Photo credit: Floriane Vita
Hopefully you read my previous article, and are on your way to finding your dream career. After completing some level of self assessment and considering your skills, interests, and values, you should have identified some job families you are interested in learning more about.
The next step is reaching out to people who work in the career areas you are interested in exploring more. This can take several forms. One of the easiest initial steps is attending local chapter events for professional organizations. At these events, you can meet individuals working in a field of potential interest to you and learn about the variety of employers and roles in that area.
For example, I have attended several American Medical Writer Association local networking events (in Nashville and now the Research Triangle) and it has amazed me the diversity of roles medical writers have from freelancing and working at home on medical communication, broadly defined, to doing regulatory writing at a large pharmaceutical company. The day to day looks quite different for these roles, despite them both having the title “Medical Writer.” If I didn’t get out there and meet the many people doing this type of work, I wouldn’t have realized the diversity of roles and employers available in this field.
Photo credit: Andrew Neel
Following up with individual contacts you meet at these events or via online platforms like LinkedIn will allow you to do more individualized networking and start building relationships.
This networking/connection step is critical as it allows you to begin the important process of meeting people who work in the field, learning about the typical tasks they focus on in their work, company culture, etc...this is informational interviewing (& see).
Things to Remember:
Get out of your buddle and interact with people doing work you might be interested
You can find people via:
LinkedIn (see Alumni tool)
National trade organizations for career fields that interest you
Local chapters of said organizations
Talking to people is critical as identically labeled roles can be very different in function depending on the organization and work environment.
Informational Interviewing 101
Informational interviewing may be the most powerful tool available to you during your career search. Some pragmatic considerations for an informational interview can be found here (or see video here).
An information interview involves:
Reaching out to someone working in a role/field you are interested in pursuing
This could be someone you met at a local event, found on LinkedIn, via other connections, alumni networks, etc...
Ask them if you could have 20-30 minutes to talk with them about their career and/or career transition (from graduate school/postdoc)
An in person coffee chat is ideal
Over the phone can also work
Photo credit: Maranda Vandergriff
Things to Remember:
Don’t take more time than you said you would.
Don’t ask for a job. You are just gathering information about the role and work environment.
Take good notes to allow for a personal follow-up (see below).
Let the person you invited do most of the talking. Ask them about their day-to-day work, things they enjoy, things they would change about their job, company culture, etc...
Before your conversation ends, ask for at least one other contact the person thinks you should speak with (at the company or in their professional network). This will let you expand your network and set up your next informational interview.
Follow Up. Be sure to send a thank you email (and/or note through the mail, which really makes an impact) and mention something personal from your conversation.
Stay in touch & nurture your network
It is important to remain in contact with your network. Keep them updated on your research project, publications, share with them stories/papers you came across that you think they would find of interest, etc…
Another great way to build rapport with your network is to introduce people to one another. If you know someone who would be a great fit for a position you found out from your network, connect those individuals. People like reciprocating helpful actions such as this. Your network will remember the help you provided.
Photo credit: Evangeline Shaw
And when the time comes, let individuals in your network know you are about to finish up/enter the job market. This will allow them to potentially connect you to an open or to-be-opened position either at their company or which they learned about through their network.
Some estimates suggest >70% of jobs are secured via networking contacts and 80% of positions are never advertised. So, establishing an effective network and building rapport, including showing your thoughtfulness and value, with individuals within it is critical.
Things to Remember:
Keep in touch with your network from time to time
Send them a link to a paper or article you think they might finding interesting
Let them know about updates from you (a recent publication, accomplishment)
Definitely let them know when a major milestone is about to happen (defending your PhD or accepting a new position)
Add value to your network by:
Connecting individuals (those needing particular skills with those who have them, for instance)
And let your network know when you are on the job market!
Hopefully the above tips and many links in this post help you on your journey to building a network that will benefit your career. All the best,
Photo credit: Giorgio Trovato
-Chris
For further reference
Tips sheets available through ImaginePhD include:
See them all on the General Resources section of the ImaginePhD site
More on Informational Interviewing (including some sample questions to ask during one)
Beyond the Lab videos from Vanderbilt University (recorded informational interviews)
Learn about setting up a LinkedIn Account here.