A few weeks ago, Core Programs in the Graduate School, Career Center, and the Alumni Association sponsored an employer panel for graduate students and postdocs. We would like to share a few pearls from the terrific UW alums who sat on the panel and who also hosted conversations during the networking reception that followed.
The job search is about finding the right fit for your talents. Be creative about your career options, test out new ways to tell the story of your (deep) experience and skill set, and it is never too early to start exploring and building your network.
Getting Started
- Evolve your resume. Your resume should always be evolving and tailored to each job you are applying for. Also, describe examples of specific accomplishments, including those that came up during your education and training. What problems did you approach, how did you solve them, with what results? Find out more about building your resume here. If you’re interested in careers beyond academia, here are tips on how to revise your CV into resume format.
- Build your experience. Find out what key skills or top tools are used and needed in the field of interest, and learn them. Look at the whole picture of your experience, inside and outside of graduate education. Align your skill sets to particular positions or organizations. Use specific examples in your talking points and written materials with the goal of making yourself stand out from an applicant pool. Learn how to get internship and related experential skills as graduate students at this upcoming workshop.
- Demonstrate excellent communication skills (in writing and in person). Be able to discuss complex ideas in a simple, clear, concise fashion. Be ready to describe the research you are working on in 30 seconds or less–and in a way that anyone can understand.
- Consider entry-level positions. Don’t get discouraged by entry-level positions. It can be helpful to get your foot in the door, demonstrate your contribution and capability. Depending on the organization (check this out first), you can move up within 3-6 months.
- Find your passion. Pay attention to your energy and passion as those are the kinds of jobs you should be looking for (and not others!).
Networking
- Start early. It is never too early to start building and growing your network. Networking is possible even for those of us who initially shy away from it.
- Talk about your talent and passion. Practice. Get comfortable. Own it, but without arrogance. Do mock interviews.
- Set up networking meetings. Identify target companies to narrow your options, and then set up informational interviews.
- Use LinkedIn strategically. Start with classmates, alums, professors. Join LinkedIn groups in order to initiate professional connections and learn about new job postings.
- Attend receptions. Face-to-face conversations can spark interest and connections at these professional gatherings. Send a resume to those you’ve connected with as a follow up. Personal connections always move a resume up if it is already in the pool.
- Ask questions. You are interviewing the informant and the organization to determine fit as much as they are interviewing you. Show them you want to know what the work is like, that it matters to you (that is, you aren’t just looking for “a job”). Questions you can ask: What is your day-to-day work like? What is the best part of what you do? The most challenging? What is the culture like here? What would you change about your job (or the organization) if you could?
Interviewing
- Phone interview. Always prepare for this as you would an in-person interview, and follow up with a thank you email or note.
- Answering technical questions. If a potential employer asks you a technical question, or to solve a technical problem during the interview, how should you handle it? The interviewer mostly wants to know how you strategize solving a problem. It is important to show how you would approach the problem, what you’d consider, and why.
- Be relationally savvy. Organizations are looking for people who will be colleagues.
- Show resilience. You can’t always control what interviewers will ask or how they will behave. Show some resilience and keep your composure, as well as keeping things in perspective. If you don’t like how you were treated in an interview, chances are you don’t want to work there anyway!
- Not hearing back. You might not hear back. Be persistent. Keep honing your materials and learning from the process.
Best Wishes on Your Career Paths!
Kelly, Jaye, and Ziyan
Core Programs Team
In late January 2016, the Graduate School co-hosted an annual Career Symposium for graduate students and postdocs. We wanted to share just a few pearls from the terrific UW alums who sat on the panel and also hosted conversations during the networking reception. Bottom line: the job search is about finding the right fit for your talent. Be creative about your career options, test out new ways to tell the story of your (deep) experience and skill set, and it is never too early to start exploring and building your network.
Getting Started
- Evolve your resume. Your resume should always be evolving. Describe examples of specific accomplishments, including those that came up during your education and training. What problems did you approach, how did you solve them, with what results?
- Build your experience. Find out what the key skills or top tools are used in the field of interest, and learn them. Look at the whole picture of your experience, inside and outside of graduate education. Align your skill sets to particular positions or organizations. Use specific examples in your talking points and written materials with the goal of making yourself stand out from an applicant pool.
- Demonstrate excellent communication skills (in writing and in person). Be able to discuss complex ideas in a simple, clear, concise fashion. Especially, be ready to describe what you are working on for your research in 30 seconds or less in a way that anyone can understand.
- Consider entry-level positions. Don’t get discouraged by entry-level positions. It can be helpful to get your foot in the door, demonstrate your contribution and capability and depending on the organization (check this out first) you can move up within 3-6 months.
- Find your passion. Pay attention to your energy and passion as those are the kinds of jobs you should be looking for (and not others!).
Networking
- Start early. It is never too early to start building and growing your network.
- Talk about your talent and passion. Practice. Get comfortable. Own it, but without arrogance. Do mock interviews.
- Set up networking meetings – informational interviews. Identify target companies to start with to narrow your options.
- Use LinkedIn strategically. Start with classmates, alums, professors. Join groups that might create good professional connections.
- Attend receptions. Send a resume to those you’ve connected with as a follow up. Personal connections always move a resume up if it is already in the pool. Face-to-face meetings spark interest and connection.
- Ask questions. You are interviewing the informant and the organization to determine fit as much as they are interviewing you. Show them you want to know what the work is like, that it matters to you (that is, you aren’t just looking for “a job”). Questions you can ask: what is your day-to-day work like? What is the best part of what you do? The most challenging? What is the culture like here? What would you change about your job (or the organization) if you could?
Interviewing
- Phone interview. Phone interviews are important. Always prepare as you would for an in-person, and follow up with a thank you email or note.
- Answering technical questions. If they ask you a technical question, or to solve a technical problem during the interview, how should you handle it? The interviewers mostly want to know how you think rather than the answer to the problem. It is important to show how you would approach the problem, what you’d consider, and why.
- Be relationally savvy. Organizations are looking for people who will be colleagues.
- Show resilience. You can’t always control what interviewers will ask or how they will behave. Show some resilience and keep your composure, as well as keeping things in perspective. If you don’t like how you were treated in an interview, chances are you don’t want to work there anyway!
- Not hearing back. You might not hear back. Have persistence. Keep honing your materials and learning from the process.
“Interviews are helpful as I can tell right away if someone has the logic skills of a squirrel.”
– Mike Bardaro (UW Chemistry alum), Senior Data Scientist AOL
Originally posted on January 28, 2016.
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I feel behind my cohort in terms of applicable experience. I’ve applied to several internships/practicum experiences, but my financial situation dictates that I either need a paid internship or another job while I complete an unpaid internship. Because my classes are during the day, I’ve found the latter next to impossible. Additionally, I haven’t revived much interest in hiring due to my lack of experience. How do I find the right positions for this situation? —Inexperienced
(This week’s answer is courtesy of Catherine Basl, Lead Career Counselor, Career Center.)
Thanks for sharing a bit about your situation. It can definitely feel discouraging when we aren’t having as much luck as we want in the job search and when we are faced with hard decisions about lackluster paid positions versus highly interesting unpaid positions. Below are some tips you might find helpful.
- Don’t worry! Most graduate cohorts are made up of students who have a range of applicable experience. If they accepted you into the program, they think you have enough experience to be successful! Though it can be difficult, try to stay positive and confident.
- Consider making a list of what you are looking for in a job or internship. Whether it includes a desired weekly schedule, skills, location, or something else, making a list and prioritizing it can help when mulling over possible options.
- Applicable experience is more than work experience. Consider your volunteer experience too! If you are within a few years of your undergraduate work you might also include relevant clubs and student activities on your resume. Don’t sell yourself short.
- Use your network! If you have only been looking online, consult with your graduate program adviser, departmental staff members and faculty about possible internships. Depending on your field, HuskyJobs might also be a good resource.
- Polish your resume and cover letter! Tailor your resume and cover letter for each position and consider getting them reviewed to ensure they are submission-ready. Sometimes tweaking your materials or doing a mock interview can make a world of difference in the job search.
- Feeling stuck? Schedule an appointment with a career counselor—we can help you with every step of the process from deciding what’s most important to you to helping you prep for the interview that will land you your dream internship.
Ask the Grad School Guru is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the guru doesn’t know the answer, the guru will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The guru is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →
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I received an NRSA predoctoral fellowship. My understanding is that the fellowship is to cover my graduate school tuition so that I can devote full-time efforts to research (as required by NIH policy). However, my department has requested that I TA in the Spring quarter (concurrently with my fellowship) to cover the tuition shortfall. Is this typical? Are there options for tuition waivers so that I may focus solely on research? Are there limits to the number or amount of tuition waivers for NRSA recipients?
(This week’s answer is courtesy of Helene Obradovich, Director of Fellowships and Awards, Graduate School.)
The Graduate School often provides tuition waivers for students who receive prestigious, individually-awarded, nationally-competitive fellowships from external organizations that don’t cover the full cost of tuition. We want to ensure that graduate students know that they can and should apply for these prestigious awards without concern for how they will cover the cost of tuition. Examples of types of funders/awards include the Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral and Dissertation fellowships, NSF Graduate Research fellowships, ACLS fellowships, etc. NIH NRSA individual fellowships also fall into that category. Have your department contact our Fellowships & Awards office to discuss how this might work. The request for tuition coverage must come from your department. Our staff can be reached at gradappt@uw.edu or 3-7152. Any graduate student considering applying for an award that doesn’t cover the full cost of tuition should also contact our Fellowships & Awards office before applying for confirmation on whether we can assist with tuition coverage.
Ask the Grad School Guru is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the guru doesn’t know the answer, the guru will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The guru is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →
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