Could career services, specifically hiring a career development officer and setting up a careers office on campus, be useful at Rockefeller? A recent survey of a selected group of current graduate students and RU alumni presently working in a range of positions showed a uniform response: a person or office devoted to career development would be very useful for both scientific research jobs in academia or industry, or non-traditional jobs such as intellectual property, science journalism, or business. “Many students and postdocs I know lack sufficient information on job options, other than the obvious, and how to initiate job searches (unless they have fabulous mentors),” says Elizabeth Campbell ’98, currently a Research Associate in the Darst laboratory on campus.

Dr. Campbell’s view is echoed by the opinion of a third-year graduate student: “I am interested in pursuing a non-academic path after graduating, but currently I feel a little lost about how to transition into those careers.” Similarly, Joe Marcotrigiano ’00 (Research Associate in the Rice laboratory) said, “I have been very fortunate to have advisors that could give me some input in job hunting. However, given the current environment of few jobs for a large number of applicants, any additional advice and support would be greatly appreciated.”

Justine Levin-Allerhand ’02, who is now Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, pointed out that it would be “wonderful” to have one-on-one sessions with a career advisor and that it would have been helpful when she made the transition from her postdoc at Yale to her current career. In fact, Michael Eisenstein, who graduated with a M.S. degree in 2002 and is now the Technology Editor for Nature and Nature Methods, told Natural Selections that not only would it have been helpful to have a career counseling office or system during his transition, but the Dean’s Office had referred several former students interested in writing or scientific publishing to him. Michael was happy to help but he also felt that “there might be other people out there who are better qualified than I for dispensing career wisdom.”

Another point that consistently came across was that the alumni are a potential resource for enhancing the career development of current students and postdocs, especially as possible contacts to learn about real-life experiences outside of RU. The Dean’s Office has an alumni directory and database, which show that RU graduates pursue many different career paths successfully. Mark Benedyk ’94, vice president for Business Development for Ascenta Therapeutics in San Diego, felt that there should be a structure for a strong alumni network. He noted that there weren’t many events at RU where alumni were invited back (the last time being the centennial celebration in 2001), and would like to see if it would be possible to have more events at RU to bring alumni together and give them an opportunity to interact with the students and postdocs. Kambiz Shekdar ’03, Chief Scientific Officer of Chromocell in New Jersey, also thought that having “someone who could act as a source of contacts for further investigation into possible career options would be invaluable.” In the same vein, a fifth-year graduate fellow emphasizes that “it is the duty of the University to educate its students on opportunities outside of traditional academic postdocs. Aside from that, the stigma of academia as the only path to go is finally beginning to fade (but definitely still present), opening the door for students to use their scientific training in more fields than they can even imagine.”

A few of the alumni respondents who are currently postdocs at other institutions noted the usefulness of a career advisor or careers services office in providing support for those planning a career in academic science. Antonina Roll-Mecak ’02 is now at UC San Francisco, where there is a career office that organizes job search and interview strategy seminars, which are heavily attended. Maarten Hoek ’01, who is at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and currently job hunting, told Natural Selections: “We have a career planning person here at Cold Spring Harbor and I think it’s been very useful. She coordinates workshops in which successful postdocs talk about finding a job and also gets outside speakers to come. She also keeps information on grants and job hunting as well as résumé and cover letter samples. I think it’s very useful to have a person like this on campus.” Natural Selections has also found that a number of other institutions have career services available at not only the undergraduate level, but also at the graduate level. These include MIT, University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley, Duke University, University of Chicago, Caltech, and Yale University. The Web sites of some of these career centers also specifically mention that they provide career support for postdocs as well.

Related Articles:

• Career Planning & Development Part II: Exploration of Different Career Options
• Career Planning & Development Part III: The Job Hunt
• Preparing Women and Minorities for the Private Sector
• SRC News: Put Your Two Cents In
• Leaving the Ivory Tower
• Postdoc Perspective: Taking the “Alternative” out of Alternative Careers in Science