Category: Postdoc

Day in the Life: Postdoctoral Scholar in Penn Medicine’s Department of Pharmacology

Learn about life after a PhD program as a Postdoc thanks Dr. Lorena G. Benedetti, who tweeted for @PennCareerDay. To learn more about Dr. Benedetti, read her bio below and read her story from February 27th, 2013 on our Storify page.

lorenabenedettiDr. Lorena G. Benedetti is a second year postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Pharmacology of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.  Dr. Benedetti investigates mechanisms of malignant transformation in normal breast cells due to the overexpression of proteins of the Protein Kinase C family.

She earned her doctorate in Biology as well as her undergraduate degree at the University of Buenos Aires. During her PhD at the Fundacion Instituto Leloir she studied the role of an extracellular matrix protein in breast cancer metastasis. She always knew she wanted to study Biology and make small contributions to the knowledge of cancer biology.

Before coming to Penn, she also worked as Laboratory Supervisor at the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa where she helped Biotechnology and Bioinformatic’s students to give their first steps in Science and the research field.

In addition to her laboratory studies, Dr. Benedetti is also a co-chair of the Career Enhancement and training Committee at the Biomedical Postdoctoral Council at UPENN.  As co-chair she is involved in activities to enhance postdoctoral professional development.

In the future she would like to be involved in a more translational research where she could apply all her knowledge to the improvement of human health. She is an active person, always trying to learn new things and willing to share her experiences with others.

Advice on the Academic Job Search

This is the time of year when many advanced PhD students, recent PhDs and postdocs are in the midst of applying for academic jobs.  The search process for a faculty position is spread over several months and the interviews themselves are 1-3 days long.   In addition to being a scholar with an exciting research project and strong teaching experience another tool to have in your toolkit is good information.  At one of our recent Faculty Conversations, Professor Susan Margulies, SEAS, encouraged those on the job market to look at these resources:

  • The University of Michigan Handbook for Faculty Searches and Hiring which includes a Candidate Evaluation Sheet.  It gives a sense of the kinds of questions candidates may be asked.
  • Stanford University’s Dual-Career Resources can help “complex” hires, meaning those who have a significant other with job/career issues that may affect the candidate’s decision making.

Additional resources on work-life balance and dual career couples can be found on the Career Services website at http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradstud/resources/worklifebalance.html.

Other advice from Professor Margulies and Professor Justin DiAngelo, Hofstra University to keep in mind:

  • Candidates should look up those who will interview them and know something about them.
  • When you give your seminar or job talk, know your audience.  At a teaching-focused institution it may not include people in your field because there isn’t anyone in your field there.
  • Keep in mind that everyone you meet at the interview, including students and the person who walks you from one place to the next, matters.  Their input on your candidacy will be sought.
  • As you put together your start-up request, think about what you’ll need for 3-5 years.
  • When the interview is over, make sure you know the next steps.  If no one tells you, ask.
  • Negotiating offers usually takes place over the phone.

Students and postdocs who are preparing to interview for faculty positions are encouraged to talk with a graduate/postdoc career advisor and schedule a mock interview.  Career advisors can also be a resource for negotiating offers.

A Very Versatile PhD (a poem about an online resource)

Dr. Joseph Barber

Over the break you’ll have time to think,
To ponder career paths open to you.
But the next semester will be here in a blink
So here’s something easy for you to do.

Get to a computer – look you’re already here –
And find the Career Services website.
I’ve included the link to help you get near,
Just one click to gain helpful insight.

Click on subscriptions (PennKey is required)
And enter your secret details.
You’re taking important steps to get hired
So let’s see what this new page unveils.

Scroll down the list to the last but one,
It’s the Versatile PhD that you need.
Click on the link – but we’re not quite done,
So take a moment and continue to read.

If you’ve never been before, set up your profile,
It’s free, and you’ll be glad that you do.
There’s lots on this site that is very worthwhile
Including the “premium content” too.

Penn has a subscription to give you access
To this info that others can’t see.
Look on the top, on the right, see it? Yes?
OK, pull up a chair and get comfy.

You’ll find archived discussions for different careers,
And stories of PhDs on the non-academic track.
The resumes and cover letters they used will appear
Providing you with knowledge that you might lack.

Participate in the forums – don’t just lurk –
And make use of the premium content.
It’s a wonderful opportunity for you to network
And a winter break very well spent.

The (Adaptable, Resourceful, Multitalented) Versatile PhD

Graduate students and postdocs may be aware of Career Services’ many resources on academic careers and the academic job search.  But are you also familiar with the resources we have for PhDs/ABDs who are considering a career beyond academia? The Versatile PhD is one of the valuable tools Career Services provides to help you in your decision making and your job hunting.

The Versatile PhD is a web-based resource that you can use anytime, from any computer.  It includes:

  • A thriving, supportive web-based community where you can participate in discussions, network with real “Versatile PhDs” (humanists, social scientists and STEM trained individuals working outside the academy) or, if you prefer, just read and learn.
  • An online collection of compelling first-person narratives written by Versatile PhDs who describe how they established their post-academic careers and give their best advice for you.
  • An associated LinkedIn group where you can begin to build an online presence and network with Versatile PhDs in a wide variety of fields.
  • Free online “Career Panel” discussions where Versatile PhDs working in a given field share their specific professional experiences in that field and answer questions from members. Online panels in 2012 included Careers in Market Research, Careers in Corporate and Institutional Research and Careers in Program Evaluation.  Panels from prior years are archived on the site.

Coming up on November 12-16, 2012:  Entrepreneurship for STEM PhDs featuring STEM PhDs currently running businesses they started from the ground up, or working in small start-ups.  The panel is presented in an asynchronous format; participate anytime during the week.

University of Pennsylvania graduate students and postdocs have access to all the content areas on the website, including the upcoming panel  – go to the Career Services Reference Library (on the left side of Career Services homepage) and click on Online Subscriptions.  You will be asked to provide your PennKey and password to access The Versatile PhD.

Career Wormholes

Dr. Joseph Barber

Space and time are two very complicated concepts. Hopefully, someone will eventually have some success in explaining them to me one day, but I honestly don’t think my brain is set up to understand phenomena like black holes. One of the reasons that I study animal behaviour is that it offers tangible and physical actions that can be observed and eventually explained. More nebulous concepts that I cannot see easily (e.g., particle physics, most types of statistical analyses, molecular biology), I have much more trouble understanding.

What I think I do understand about space and time is that to travel between two separate points in space will take time. Obviously, the further apart these points are, the greater the time needed to traverse the distance. Let’s call wherever you are in your academic life right now “Point A”. We can then call the ideal job that you see yourselves eventually doing as “Point B”. Since you probably don’t imagine your ideal job being an entry-level position, we can see that it will take some time to get from A to B (especially if the path to do so is not a straight one, which is regularly the case). That brings us to another way of looking at this journey. Let’s say that you are completing a PhD in History or Chemistry, but no longer see yourself focusing specifically on these subjects in your future. Your journey will involve a transition stage where you will be identifying new paths that interest you, and taking stock of what skills you currently have that are transferable to the new paths you choose. This takes time, too.

The challenge with these scenarios is that the universe offers a seemingly endless number of possible destinations. So, to ensure that you end up at your preferred “Point B” rather than some random “Point F2xG!”, you need to think very carefully about the path you are on, and which direction you head next. The first job you get after Penn won’t be your only job, but it will help you to build a solid foundation of skills, knowledge, and contacts that might help you to reach your next destination. During your time at Penn you can ask yourself some of these questions:

  1. What internship or volunteer opportunities might give me hands-on experience or connections to people relevant to my future career?
  2. What student groups can I actively participate in that will allow me to demonstrate some of my relevant skills in action?
  3. Who can I talk to in my network, or the broader Penn alumni network, who can offer me insights, advice, and support to help me navigate my future paths effectively and efficiently?

Of course, it would be nice to find a shortcut between points A and B as a way to get you to your dream job faster…, or perhaps instantly. This would be the equivalent of a wormhole that connects two points in space without the need to expend the usual amount of time to travel between them. If you watch enough TV, then you know that wormholes are hard to find, often unpredictable, sometimes filled with either benevolent or malicious alien entities (or both), and regularly lead to all sorts of trouble. Taking the longer, non-wormhole route can actually provide you with the right amount of time to really research the path you are on to make sure it is indeed the best fit for your professional and life goals. For example, assuming that a career within academia is going to be the best choice for you simply because you haven’t yet explored the alternatives is perhaps not the best approach to take.

If you are interested in finding a wormhole to your ideal career destination, then the best advice that I can give you is to be a really great networker. The more people you know (and have a professional relationship with), or better, the more people who know you, then the greater the probability that they can act on your behalf to steer you towards opportunities, recommend you to other professionals in your field, or simply support you in your endeavors. They won’t hand you your dream job on a plate, but they can certainly point you towards a good restaurant that serves the kind of dish you enjoy. And unlike wormholes, the process of networking probably won’t result in you finding yourself on a ship…, a living ship, full of strange alien life forms, being hunted by an insane military commander. Well probably not, but space and time can sometimes be very strange!