Skill Building

Cheshta
Sharma

I followed my passion and learnt skills on the way….

Taking control of how you want to spend the rest 30-40 years of your working life and then lead a happy and successful retired life, is something that I would like to suggest to everyone, irrespective of your career stage. Although, one should start preparing for the career well ahead of time, but i...


Ana
Guadalupe Rodriguez

Skills I Built in Graduate School for Academia

The path that has led me to academia has been an immersive opportunity boundless with growth, and advancement in my professional skills, accompanied by a deeper understanding of the assets I offer with my positionality as a young female Latina scientist. Each experience in my undergraduate and gradu...


Naresh
Sunkara

Transition from a Scientist to an Entrepreneur

My street credentials: I’ve been a graduate student, a PhD in Organic chemistry from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, a postdoc from the University of California, Berkeley, and transitioned into a fulltime entrepreneur for over a year now. I have also founded the Berkeley Postdoc En...


Judy
Lytle

Tips on How to Engage an Audience

I recently gave a talk at a luncheon hosted by my research institute. In the days since, I’ve had a few experiences that have brought me to this blog. I’d like to talk about how to engage an audience, whether it’s an actual audience, or an interviewer, or new colleagues at a networking even...


Anibal
Valentin-Acevedo

Switching Paths

Having a job is an essential part of our adult life, and it is definitely something we need in order to survive. It is something we depend on. If we think about it, most of us will spend most of our productive life working, so looking for a job or staying at a job that we are unhappy about might ...


Caroline
Ceniza-Levine

Five Tips For Managing Information Overload

Information overload carries a negative connotation but sometimes it comes from a happy place. This past weekend, I was in Seattle leading a career change workshop for the Lean In Seattle and Lean In Women’s Veterans chapters. This all-day event featured speakers from around the country, and with ...


Michael
Salgaller

The Siren’s Song of Employment – Part Two

Last fall, I was invited by Bio Careers to present a webinar on pursuing alternative careers. It dealt most specifically with transitioning from a bench career to one involving finance or business. Interestingly, what strongly resonated with attendees were the slides on how one’s skills could b...


Aníbal
Valentín-Acevedo

How to set yourself apart from the rest? The importance of your social skills and attitude in the job

For every job available out there, no matter the discipline, we can find hundreds of applicants equally qualified who can fill that position. A colleague of mine, who worked as Dean of Administration at an academic institution, once told me that no matter how good we are at our job, there will al...


Lamar
Blackwell

When transitioning from academia to pharma, academic scientists need their C.R.E.A.M! - Resourcefulness

One of the most important things we learn during our Ph.D. training is the ability to do a “needs analysis”.  We learn how to get work done when resources are limited, project goals are shifted, and priorities change for things like grant proposals.  Still, other times, we realize that...


Shu Chin
Ma

How to speak with confidence - Part 2, networking

How many of you shiver when you hear “networking”? Or do you jump for joy? If you are in the latter category, then congratulations and you can stop reading. However, if you are from the first category, here are some tips that might be able to help you to overcome the crippling anxiety. You ...