Brown MCB Graduate Program Individual Development Plan

Transcription

1 Brown MCB Graduate Program Individual Development Plan This document was adapted from FASEB s Science Policy Committee for Postdocs and the UCSC Graduate Advising Committee. Graduate students benefit from reflecting on their career aspirations, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and formulating a plan to better prepare themselves for future training and the job market. Individual Development Plans (IDPs) provide a planning process that identifies both professional development needs and career objectives. Furthermore, IDPs serve as a communication tool between individuals and their mentors. While IDPs have been incorporated into performance review processes in many organizations, they have been used much less frequently in the mentoring of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. An IDP can be considered one component of a broader mentoring program that can be instituted by all types of research institutions. The MCB Graduate Program requires that an IDP be completed no later than 2 months after the successful completion of the qualifying examination and then again over the summer before the fifth year in the Program. Goals Help individuals identify: -- Long-term career options they wish to consider and the necessary tools to pursue those options -- Short-term needs for improving current performance Benefits Graduate students will have a process that assists in developing long-term goals. Identifying short-term goals will give them a clearer sense of expectations and help identify milestones along the way to achieving specific objectives. The IDP also provides a tool for communication between individual graduate students and faculty mentors. Outline of IDP Process The IDP process requires a series of development, implementation, and revision steps that are conducted by the graduate student and mentor. These steps are an interactive effort, and both the graduate student and the mentor should participate fully in the process. Although the text below provides a clear framework, an excellent online IDP kit that includes many useful tools is available online through the AAAS-published ScienceCareers website ( students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this resource. BASIC STEPS Graduate student Mentor 1) Conduct a self assessment; discuss results with mentor Become familiar with available opportunities 2) Discuss and prioritize opportunities together 3) Draft an IDP; discuss results with mentor Review IDP and provide feedback 4) Finalize IDP and implement the plan Establish regular review of progress 5) Revise the IDP as needed Provide feedback and suggestions as needed 1

2 Execution of the IDP Process for Graduate Students Step 1. Conduct a self assessment. Assess your skills, strengths, and areas that need development; this is a critical part of career planning. Formal assessment tools can be helpful. Students are encouraged to use the selfassessment tools available from the AAAS-published ScienceCareers website ( Additionally, ask your peers, mentors, family and friends what they see as your areas of strength and areas that need development. Outline your long-term career objectives. (For useful information see Resources: Career Opportunities at the end of this document). Ask yourself: -What type of work would I like to be doing? -Where would I like to be in an institution or organization? -What is important to me in a career? Discuss your career goals and self-assessment with your mentor. Step 2. Discuss and prioritize opportunities with your mentor. Identify career opportunities and prioritize those that interest you. Identify your professional development needs by comparing current skills and strengths with those required for your career choice. Prioritize your professional development needs and discuss with your mentor how these should be addressed. Step 3. Draft an IDP. The IDP maps out the general path you want to take and helps match skills and strengths to your career choices. It will be a changing document, since needs and goals will almost certainly evolve over your time as a graduate student. The aim is to build upon current strengths and skills by identifying areas for development and providing a way to address these. The specific objectives of a typical IDP are to: Identify target dates for the duration of your graduate training. Define specific skills and strengths that you need to develop (based on discussions with your mentor). Define the approaches to obtain the specific skills and strengths (e.g., courses, technical skills, teaching, supervision) together with anticipated time frames. Discuss your draft IDP with your mentor, and revise the IDP as appropriate. The MCB Graduate Program requires that an IDP be completed no later than 2 months after the successful completion of the qualifying examination and then again over the summer before the fifth year in the Program. Steps 4 and 5. Implement and revise your plan. The plan is just the beginning of the career development process and serves as the road map, but it is not cast in concrete. It may need to be modified as your circumstances and goals change. The challenge of implementation is to continuously work towards your goals while remaining flexible and open to change. Put your plan into action.. Review the plan and discuss it with your mentor regularly. Revise and modify the plan as necessary. 2

3 for Mentors Step 1. Become familiar with available opportunities. By virtue of your experience, you should already have knowledge of some career opportunities, but you may want to familiarize yourself with other career opportunities and trends in job opportunities (refer to sources such as National Research Council reports and Science career reviews; see also Resources: Career Opportunities at the end of this document). Step 2. Discuss and prioritize opportunities with graduate student. This needs to be a private, scheduled meeting distinct from regular research-specific meetings. There should be adequate time set aside for an open and honest discussion. Step 3. Review IDP and help revise. Provide honest feedback - both positive and negative - to help the graduate student set realistic goals. Agree on a development plan that will allow the graduate student to be productive in the laboratory and adequately prepared for their chosen career. Steps 4 and 5. Establish regular review of progress. The mentor should meet at regular intervals at least once per year with the graduate student to assess progress, expectations, and changing goals. On at least an annual basis, the mentor should conduct a performance review designed to analyze what has been accomplished and what needs to be done. A written review is most helpful in objectively documenting accomplishments and providing feedback and suggestions on progress towards the stated goals. Resources Self Assessment Bolles, R. N. (2013). What Color Is Your Parachute? 2013: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers. Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press. The Postdoc Experience Research Training in the Biomedical, Behavioral, and Clinical Research Sciences The Postdoc Experience: Not Always What You Expect nce.opms.r Academic Career Opportunities American Association for the Advancement of Science. Science Careers The Scientist. The Chronicle of Higher Education. and advice columns 3

4 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Career Resources Resources.aspx#sthash.HOPaZH5L.dpbs Heiberger and Vick, eds. (2008). The Academic Job Search Handbook (4th ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press. DeNeef and Goodwin (2007) The Academic s Handbook Duke University Press Books (3rd ed.) On-line Listserv: Tomorrow s Professor. Barker, K. (2010). At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator, Second Edition. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Non-Academic Careers Robbins-Roth, C. ed. (2005). Alternative Careers in Science. Leaving the Ivory Tower. San Diego, Calif.: Elsevier Press. Fiske, P.S. (2012) Enterprising Science Nature 85: doi: /nj a Fiske, P.S. Putting Your Science to Work: Practical Career Strategies for PhDs 4

5 Appendix: The Career Planning Process (adapted from "Putting your degree to work", Peter S. Fiske, UCSD, April 2012) The questions below offer a possible starting points for self-assessment and planning. 1. Self Assessment: What are your career goals? What are your strengths and weaknesses? - Ability to design and plan experiments that test hypotheses and answer questions - Technical/bench skills - Ability to analyze data and interpret results - Ability to work independently - Ability to complete projects - Command of the literature in your field - Creativity and vision - Writing skills - Oral communication skills - Personnel management skills - Teaching skills What are your work- related values, and what kind of work environment will provide the best match for those values? 5

6 2. Exploration: what sort of job interests me? (adopted from ABRCMS Professional Development Session Nov 2012, Philip S. Clifford and Bill Lindstaedt) CAREER CATEGORIES Principal Investigator in a research-intensive institution: Research staff in a research-intensive lab institution: Research in industry: Combined research and teaching Teaching-intensive careers in community academia: Science education for K-12 schools: Science education for non-scientists: Clinical practice: Public health related: Genetics or scientific/medical testing: Science writing: Research administration: Science policy: Intellectual property: EXAMPLES/DESCRIPTIONS Independent researcher at a medical school, private institute, government lab or university with minimal teaching responsibilities Staff scientist or researcher in academia or government; manager, director of a multi-user research facility in an academic institution Discovery or preclinical researcher; manager of a research team or facility Faculty at a liberal arts college, masters-granting university, or doctoral-granting university whose job includes both research and major leaching responsibilities Faculty in a research university, liberal arts college, college with major teaching responsibilities Classroom teacher; curriculum developer; science specialist Education or public outreach specialist such as at a science museum or scientific society Clinician such as genetics counselor; therapist; physician Public health program analyst or evaluator; epidemiologist; biostatistician; medical informaticist Testing specialist in an environmental, public health, forensic science setting (intelligence agencies, federal/state departments of justice); clinical diagnostician Science, medical or technical writer or journalist; science editor; science publisher Research administrator in private or public research institutions, government or academia, including compliance officers, grants and contracts officers; deans or directors of research programs Public affairs/government affairs staff at scientific societies, foundations, government entities or think tanks Patent agent; patent attorney; technology transfer specialist 6

7 Business of science: Entrepreneurship: Sales and marketing of science- marketing related products: Support of science-related products: Management consultant; business development professional in a biotech company; venture capitalist; market researcher; investment analyst Starting your own business Medical science liaison; technical sales representative; specialist Technical support specialist; field application specialists; product development scientist or engineer Clinical research management: Clinical research project/trials manager or coordinator Drug/device approval and production: Regulatory affairs professional; quality control specialist Here are some questions and suggestions to consider as you draft and implement your IDP: Choosing a career path weigh the relative value of prestige money and security weigh the desire of teaching with the desire of research weigh the relative value of an academic setting with others Developing an IDP How can you hone your skills for the career option(s) you seek? What are your specific 1-month goals, 6-month goals, and 1-year goals, in terms of experiments, learning analysis strategies, writing papers, writing grants, attending meetings, teaching, mentoring undergraduates, etc? Networking Networking is a very effective way of developing career opportunities and finding a job. Networking is the process of meeting people and learning about careers and specific job opportunities from them and alerting them to your career goals and abilities. Networking enormously increases your chances of landing a good job and having better job mobility. At its simplest, networking is simply alerting people to the fact that you are or soon will be in the market for a job. Who can be part of your network? Mentors Past supervisors or teachers Colleagues and friends from courses, seminars, conferences and workshops Alumni of your graduate program or grad school Relatives and neighbors Anyone with whom you have a positive and honest relationship can be part of your professional network if you feel comfortable discussing your career goals with them. 7