STEMskiller: Skill Set Map for Mentors of Early Career Researchers

CAREER MANAGEMENT: Placement and job searching/seeking

Leaving academia: career planning for doctoral candidates

Definition:

Sometimes mentees choose to leave academia, for many reasons. This transition can be difficult if early career researchers have never interviewed or held positions in the private sector. While some institutions provide direct support for this process, others do not. The resources listed below can assist mentors in the latter case.

Useful resources on Leaving academia: career planning for doctoral candidates:

Fuhrmann, C.N, Hobin, J.A., Lindstaedt, B., & Clifford, P.S. (2020). myIDP ScienceCareers Individual Development Plan. https://myidp.sciencecareers.org/

Created by scientists for scientists, this four-stage career planning tool includes a career exploration section that includes descriptions of non-academic career pathways.

Silva, E.A, Mejía, A.B., Watkins, E.S. (2019). Where do our graduates go? A toolkit for retrospective and ongoing career outcomes data collection for biomedical PhD students and postdoctoral scholars. bioRxiv, 539031. https://doi.org/10.1101/539031

Description of how institutions can gather data about career outcomes for their doctoral and postdoc students. Such data can be useful for providing early career researchers with the full picture of possibilities open to them.^[1]

[1] https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2019/03/first-us-private-sector-employs-nearly-many-phds-schools-do

Tags: IPS WC; IPS OC; IPS R; IPS QL; IPS IL; IPS T; IPS PS; PSR CE; PSR IKC; PSR ER; PSR LL; CompS

Peer Review: None

Table of contents:

3.4. Placement and job searching/seeking


3.4.1. Non-academic positions

3.4.2. Academic positions

 

Author: Stephanie Krueger

Peer Reviewer(s): None

Last Updated: October 28, 2021