Tag Archives: networking

Skills for your next networking adventure

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Networking may seem terrifying, but once you master the basics, it can be a real career boost

Naturejobs journalism competition winner Andy Tay

Networking during academic events such as conferences and seminars can be nerve-wrecking. Most of us can remember when we pretended to be engrossed in a programme booklet, wishing we could finally muster the courage to speak to the speaker with ground-breaking research standing ten feet away. You’re not alone, and there is a solution. Effective networking is a skill and anyone can benefit from more practice.

Do your homework

It’s a good habit to read the abstracts of presenters and download their papers to learn more about them before you join a conference. If you’re interested in their work, look up their profiles on platforms like Google Scholar, PudMed and ResearchGate. These platforms automatically update publications and can be better sources of information than many lab webpages, which are less regularly updated. By being diligent, and finding out more about the presenters and their research, you’ll be more confident and ready to ask critical, intelligent questions.

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Women in physics: personal perspectives

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Following the IOP’s “Taking Control of your Career as a Female Physicist” event, Dame Professor Athene Donald and Professor Val Gibson spoke with Helen Cammack about their careers within academia.

Guest contributor Helen Cammack

In my last blog post, I discussed career progression, publishing and gender equality with Professors Donald and Gibson. Here, we continue our conversation.

 

Did you relocate often as a postdoc?

AD: I moved around – I had a postdoc in the States, then returned to Cambridge. But at that stage I wasn’t really thinking about a career, so I wasn’t that bothered about what happened next. I didn’t intend to be an academic, so the pressure wasn’t on me. Nowadays everyone has to be calculating and publish in the right journals, and the pressure can detract from that freedom.

VG: When I was in my early career, I was just enjoying the moment, and I wasn’t thinking about my future career. The postdocs of today seem to more aware about career opportunities; they know that the majority of them won’t stay in academia; they’re looking around for what they would like to do and they’re picking up the skills they need for the future. It’s not just the academic side, it’s also the personal aspects – they’re concerned about getting on the housing ladder and potentially having families. At that stage those concerns never crossed my mind.

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Women in science: Clogging the leaky pipeline

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Karin Bodewits and Philipp Gramlich think we should stop actively persuading women to study life sciences – a field in which they face unique challenges.

Guest contributors Philipp Gramlich and Karen Bodewits

Philipp Gramlich and Karin Bodewits

 

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Leaving the comfort zone

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The novel and the unexpected comes with a dose of anxiety. This nervousness will only help you in your career.

Guest contributor Thaís Moraes

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” first reads like an outworn self-help cliché. But I tried it. And I have to tell you that this outworn self-help cliché worked for me. I’m a Brazilian researcher who came to Germany in April 2014 for a two-year postdoc, alone, without speaking a word of German, without knowing anyone, and without even knowing the city. What could have been a complete disaster turned out more than great. I’m very pleased I left my comfort zone.2014-06-29 15-smaller

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Finding job satisfaction in research development

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After finishing a PhD and postdoc in cardiovascular biology, Christina Papke found job satisfaction as a research development officer.

Now, she works at Texas A&M University in College Station, where she helps professors put together grant applications, form collaborations, and identify funding opportunities.

Tell me about your job.

It’s hard to say what a typical day is like, which I kind of like. On any given day, I might consult with an investigator about a research grant or edit a proposal.

Our goal is also to help promote collaboration among faculty. For example, we help to facilitate the formation of research interest groups, on, say, imaging or healthy ageing. We might organize a meeting where faculty get two minutes to present an overview of what they are doing, and we make program books and plan meetings to help make ideas happen.Papke_2016-02_CM_sml-r Continue reading →

Women in physics: personal perspectives

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Following the IOP’s “Taking Control of your Career as a Female Physicist” event, Dame Professor Athene Donald and Professor Val Gibson spoke with Helen Cammack about their careers within academia.

Guest contributor Helen Cammack

Since I entered the third year of my PhD, my future career has been increasingly on my mind. I’ve been to a few careers events with stands full of free USB pens and glossy brochures, but always came away disappointed, unable to see myself in the roles they had advertised. The IOP’s careers event was different; there, people shared my aspirations and were sympathetic to my concerns. The opening talk by Prof Athene Donald was inspirational, and there was a variety of guest speakers who had used their physics training to build successful careers. I came away from the day with a new buzz, excited about my career possibilities.

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Selling yourself: 7 sales techniques to advance your career

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In an increasingly competitive job market, knowing how to properly sell yourself as a candidate may give you the edge, says Kristopher James Kent.

In certain circles, ‘sales’ has become taboo; the word summons memories of double glazing, cleaning supplies, or accidents that weren’t your fault. Despite this, a great salesperson simply believes in their product, and knows how to portray its finer points in an effective way.

Similar knowledge could give you the edge in applying for your next job or promotion. Sure; having the requisite qualifications and soft skills (being personable, confident, organised) is essential, but understanding your own value, and knowing some of the finer skills that salespeople use in their pitch, may help you to better present yourself to an employer.

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6 networking questions to find the best employers

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Meeting someone at a conference isn’t enough – you have to be prepared to ask the right questions to find the right people.

Networking as a jobhunter – in a conference, careers fair, or anywhere else – can be really challenging. You’re under pressure to be pleasant and interesting company, and to sell yourself without seeming like that’s your only motive to talk to someone. If you manage that, how do you even know if you’re talking to the right person?

Of course, asking the questions is only half of the job – you have to listen carefully to the answers, encourage a two-way conversation (you’re not interviewing anyone) and give your own perspective. But the questions are a good start. So, here’s 6 questions that will help you network as a jobhunter, without sacrificing a good conversation.

 

“What do you do?”
It’s timeless – a classic – the Citizen Kane of networking questions. This is fairly self-explanatory, but generally finding out what someone does, who they work for, and how that can apply to you will the basis of the rest of your conversation. You have to start somewhere, and this is your best bet.

 

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A David Letterman-like countdown to the 10 biggest pitfalls in scientific presentations

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Making a good scientific presentation takes time, but awareness of common mistakes is the first step to improving performance.

Guest contributor David Rubenson

The slide presentation has become the most ubiquitous form of scientific communication and it is causing havoc.  Scientists spend enormous amounts of time preparing presentations, travelling to conferences to deliver them, and listening to them almost every day.   But most scientists simply aren’t very good at them – we should change that.

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David Rubenson

I previously argued that this problem underlies a significant communication crisis in research.  As I’ve learnt as a scientific presentation coach at Stanford, there’s a broad understanding of this problem, but insufficient incentive for the time-intensive training many scientists need.  Still, following simple lists of “dos” and “don’ts” is a great way to improve presentation skills.

In that spirit, and to supplement an earlier list of eight positive suggestions, here’s a David Letterman-like countdown of the 10 biggest pitfalls in creating and delivering a scientific presentation:

 

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The faculty series: Conclusion

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We wrap up the long-running faculty series in style.

Since our podcast introducing the faculty series in May, we’ve published 13 more pieces designed to help new and aspiring faculty members flourish in their positions. From applying to the job all the way to mentoring new members of staff, we’ve seen it all, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. Here’s a brief summary of all of the posts we’ve published so far. Make sure to catch the ones you’ve missed, and let us know what you think! Continue reading →