Tag Archives: techniques
Selling yourself: 7 sales techniques to advance your career
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.
Job interviews: Prepare for success from failure
You can learn as much from the bad interviews as you can from the good ones, says Simon Peyda.
Guest contributor Simon Peyda.
Science is all about trial-and-error, and job interviews were no different for me. My job hunt began in the spring of 2014. With graduation rapidly approaching, and without any curricular preparation, I had to learn along the way. I would inevitably make mistakes but, as it turns out, failure is a great teacher.
Careers in academia: How to avoid getting pigeon-holed
Developing experimental techniques that can be applied to multiple projects will help broaden your scientific experiences.
At the 2015 London Naturejobs Career Expo, Frances Aschroft, physiology professor at the University of Oxford, and James Hadfield, manager of the genomics core facility at the University of Cambridge, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, gave advice on how to develop skills that will avoid you getting pigeon-holed into one field of research.
Top tips:
- Follow your passions and interests. If you succeed, it won’t be a problem. Determination, application and patience will help.
- Learn experimental techniques that can be applied in different situations.
- If you want to set up a lab, long term, you need to be able to adapt.
- Find the question you want to answer, then find the technology to help you do so.
- Don’t spend all your time working on one research question. Find time to stay up to date with research on the fringes of your field.
Further reading: