So you love life sciences, and know that you want your
career to involve science in some way.
Now what?
If you are asking yourself that question, you're in good
shape, because it means that you're starting to think early about laying
the
groundwork for your post-collegiate life.
The fact is that ensuring you have a successful and rewarding career
requires a lot of conscious planning; in most cases, great careers don't
just
fall into your lap.
Some of you will be lucky enough to have mentors who are
helping you plan for your career, perhaps a favorite faculty member or a
family
friend. But many of you probably feel
like you're largely on your own, and that may make you nervous. The
good news is you are not on your own;
there are resources all around you that can help you transition to a
successful
career. There are many activities that
you can easily do right away — taking a
personality test, for instance, or going on informational interviews at
local
institutions. Others involve a bit more planning and effort (e.g., going
to a
science conference), but are immensely rewarding and useful.
I've been guiding scientists-in-training into successful
careers at the Hutchinson
Cancer Center
for nearly ten years now, and while each student is different, I have
observed
a few basic principles that can help most students plan a rewarding
life-path. The first is: Know yourself. If there's one lesson I could
leave you with,
it would be this one. Having a
fulfilling career isn't about prestige, salary, or work hours. It's
about doing work that matches the things
that you value and enjoy; it's about doing work that is a good fit with
your
personality. We all have unique
personalities; something that excites one person can bore another.
Don't listen to conventional wisdom about
what you should or shouldn't do as a scientist.
Instead, know yourself, and then listen to yourself. In the first unit
of this course, I outline a few simple but important steps you can take
to learn
more about your personality.
The second principle is: Be informed. Even if you know
yourself well, you still need to know quite a lot about various
professions in
order to choose the one best suited to you.
Oftentimes, the impression we have about careers when we are students
can
differ quite a lot from what those careers actually involve. Something
that seems glamorous might turn out
to involve a lot of repetitive work; something that seems boring might
involve
subtle and extraordinary kinds of creativity.
Don't be content with conventional impressions about what careers
involve — dig in and explore. In the
second unit of this course, I outline a dozen possible careers you
should
consider if you love the life sciences.
You'll find out about possibilities of advancement, pay scales, job
security, work-life balance, typical work days, and many other
characteristics
that I hope will help you develop a detailed mental picture of science
careers. There are also interviews with
people currently in each of those professions; they share many helpful
insights
and practical advice. Reading
through these resources will give you a good start in making informed
career
decisions.
The third principle is: Test your choices. Once you have learned
about a range of careers, you may be starting to have a good sense of
the
career you're most interested in. Or,
you may have several careers you're equally attracted to. In either
case, the best way to make your
final choice is to get some real, concrete experience of what is
involved in science
careers. You can do this through
informational interviews with practitioners in the field, through
internships,
or through many other approaches. In the
third unit, I outline how to do these things, and what to keep in mind
while
you are doing them.
The fourth and final principle I want to pass on to you is: Start
early. Knowing exactly what career you
want is half the battle; but there's still the other half, which is
positioning yourself
to be a good candidate for a successful career in your chosen field.
This could involve networking, professional
or academic training, skills development, travel, applications, or many
other
things, depending on which career you're interested in. The earlier you
start laying the groundwork
for your career through these activities, the better the chance that you
will be
successful in your quest. So start
now! In the fourth unit in this course,
I outline a few simple strategies you can use.
No single course can give you everything you need to have a
fulfilling life-path. Careers are as
varied, personal, and unpredictable as lives.
And I've focused a lot of my advice on the work context of the United
States,
because most of my own professional experience has been based here. But
I do feel that the four principles I've
outlined here apply in general to students in many countries planning
their
life-path, and I believe that if you follow them you'll be better
prepared to
tackle the challenges of post-college life.
So I hope you find this course useful, and I wish you the best of luck
in your life.
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