Watch more from the Naturejobs career expo here.
The latest Naturejobs careers expo, hosted in Düsseldorf in association with Jobvector, was a huge success, with over 1300 jobseekers in attendance to hear from the experts in both industry and academia. Set in the Classic Remise car exhibition, the expo was a great opportunity for jobseekers, employers and speakers to rub shoulders, shake hands, and network professionally whilst enjoying the machinery on show right next to them.
Delegates could choose to wander around the car exhibition, listen to talks hosted by Jobvector and Naturejobs, get a professional photo taken for their CVs (and then bring it to the CV checking workshop), get their photo taken again at the #ScientistAtWork photo booth, and meet exhibitors from 35 separate businesses and organisations based in Germany and worldwide.
Over in the Naturejobs workshops the crowd first heard Professor Kiril Sotirovski, of the University of Skopje, explain how to use online networking tools to boost your career. He talked about the huge impact that networks have on a career, and the best ways to get ahead by using them.
The next speaker was Tim Maschuw of the Germany Academic Exchange Service. He brought his considerable experience into his talk, and explained to the audience (furiously scribbling notes) on the best ways to find funding for early career scientists. Elsewhere, Dr Vincent Mignotte explained why it’s important to build a career plan that suits you, and how to find the right balance between what you think, what you feel, and what, deep down, you want. Continue reading
The number one concern that students have, according to Brian Schmidt, 2011 Physics Nobel Prize winner, is “not knowing the future of how they’re going to be a researcher.”
This is Brian Schmidt’s opening statement in this podcast. He’s concerned for the students.
Many young researchers feel that after having done the PhD training only sets them up for a career in academia. Schmidt likes to think otherwise. A PhD in science sets you up for more than just a career in academia, it sets you up for a career in anything.
In this podcast he talks about his own career, and how he almost left research and might have missed out on being part of the team that discovered the expansion of the universe was accelerating! The lessons he learned from this experience are now ones he shares with his own students and postdoc researchers. And now, also with you.
Here’s a list of some of the key lessons that he touches on in our conversation:
This last message is one that I want to stress too. If you’re not happy with what you spend the majority of your life doing (those careers we keep talking about), it will begin to affect other parts of your life. And any career is just not worth sacrificing your happiness for.
Contributor Carol Spencely
In my roles in researcher support and development at the University of Surrey and Imperial College London, I have seen hundreds of CVs. I have met amazing researchers with brains the size of planets working on fabulous projects, but when it comes to preparing a CV, all brain activity seems to freeze and panic sets in. From working with researchers at the Naturejobs Careers Expo and from other institutions, this condition is not confined to Surrey and Imperial; so, here are my suggestions for a treatment plan:
1- “Don’t panic!” As per Douglas Adams’ words from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
2- Communicate clearly. There is no big secret; to produce an effective CV you need to communicate clearly and concisely (with evidence) about your skills, achievements, qualifications and experience. This means that your CV is not just about the details of your research project. Continue reading