FRIDAY WORKSHOPS
Professionalization in the Workplace
Ever wonder what being in a non-academic work environment is really like? Or how your new manger may be different from your academic advisor? Or how soon you can start thinking about getting a promotion? Hint: your life will be different than it is now! Come learn about how the expectations of work differ in a non-academic setting. This interactive workshop will discuss some key differences between the “PhD mindset” and the “industry mindset” so that you can learn how to adjust your work mentality. We’ll review key components such as effective communication, behavior, and successful workplace strategies.
Facilitator: Lana Smith-Hale, Career Counselor for Graduate Students (UCSB Career Services)
Lana Smith-Hale, LCSW, is a career counselor for graduate students at UCSB. Her background is in counseling, with extensive and varied experience in a multitude of industries. It is with this knowledge of different working environments and a deep understanding of career issues facing graduate students that Lana strives to give meaningful insights, helpful tools, and instill an understanding of how to find career satisfaction post-grad life.
Networking, Branding, & Selling Yourself
Networking is a crucial way to improve your employment opportunities after grad school. In this workshop, you’ll hear about Jessica Roeder’s experience of building her network in the data science field, where she essentially started from scratch as a postdoc. You’ll also learn about how to create networking opportunities by attending conferences, creating online connections, and effectively marketing yourself toward new career opportunities.
Facilitator: Jessica Roeder, Head of Data Services (Insight Data Science)
Jess has a PhD in cognitive neuroscience and now works at Insight Data Science helping academics transition to careers in Data Science.
LinkedIn: Why Is It So Useful for Job Hunters?
Are you considering pursuing an industry job and wondering how to find open positions? Did you create a LinkedIn profile a while back but haven’t touched it since? This workshop will address why LinkedIn is useful for people with academic backgrounds as well as review how to find jobs on LinkedIn and how to be found on LinkedIn by recruiters. To get maximum value from this workshop you should already have a LinkedIn account and have explored some of its functionality. It may also be useful to bring your laptop to the workshop for on-site help and troubleshooting.
Facilitator: Jessica Cornick, Quantitative User Experience Researcher (Facebook)
Jessica Cornick is a Quantitative User Experience Researcher at Facebook. She finished her graduate work in 2016 at UC Santa Barbara where she completed her PhD in Psychological & Brain Sciences and an M.A. in Advanced Quantitative Research Methods. Her research focused on applications of virtual reality for measuring and influencing social psychological phenomena as well as using latent variable models to model variance in large datasets. After graduation, she worked at Market Research firm in Los Angeles for a year before moving to the Bay Area for Facebook. At Facebook, she conducts research with advertisers to understand how they use Facebook’s Advertiser Platform.
Transferable Skills for Students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
Although you develop many valuable skills through your graduate and postdoctoral training, consciously and unconsciously, at times it can be challenging to articulate what skills you have and especially how those skill sets can be applied to a non-academic workplace. In this workshop, attendees will practice identifying their skill sets and articulating the transferability of these academic experiences to non-academic contexts with the help of facilitators who are in the workforce.
Facilitator: Arica Lubin, Professional Development Programs Manager (UCSB Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships)
Arica Lubin received both her BA and PhD in Biochemistry from UCSB. She now works at UCSB overseeing scholarly and career preparation for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars in science and engineering at the Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships (CSEP). Since joining CSEP in 2010, she has collaborated with administrators, faculty, and staff nationwide on projects to broaden diversity and to strengthen training opportunities through a variety of mentoring and professional skill development initiatives.
Transferable Skills for Students in SHEF (Social Science, Humanities, Education, Fine Arts)
This workshop will help you identify and talk about the valuable transferable skills that you develop in graduate school and how you can apply those skills in a career beyond academia. The facilitators will guide you through the process of learning how skills are different from jobs, how to craft a compelling career narrative of your skills, and how to communicate your skills to a potential employer.
Facilitator: Shawn Warner-Garcia, Assistant Director of Professional Development (UCSB Graduate Division)
Shawn has worked for over eight years in job training and program management in both university and nonprofit settings, and she is passionate about helping graduate students identify and articulate their transferable skills in order to achieve their career goals. As a PhD candidate in the Linguistics Department at UCSB, she also brings firsthand knowledge of the unique challenges and opportunities for graduate students to demonstrate their value in a broad variety of employment sectors.
SATURDAY WORKSHOPS
MyIDP: Career Development for STEM Students
Need help figuring out a direction for your career? Not sure where to start? Come learn about a helpful free tool called “myIDP” which is specifically designed to assist STEM professionals just like you. To personalize the process, the speaker will take you through his own myIDP results and share how they helped him tailor his career path to suit his needs. This talk is geared to both PhD and Master’s level STEM students.
Facilitator: Derek Musashe, STEM Career Counselor (UCSB Career Services)
Never one to take a straight path when there is a more scenic route available, Derek Musashe became a STEM Career Counselor at UCSB via the road less traveled. After falling in love with the brain while earning a B.S. in neuroscience at Furman University, Derek went on to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the brain’s response to injury in the lab of Mary Logan at Oregon Health & Science University. While there earning his Ph.D. in neuroscience, he became enamored with the social side of science. Scientific discovery was great, but the people making it all happen began to hold more appeal for him. Derek now blends his skills and knowledge as a scientist with his sense of humor and love of people to help prepare USCB students for the professional futures that await them.
ImaginePhD: Career Development Tool for SHEF Students
ImaginePhD is a newly launched online career exploration tool designed specifically for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral scholars in humanities and social sciences. Developed by experts from over 50 universities, ImaginePhD offers a unique platform that teaches PhDs about popular job sectors, search strategies, and how to transfer skills across settings.
Facilitator: Caroline Schance, Graduate Career Peer (UCSB Career Services)
Caroline is a graduate student in the Gevirtz School of Education. As the Career Peer, she provides workshops, presentations, and one-on-one meetings with graduate students to review their resumes, cover letters, LinkedIn pages, and CVs to help them prepare for their career of choice.