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| SRC News: Put Your Two Cents In |
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| By Laura Winzenread | ||
| November 2006 | SRC News | |
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The major focus of this month’s meeting was putting the final touches on questionnaires about a possible career center here at Rockefeller. The purpose of these surveys is threefold: to determine exactly how interested the Rockefeller community is in having such a resource available to us, to pinpoint which services would be most useful for RU students and postdocs, and to gather information about other career counseling services that scientists here at RU have used in the past. As suggested in a previous edition of Natural Selections (September 2006), the proposed RU career center could offer services as varied as personality assessments to aid in choosing a career path, assistance in writing a curriculum vitae, or networking opportunities with RU alumni. We hope to find that the RU community has enough interest in such a resource center that we can employ a full-time career counselor. We hope this endeavor to obtain such a person will be successful, but we need your help. We need everyone to fill out a survey about what type of career center RU should have and also what prior experience with career centers you have had. Armed with this information, we believe that we will be able to obtain the best, most effective and useful individual for our community. Personally, I can say that having such a resource on campus is invaluable when making big decisions about one’s future or starting a new career path. At The University of Kansas, where I completed my bachelor’s degree, we had Career Counseling and Planning Services (CCPS). CCPS planned career fairs, administered self-assessments to confused students, aided in résumé writing, led seminars on successful interviewing skills, and even sponsored etiquette dinners. As my table manners were already impeccable (well, when I need them to be), I made use of the self-assessments, one-on-one counseling, and CV writing sessions. My counselor even gave me a book on writing personal statements for graduate school applications! The one thing that I felt was lacking from this experience, however, was the working knowledge of the scientific community and scientific careers—CCPS counselors had a broad knowledge of finding and following a career path, not specific information about fields. For the specifics, I turned to my undergraduate advisor, who (obviously) had been in the position of applying to graduate schools and could thus expertly advise me.This point is where the RU career center would be different. As proposed in the September 2006 article, we would like to have an individual who focuses solely on the scientific field and the many possible career options for individuals with a background in science. But, before we can set up this resource, we need your input. Students and postdocs should fill out the online questionnaires that will be available during the month of November. Together, we can obtain the best career counseling to fit your needs. Related Articles:
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