Establishing career goals:
Things you should be doing early in your graduate career:
Discover where your talents lie.
- In general, you will like doing what you can do well.
Find out where the jobs are (both in terms of field and type of
institution).
- Ask what fields have saturated (e.g. the molecular field and government
jobs).
Consider a variety of career options.
- All too often students select a university setting, only because that is
the option they know best.
- University academics do not , in general, know of other options (having
themselves seen little outside the university setting).
- Some other options are:
- a small college (especially if you prefer teaching to research)
- research institutes ( if you prefer research to teaching)
- industrial research (if you prefer applying your knowledge)
- Medical and scientific journals technical writing
- fields like patent law, science policy and administration, the media, and
the investment field (if you prefer a mix of specialties).
- business/entrepreneur-ship. Use your learnt skills by starting your own company.
Find out what skills you need to get these jobs.
- Make sure you get these skills during your graduate training.
- You are probably very preoccupied now with getting through your current degree.
But now is also a good time to think about what you will do when you move on.
Things to improve your career options.
- Learn broad fundamentals
- But learn a few key skills well.
- Select a thesis that spans several fields
- Learn team work in an interdisciplinary collaborative environment.
- Learn to explain your ideas to people in different fields. The Grad Club
is a good venue for this.
Copyright © 1995
Tutis Vilis
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
University of Western Ontario
London Ontario Canada |
Created 28 Sept 1995
Last updated
November 20, 2011
Comments
welcome: tutis.vilis@schulich.uwo.ca |