Postdoctoral Scholar (if you do not know your job title, look up your name in the directory). Researchers in other job titles (e.g., Research Associate Senior, Research Scientist) may join the waitlist. Luncheon entrée options are chicken, fish, or vegetarian.

This is a joint workshop with the Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Postdoctoral Services and the Graduate School.

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Tues Sept 22, 12-1:30 pm

WHAT: Job Search Workshop for Graduate Students and Postdocs
WHERE: Smith Warehouse, Bay 4, C105 (“The Garage”)
REGISTER: https://goo.gl/REzEFF (for graduate students); https://duke.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6PVqvh6hxiXM6eF (for postdocs)

Make the most of your time and energy when searching for a job. Learn how to identify your skills, plan a targeted search, conduct informational interviews and build a job and internship search plan that works for YOU. Leave with resources for where and how to search for opportunities and clear next steps to take in your process. Presented by the Duke Career Center.

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Fri Sept 25, 1-3 pm

WHAT:  The 2-Hour Job Search with Steve Dalton, Author and Career Coach, Fuqua School of Business
WHERE: Gross Hall, rm 107 (ground floor auditorium)
REGISTER: https://duke.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8jJTmymwYT4bBMp

The single hardest part of the modern job search is getting an interview.  The only predictable way to get an interview is through networking, but “networking” is frustratingly vague advice.  How do you network, exactly?

In this workshop, Fuqua career coach and The 2-Hour Job Search author Steve Dalton offers an exact process – rather than a series of tips – for effectively turning strangers into advocates, leading to more internal referrals and more job interviews.

This session proposes an efficient alternative to hopelessly applying to online job postings by turning the difficult topic of networking into something finite and replicable. To create this process, Dalton drew upon the latest science ranging from behavioral economics to operations theory to social psychology to split networking into its three component parts: prioritization, outreach, and recruiting advocacy. Each will be discussed in turn to help job seekers harness free and simple technology to get the right job faster.

This is a joint workshop with the Nicholas School of the Environment, Sanford School of Public Policy, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Postdoctoral Services and the Graduate School.

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Thurs Oct 22, 10-11:30 am

WHAT:  Networking: A Tool for Exploring Careers & Building Professional Relationships
WHERE: Rm 143 Jones Bldg
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/Fall2015Networking

Networking is one of the most effective approaches to getting your career on the fast track. Yet, for a variety of reasons (e.g., shyness, negative perceptions), most of us fail to make networking an active part of our ongoing career development. In this workshop, participants will learn the keys to tactful networking along with easy-to-use strategies for face-to-face networking, corresponding via email, and the appropriate use of social media.

SPEAKER:  Dara Wilson-Grant, LPC is the Associate Director at the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and a National Certified Career Counselor. With over fifteen years experience providing career management education and counseling, Dara’s mission is to help individuals develop a framework for choosing a meaningful and rewarding career path, plus develop the skills necessary for a lifetime of career success.

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Tues Oct 27, 10-11:30 am

WHAT: Converting Your CV to a High Impact Resume
WHERE: Rm 143 Jones Bldg
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/Fall2015CVResume

Are you considering a career outside of academia?  If so, you will need to convert your curriculum vitae (CV) into a resume, and this session will show you how. In addition to learning the differences between an academic CV and a resume, you will learn specific steps and strategies to help you craft a resume that effectively promotes your qualifications in a way that appeals to a broad audience. Topics include:

  • Describing your skills and experiences in a way that translates across disciplines, industries, and career fields.
  • Tailoring and organizing your information with the reader in mind.
  • Choosing the right format, layout, and style.

SPEAKER:  Dara Wilson-Grant, LPC is the Associate Director at the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and a National Certified Career Counselor. With over 15 years experience providing career management education and counseling, Dara’s mission is to help individuals develop a framework for choosing a meaningful and rewarding career path, plus develop the skills necessary for a lifetime of career success.

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Tues Sept 29, 12-1:30 pm

WHAT: Interviewing Workshop for Graduate Students and Postdocs
WHERE: Smith Warehouse, Bay 4, C105 (“The Garage”)
REGISTER: https://goo.gl/jqCvun (for graduate students); https://duke.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3EHw0nfHpalt8SV (for postdocs)

Interviews are a great opportunity for you to tell your story and show how you can fit with and contribute to an organization. Learn how to effectively prepare for behavioral interviews, including strategies for conducting research about the organization and the STAR format for organizing your responses to interview questions. Presented by the Duke Career Center.

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Mon Oct 26, 2-3:30 pm

WHAT: Cover Letter Workshop for Graduate Students and Postdocs
WHERE: Rm 217 Perkins Library
REGISTER: https://duke.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9QXXNLBY72Y6Dbf

According to employers, job applicants who write persuasive cover letters can surge ahead in the competition for interviews. Cover letters are your opportunity to expand on the information in your resume, tell your story for an employer in a way that makes it explicit how and why you would add value to their organization, and illustrate your communication and persuasion skills all at once. In this workshop you will learn a powerful structure for your cover letters and how to make explicit the fit between what you bring and what the employer wants.  Presented by the Duke Career Center.

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Thurs Nov 5, 5-8 pm

WHAT: Networking for Cocktail Hours and Receptions
WHERE: Schiciano Auditorium, FCIEMAS Building
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/Fall2015Cocktail (limited to 20 registrants)

Many people get nervous when attending social events, but cocktail parties and receptions provide excellent opportunities to build your network and make valuable career connections. At this reception, you will learn how to be an approachable, engaged listener; how to talk to new people; and how to follow up with your new contacts. And don’t worry – we promise you will have fun at the same time!

This is a joint collaboration with the Nicholas School of the Environment, Pratt School of Engineering, Sanford School of Public Policy,  Graduate Career Office, Duke Postdoctoral Services, and Fuqua School of Business.

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Tues Nov 17, 10-11:30 am

WHAT:  Behavior-Based Interviews: What to Expect and How to Prepare
WHERE: Rm 143 Jones Bldg
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/Fall2015Interviews

Are you planning to pursue a non-academic career path? If so, you will need to prepare for a style of interviewing that is quite different than the academic interview process – from the interview structure to the types of questions asked. Special attention will be given to a common Human Resource / Organizational method of interviewing called behavior-based interviewing.

SPEAKER:  Dara Wilson-Grant, LPC is the Associate Director at the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and a National Certified Career Counselor. With over fifteen years experience providing career management education and counseling, Dara’s mission is to help individuals develop a framework for choosing a meaningful and rewarding career path, plus develop the skills necessary for a lifetime of career success.

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Tues Dec 1, 10-11:30 am

WHAT: How to Avoid Self-Sabotage and Win at Salary Negotiations
WHERE: Rm 143 Jones Bldg
REGISTER: http://tinyurl.com/Fall2015Salary

Let’s face it, for most of us, the negotiation process is one of the most stressful parts of the job search. Not long after the initial excitement of receiving an offer comes panic followed by dread.
  • Do I negotiate for more money and risk seeming pushy or ungrateful?
  • Will I lose this opportunity if I negotiate for too much?
  • What should I ask for?

If one or more of these thoughts swirl through your head when you think about salary negotiations, you are not alone! This workshop is a step-by-step guide to navigating the negotiation process, especially when it comes to managing your emotions.

SPEAKER: Dara Wilson-Grant, LPC is Associate Director of the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and a National Certified Career Counselor. With over 15 years experience providing career management education and counseling, Dara’s mission is to help individuals develop a framework for choosing a meaningful and rewarding career path, plus develop the skills necessary for a lifetime of career success.