Job Hunting in Industry Workshop: How to locate and apply for jobs, get interviews, and negotiate more from your first job offer

We're excited to announce a workshop for STEM postdocs and graduate students who are interested in industry career:

Job Hunting in Industry:  How to locate and apply for jobs, get interviews, and negotiate more from your first job offer

Presented by Bill Lindstaedt, MS

Bill is the Assistant Vice Chancellor and manages Career Advancement, International and Postdoctoral Services at UCSF. He is a career counselor specializing in career development issues for doctoral level trainees in the sciences. He is also a co-author of Science Magazine's myIDP, a free career development tool launched designed to help research scientists take charge of their careers.

JOB HUNTING IN INDUSTRY:

How to locate and apply for jobs, how to get interviews, and how to negotiate more from your first job offer

Postdocs, grad students and research scientists are all welcome!

Space is limited. Register now!

Jan 12th (Friday) 1-4:30PM

Biomed

Did you know that only 10-15% of PhDs will get faculty jobs? Industry career has become the prevailing path for PhDs in life sciences. But it could be challenging to land a good job straight out of academia, and the training and resource to prepare PhDs for industry jobs is lacking.
This workshop is designed to provide PhD students and postdocs with the knowledge and skills to launch a successful job search for positions in industry research. 
The workshop is consisted of 3 segments: (feel free to choose the segment(s) of your interest to attend)
  1. Job Hunting for Industry Research Positions:  How to apply for jobs and get interviews - 1 hour
    You will learn how to prepare resumes and cover letters that will get you noticed during your search for research jobs in industry.   You will learn how to find information on companies and how to reach out to industry scientists who can connect you with job opportunities, and push your resume along through the selection process. After this workshop, you will understand how to execute three techniques that comprise a comprehensive job search.
  2. Succeeding in Interviews for Industry Research Positions - 1.5 hour
    After attending this 90-minute skill-building workshop, you will leave with a set of frameworks that will help you respond effectively to the most common questions asked of postdocs when they interview for that first industry researcher position.  You will improve your ability to respond to opening and closing interview scenarios, as well as tough and awkward interview questions.  Finally, we will discuss tips for tailoring your job talk to an industry setting.
  3. Compensation Negotiation for Industry Research Positions - 1 hour
    Know how to answer these common questions that everyone has as they are getting their first industry job offer.
  • What do I say when the employer asks me about my salary requirements before the job offer (during the interview)?
  • What do I say when the employer asks me about salary during the job offer discussion?
  • What kinds of benefits and compensation components will I see in my industry job offer letter?
  • Which job offer components are negotiable and which ones should I not try to negotiate?
  • Most importantly, how do I ask for more graciously, so that I get what I need while maintaining a positive relationship with my future employer?
 

Chalk-talk workshop recap

We hope everyone find the workshop helpful for your current or future job search. Thank you for participating!

Big thanks to the panelists: Dr. Karen Ottemann, Dr. Jordan Ward, Dr. Daniel Kim and Dr. Camilla Forsberg for taking time out of their busy schedules to join us! They shared their personal experience in giving chalk-talks or judging chalk-talks. They also discussed the academic hiring process, what is expected in a chalk-talk and how to prepare for the talk. For a good talk, be sure to first state your overall goal for your future lab concisely and clearly, then describe the projects starting from the most important one, while confidently present yourself as the expert in the field. And keep in mind that sometimes things don’t go as you expected, so don’t panic and improvise!

Then postdocs Katlin and Paul each gave a excellent mock chalk-talk, and received feedback from the instructors. They are actively looking for jobs, so we hope this experience is helpful to them and wish them good luck!

Are you looking for jobs? Let us know what kind of workshops you would like to see so we can help you get the job you want!

Job Preparation Workshop: Chalk-talk

 Chalk-talk is an essential part of academic job interview. At this interactive workshop, you will learn how to prepare your talk and what to expect from the interviewers, and will have the chance to practice your talk and receive valuable feedback from experienced faculty.
We strongly encourage postdocs who are applying for jobs to use this unique occasion to practice his/her chalk talk. Postdocs who volunteer to give a demo in this workshop will have a chance to attend one of the real chalk talks at UCSC in a near future. If you are interested in giving a mock chalk-talk, let us know: uspa@ucsc.edu

We encourage postdocs and graduates students to attend. Register here. The registration deadline is Nov 15th.
Coffee and lunch will be provided.
 
 

Job preparation workshop: Chalk-Talk

DATE: November 30th

TIME: 9:30AM - 1:00PM

LOCATION: TBD


Instructors:

DR. KAREN OTTEMANN

DR. JORDAN WARD

DR. DANIEL KIM

Nov Science & Social Hour: Know Your Health Benefits Plans

The open enrollment period for postdoc benefit plans has begun! Until Nov 21st 5pm, you are able to enroll or change your health, dental and vision insurance plans for 2018. To help you navigate among the choices, Steve Johnson from Garnett-Powers (UC's health plan administrator) will join us at the November social hour to answer your questions about insurance plans. Lunch will be provided!

Postdoctoral Scholar Benefits Plans

Nov 13th (Monday) 1-2PM

Biomed 300

Free food and beverage!

Postdoctoral Conference Travel Award: Winners Announced!

We would like to thank all the postdocs who submitted applications and their faculty advisors for sending support letter!

We reviewed all the applications carefully and were very impressed by everyone's accomplishment. However the amount of the award is limited. So after lengthy consideration, we have chosen two recipients: Dr. Justin Suraci and Dr. Katlin Bowman. Congratulations Justin and Katlin!

Dr. Justin Suraci:

I’m a postdoc in Chris Wilmers’ lab in Environmental Studies, where we investigate the impacts of human activity and development on wildlife, with a particular focus on human-puma interactions. My background is in designing and executing large scale field experiments to understand how behavioral interactions between predators (typically mammalian carnivores) and their prey cascade to effect ecological communities, demonstrating that top predators can shape entire communities by altering the behavior of their prey. My primary work with the Wilmers lab has been applying these techniques to wildlife communities in the Santa Cruz Mountains to understand how behavioral responses to human presence alter species interactions (e.g., puma interactions with smaller mesocarnivores, mesocarnivore interactions with their rodent prey).
This UCSC STEM Postdoc Association Travel Award will support my attendance at the 2018 Gordon Research Conference on Predator-Prey Interactions, where I have been invited to give a talk on what I’m calling “anthropogenic landscapes of fear”. This emerging body of work investigates how human presence creates and/or reshapes patterns of predation risk across landscapes, both by altering the abundance and composition of predator communities (e.g., by removing large carnivores like wolves and pumas), and through the fear induced by humans themselves, given that humans are a major source of mortality for many wildlife species. My recent and current research touches on both of these themes, and this conference will be a fantastic chance to connect with other predation risk researchers to move this field forward. Thanks very much to USPA for the support!

Dr. Katlin Bowman

Dr. Katlin Bowman is a postdoc at the Department of Ocean Sciences. She combines marine genomics and chemistry to study a gene cluster in microorganisms that convert mercury to the toxic methyl-mercury. She has gone on multiple oceanographic expeditions and obtained promising results, which she will present at the bi-annual Ocean Sciences Meeting.

Oct Science and Social Hour: Understanding Your Retirement Account

Did you know as an eligible UC postdoc you are automatically enrolled in retirement plans and making contributions?

Would you like to know where the "DCP Safe Harbor" deduction on your paycheck goes to?

Would you like to know how you can plan and save for retirement?

We have invited a financial expert from Fidelity to answer all your questions about your retirement accounts! Free lunch will be provided!

Science and Social Hour: Understanding and Saving for Retirement

Oct 19th (Thu) 1-2PM

Biomed 300

Free food and beverage!

It’s National Postdoc Appreciation Week!

This week is the National Postdoc Appreciation Week!

Being a postdoctoral scholar requires support from mentors and institutions, to continue to work towards the dual role of providing contributions to the research enterprise and career development training. With the start of National Postdoc Appreciation Week, we are reminded of the importance of protected time for postdocs to explore opportunities, network, and connect with fellow postdocs. The National Postdoctoral Association identified six core competencies that all postdocs should develop during their training.

The UCSC STEM Postdocs Association (USPA), run by postdoc volunteers, is dedicated to provide career training and networking opportunities for our own community. Subscribe to our google group to receive emails and check our website for events!

What type of career are you planning for? What kind of career training do you wish to receive? Let us know! Join us for lunch and chat:

Special Science and Social Hour for Postdoc Appreciation Week

Sep 21st (Thu) 1-2PM

Biomed 300

Free lunch and ping pong for fun!

Grant Writing Workshop

We are hosting a grant writing workshop for postdocs on Jul 24th!

  • Proposal writing is an essential skill for a postdoc, especially if you are planning to stay in academia.
  • Successful grant proposal can open many doors for you. Receiving a K99 award greatly increases your chance in securing a faculty position.
  • These programs are also highly competitive, with success rates around 20-30%.

We hope this workshop can provide you the tools to write a successful proposal. The speakers, David States, Carrie Partch and Jordan Ward, will discuss:

What types of grants are available to postdocs/ How to structure your paragraphs and sections/ How to convey your science/ How to apply for K99… and any topics you are interested in.

Continue Reading Grant Writing Workshop