A first-year PhD student asks—I'm finishing my last lab rotation and have decided which lab I want to join. How do I tell the other PIs I rotated with that I won’t be joining their labs? I don’t want to burn any bridges.
A late-stage PhD student asks—In theory, I feel like the quality of my work should get me where I want to go. Networking has always felt gross, but I recognize that it is just valuable for people to know what I am capable of and to know I exist. How did you get over the gross feeling?
A postdoc asks—I'm looking for an industry job and realize that my skills fall in between a lot of the job descriptions. How do I decide when to apply to the higher-level position, when I fit most of the higher-level requirements, but not all of them, but I feel overqualified for the lower-level…
A postdoc asks—I've heard that informational interviews are helpful, but also that it is a bad idea to reach out to people after you applied to a job to ask them to recommend you. Should you still do informational interviews while you are actively job searching and applying? How does that fit in?
A sixth-year PhD student asks—I'm expecting a job offer from [company A] later this week, but I have an interview coming up at [company B] at the end of March. From looking around online, I assume that [company A] will want a response before I have a chance to interview with [company B]. How do I…
A master's student asks—I saw your advice about salary negotiation, and I have a pretty small question. What exactly do you say when you ask for a higher salary? It feels awkward, and everything I come up with just sounds like “please give me more money.”Here's a simple template I’d recommend—"…
A postdoc asks—I just received an offer for an industry job, and the salary is actually a bit higher than I was expecting. I'm happy just accepting the offer as it is, but I've heard you should always negotiate. How much more should I be asking for?
Career exploration should not feel mysterious, lonely, or squeezed into the margins of an already demanding research life.Yet for many PhD students and postdoctoral scholars, it does.
