Student Perspectives

As graduate students, an oft-dreaded question is “When are you graduating?” The pursuit of scientific advancement comes with no roadmaps and the marathon of graduate studies can be particularly challenging in the last leg. When, finally, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, many graduate students discover that there is a more dreadful question waiting for them. What next?

By: Tomas Kasza Have you ever had a bench epiphany? One where you feel that the bench skills you are mastering will never be used at your next job? Making the transition from graduate or post-doctoral training to other types of jobs can be a difficult transition. What is the best way to have your resume show you have the skills necessary to succeed at the positions you are applying to? One way to show that you are prepared for a new career could be an additional degree to augment your education.

As individuals, our personality is unique; however, there are basic shared characteristics among us and it is important to understand our personality as it impacts the relationships with those around us. A simple definition of personality is our natural or preferred way of being. Naturally we feel competent, productive, and energetic, and sometimes are not aware of our innate way of being. Knowing our strengths can be a good asset, but it can also be a liability if they are used inappropriately.

I didn’t know what I expected on Thursday when I traveled to Bridgewater, NJ to visit GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) Medical Affairs office. This was my first opportunity to get a day-in-the-life industry perspective during my time in graduate school. If you read any of our previous blog posts or even just the description of the iJOBS program, you will understand that its sole purpose is to expose graduate students and post-docs to non-academic career options.

When I began my graduate journey, I wasn’t sure what my career objectives were, or how I would accomplish them. I quickly realized that it was ‘trendy’ to make assertions of how I was going to transition into industry, but that was the extent of my plan at this point. Furthermore, I thought the only possible route into industry for a Ph.D. was to be a post-doc or bench scientist for a small startup or large pharmaceutical company. Little did I know that this was just one option of many!

Anyone who has ever spent a summer on campus knows that come July, it is swarming with running, smiling, and laughing youngsters. It is nearly impossible to walk into the Busch Campus Center without seeing someone under the age of 18.

On the evening of September 12, a casual event between students, post docs, and alumni was held in the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Research Tower at the Bush/Piscataway campus. As a second-year Ph.D.

The newly established Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, in association with Rutgers iJOBs, recently held a workshop titled ‘How to Overcome Common Career Challenges’. This workshop was conducted by Dr. Thomas Magaldi who serves as the Manager of Career & Professional Development at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Identifying the graduate and post-doctoral training experiences as ‘training in humility’, Dr.

By Tomas Kasza How do doctoral recipients adapt their career interests and career searching techniques to pursue careers outside academic pathways? As a growing percentage of doctoral recipients enter non-academic careers, understanding how they choose or investigate those careers has become more important.

By Jennifer Casiano Many of us are or know someone whose first language is not English. Some of us they are. As a non-native English speaker myself, my main piece of advice is to not underestimate yourself and be confident that with practice you will get better.