Checking Out Career Resources at Lippencott

Mylène Kerschner, Associate Director

Are you a current Penn student? Have you ever explored all the amazing resources Lippincott Library has to offer? If not, what are you waiting for? You don’t have to be a Wharton student to take advantage of the research guides on everything from green business to the health care industry and from consulting to media. Lippincott also has great resources on international opportunities as well.

There are lots of ways to get in touch with Lippincott reference librarians and they can show you even more cool tools, including ways to research for other industries and identify what organizations are receiving seed and angel funding! So if you’re entrepreneurial, thinking about working abroad, or just curious about researching career options in general, a helpful researcher in Lippincott can assist:
Chat with them
Email
Request a Consultation
Ask a Subject Specialist
Call us: 215-898-5924
Come to Lippincott Library
You can even chat with someone online too. Just go to their main page: http://www.library.upenn.edu/lippincott/ and find the chat box on the right side.
Lippincott is in Van Pelt, so you’re probably close by pretty often anyway

Of course Career Services can always be your first stop when thinking about career exploration, but don’t forget that our library system, and Lippincott especially, offers incredible resources that you should definitely utilize.

Who Can Use Career Services?

by J. Michael DeAngelis, Information Resources Manager

It’s a question that comes up at the start of every school year: “Am I eligible to use Career Services?”

If you’re a current Penn student or an alumni, the answer is probably a resounding YES!  We offer lifetime services to our graduates in the programs that we serve.  While we do service a huge part of the Penn community, we don’t see everyone.  I thought it would be a good time to highlight our official eligibility policy:

Eligibility for Services

Career Services is the central career resource center for all Penn undergraduates; for graduate and professional students in Annenberg, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Graduate School of Education, School of Design, Medicine (master’s and PhD), Nursing, Social Policy and Practice and Wharton Doctoral Programs; for alumni from these schools; and for post-doctoral trainees.

Full-time students in a degree program in these schools/programs have access to all services.

Part-time students in a degree program, both graduate and undergraduate, within one year of graduation also have full access.

Full-time students in a degree program at The College of Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS) have access to all services. Part-time students in a degree program within one year of graduation also have full access. Part-time LPS undergraduates who have more than one year until graduation have access to the following services:

  •  Use of Career Services library
  • Attendance at programs and workshops
  • Use of credentials service

Exchange students here temporarily, visiting scholars, research assistants, students in non-degree programs and members of the Quaker Exchange taking classes on Penn’s campus for credit at their home institution are generally not eligible to use our services.

So that’s the official policy. What happens if you don’t fall into one of these categories?

Wharton MBA Students – You have your own dedicated office, Wharton MBA Career Management.  They’re also located in McNeil, right across the hall from us.

Penn Law Students – You also have your own dedicated career office: Penn Law Office Career Planning and Professionalism.

Penn Dental Students & Alumni – The Dental School regularly posts jobs on their alumni services page.

Other Members of the Penn Community – Other members of the University community are welcome to use our career library and to attend public presentations sponsored by Career Services.  Anyone with an active PennKey may also access restricted areas of our website, though certain areas may only be available to current students.

Non-Penn affiliated persons – Members of the public are welcome to use the information on our website, blog and social media.  Unfortunately, we can not accommodate non-Penn affiliates at any programming or career fair.

If you are eligible to use are services but have questions about when a good time to come see us is, check out this Career Services timeline for undergraduates or for Ph.D. students.

By The Book: Late Summer Reading

by J. Michael DeAngelis, Information Resources Manager

The summer brings not only a little bit of downtime to the always busy Career Services office, but also marks the start of a new fiscal year! With the budget refreshed, let’s take a look at some of the latest editions to the Career Services library.

filmschoolFilm School: The True Story of a Midwestern Man Who Went to the World’s Most Famous Film School, Fell Flat on His Face, Had a Stroke and Sold a Television Series to CBS by Steve BowmanFrom the publisher: Steve Boman was just your average middle-aged ex-newspaper reporter and stay-at-home dad when he applied to be a student at the University of Southern California’s vaunted School of Cinematic Arts.  Boman didn’t know what would await him at the world’s oldest and most prestigious film school, a place that has trained Hollywood heavyweights George Lucas, John Carpenter, James Ivory, Judd Apatow, Brian Grazer, Shonda Rhimes, John Singleton, Jay Roach, Conrad Hall, and many others. In this rollicking, thoughtful, and unexpectedly touching tale, Boman shows what life is like behind the scenes at Hollywood’s pre-eminent boot camp… and what it’s like to do the almost unthinkable–sell a primetime television show while still in school.

profisinThe Professor is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.D. into a Job by Karen Kelsky, Ph.D.  From the Publisher:  Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration.

Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success.  They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options.

Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers.

navpathNavigating the Path to Industry: A Hiring Manager’s Advice for Academics Looking for Jobs in Industry by M.R. Nelson.  From the publisher: Finding a job is hard. Running a non-academic job search when all of your previous experience is in academia is even harder. This book won’t make it easy (unfortunately, nothing can do that), but it will help you learn to run a successful job search and avoid common pitfalls. It provides a hiring manager’s advice on networking, conducting informational interviews, converting your curriculum vitae into a resume, writing a cover letter, interviewing, and maintaining your self-confidence throughout the job search process. This concise collection of job searching advice provides a framework for finding the way out of academia and into a new job for academics at all levels who have realized that they want a different sort of career.

gradprofPeterson’s Graduate & Professional Programs: An Overview (2014 edition) from Peterson’s Guides.  From the publisher: Peterson’s Graduate & Professional Programs: An Overview 2014 contains over 2,200 university/college profiles noting degrees available, enrollment figures, tuition, financial support, housing, faculty, research affiliations, library facilities, and contact information. This graduate guide enables students to explore program listings by field and institution.

  • Informative data profiles for more than 2,200 institutions, including facts and figures on accreditation, faculty, students, degree requirements, application deadlines, expenses, financial support, and application contacts.
  • Two-page in-depth descriptions, written by each featured institution, give complete details on the graduate study available.
  • Expert advice on the admissions process, financial support, and accrediting agencies
  • Comprehensive directories list programs in each volume.
  • Up-to-date appendixes list institution changes since the last edition and abbreviations used in the guide.

The end is near…

The semester is almost over. For some of you, that means your undergraduate or graduate experience is also ending. We hope it has been everything you expected it would be when you matriculated. We also hope it has been more: more intellectual stimulation across disciplinary boundaries, more deep friendships, more (perhaps different) career fields to consider. For at least some of you, though, Penn has been more competitive than you had imagined in a negative way, as described by Jonelle Lesniak in her opinion piece in yesterday’s DP (“Why I can’t leave Penn saying that I loved it”).

While Lesniak understands that some competition can be healthy to motivate you to do your best work, too often she says, students at Penn compete to beat out a classmate. This sort of competition, she says, can “stifle meaningful working relationships.”

I agree. When you begin that new job or graduate program or post doc, do not be the person with sharp elbows, only out for him or herself. Your ability to work well with others, regardless of the field you are entering, will play a huge role in your success.   You can only make one first impression.  In your next stop, be kind and gracious.  You will be more successful, and you will also be happier.

So enjoy these final days before graduation.  And regardless of where your Penn education may be taking you, good luck. Those of us in Career Services have enjoyed working with you. If we can help you in the future, please let us know.

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.