Resource of the Week: Helping grad students pursue non-academic careers

Screenshot of blog post.

In this post, Dr. Jeremy Fox shares notes from a talk by Dr. Anne Krook (former UMichigan prof, also a former Amazon, Mindbloom, and Synapse exec, and more). Krook consults with organizations and companies to better support women in the workplace. She provides free resources for students and early career professionals, including undergraduates and recent graduates, on her website.

Key points:

1. Every semester, the department and chair should convene, and the chair should tell everyone that the department recognizes and supports all career choices, including those in and beyond academia.
2. “Departments should track, and post publicly” in many ways, alumni with non-academic careers.
3. The end of a grad student’s time in the department is too late to start career counseling (including at a university career center). Career counseling for all careers needs to be on-going, from the outset of a degree program.
4. It is not just “good students” who get academic jobs. That is a biased interpretation of success.
5. Training, when uncertain of academic or non-academic career future, takes only ~5% more time/work. Keys are talking to people outside academia and practicing sharing science beyond academia.
6. “A CV and a resume are different documents.” Beyond academia, the 2-page resume rules.
7. Have your LinkedIn and Google presences coherent with your resume (not just your CV).
8. Provide students with resources that translate academic skills into beyond-academic skills/language. See Krook’s website for examples.

And more….read the full blog post for even more detail, more advice, more actionable ways to support ecologists at all career stages as they weigh career choices.