A 5th year PhD student asks—I know about all the things I need to do for my job search but realistically I don’t know when I’m going to do it. I think I can handle each part when I think about it in a vacuum, but in addition to my ongoing research, I have to start writing my dissertation, plus I’m…
A postdoc asks—I'm going to be finished at UCSF this summer (2 months from now), and I’m searching for an industry role. I know I probably should have started sooner, but I was busy with finishing my papers and some personal issues. What should I be doing with the time I have left? And how long…
A fifth-year PhD student writes—I'm getting ready to job search, but I don’t really know where to start. I guess I'm just looking for some structure for the process.
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…
