Individual Development Plans

Last week we briefly overviewed the Interdisciplinary Job Opportunities for Biomedical Scientists (iJOBS) program in its first two years of training biomedical graduate students and postdocs to be successful in a variety of non-academic careers. The NIH BEST grant funds five years of the development for the iJOBS program and expects the program to be self-sustainable after the grant period.

By: Maria Qadri

“This feels like a high school career placement survey.” I heard a peer mutter this indignantly after finishing part one of their Individual Development Plan (IDP).

[caption id="attachment_522" align="alignright" width="308"] There are many directions for the future. An IDP can help you figure out which direction is best.[/caption]

“Those who invest in both their work and relationships will reap the greatest number of opportunities”. -Peter Fiske.

Image edited from: http://www.enterrasolutions.com/2014/05/stem-education-fuss.html

The call for reforms in PhD education in the STEM fields has been echoing for quite some time now. The argument is that the 21^st century brings new sets of challenges in different settings, and thus scientists need to be properly equipped to face their changing environment.

Have you ever had that (dreaded?) experience when someone suddenly springs this question on you: “So, what do you do?” I’ve had all different kinds of people ask me this: a colleague, a fellow graduate student, a prospective housemate, my parents. It seems like such a simple question, and yet it has taken me years to feel completely at ease with my answer.