My IDP assessment was unhelpful. What now?

A third-year graduate student asks—

I have an IDP meeting with my advisor coming up. My program has us do the MyIDP and then we’re supposed to have this meeting about it. I want to have a plan, but I’m not really sure what to say in this meeting. The MyIDP gave me a list of careers I’m not that interested in, so that feels kind of useless. I just have broad categories of career paths that I’m curious about. Also this feels like a pretty long-term project since I just passed quals—What am I supposed to be doing right now?

How do I answer “tell me about yourself” in an interview?

A second-year postdoc asks—

I feel like every interview starts with a question like ‘tell me about yourself’ or just ‘please introduce yourself to the committee.’ What kinds of things should I talk about? Usually, when I meet new people, I like to talk about growing up in Ontario with four siblings, my favorite recent books and movies or, with the right crowd, how I spent last weekend LARP-ing. But that can’t really be what they’re looking for in an interview. Right?

Where do I start? I’m trying to explore my career options.

A third-year PhD student asks—

I’m currently thinking about pursuing internship opportunities over the next year or two to help broaden my career options. However, I’m having some difficulty figuring out exactly what I want to do and how to go about finding these opportunities effectively. I was wondering if you have any advice or tips you typically share with students who are in the early stages of exploring their career interests. What’s the best way to start identifying suitable internships and gaining relevant experience?

Writing a cover letter when I mainly want the money.

A postdoc asks—I have a question. I need to stay in San Francisco because of my partner’s job, and because of a bunch of financial and family obligations. Because of this, I’m pretty interested in a consulting role that would really help pay the bills, and I generally like to travel, so that’s a bonus. I saw your advice about writing a cover letter that explains why I want the job, but what should I say when those reasons are basically just the money? I’m not too interested in consulting work long-term, although I do think I’d be good at it.

It takes too long to write a specific cover letter for every application.

A fifth-year graduate student asks—I’ve been applying for months and trying to follow the advice to tailor all of my application documents. I’ve gotten pretty good at quickly fixing up the terminology in my resumes, but tailoring my cover letters is taking way too much time. I spent a lot of effort tailoring for my first applications, but the process is dragging out, and I can’t spend that much time on my application now. How can I do this faster? Is there a way to write a more general cover letter that I can get more use out of?

How long should a cover letter be?

A fourth-year graduate student asks—

How long does my cover letter need to be?

Do I have to write a cover letter?

A postdoc asks—

Do I really have to write a cover letter? Most of the applications I’m looking at make it optional. What’s the point in just writing out my resume in paragraphs?

Should I include hobbies on my resume?

A fifth-year graduate student asks—

What do I say? I don't know what I want to do!

A fifth-year PhD student asks—
I did an informational interview and part-way through the person asked me what I’m interested in doing. I used to be really interested in infectious disease research, but after a rough time finishing my PhD, I don’t think I want to do that anymore. I froze and didn’t have anything to say. What was I supposed to say given that I’m still figuring it out?

Where can I find job security (other than the tenure-track and government work)?

A mid-stage postdoc asks—
I came to UCSF focused on finding a faculty job (and that is still my main plan), but I am realistic enough to know that finding a tenure-track position isn’t a sure thing. Job security is very important to me, so I had been considering working at a federal agency as a natural plan B. It has become pretty clear that that’s not a very secure career path anymore! Where else should I be looking for a more secure career path?