This quick post regards the AAAS career developments planning website. Michelle sent out the link in an email sometime in February, but this is just a quick reminder post in case you missed the link, or were too busy then and haven't made time for this (or lost the email/ address...). CMBer Jessica TeSlaa will do a more in depth post regarding the analyses and resources fostered by the site in a future post; this post regards the careers discernment aspect of the site. Most of us have a general idea of what we'd like as a career, but the website offers a variety of jobs that you might not have previously considered or know much about.
The website features surveys to assess both your interests and current skills set, and then matches these to career paths commonly taken by PhD level scientists. The results are displayed with a percent skills match and a percent interests match.
Holly B., a CMBer who is very good at both planning as well as utilizing the resources available to her, was discussing career discernment today with me via gchat. Knowing that i hadn't used the website, she strongly recommended it:
Holly: you should take it, it's pretty interesting
jessica: (it's like tarot cards, what if i don't like what it tells me?!)
Holly: there's a section for what you want and a section for what you should do
jessica: did it take you long?
Holly: i think 15min-ish
jessica: oh
Based on a sample size of two (Holly and myself), the career path matches are very appropriate and our (self-identified) top career choices were within the top three suggested by the website. The website then has further information regarding careers, events to attend, ways to strengthen your skill set, and even offers more in-depth features like setting goals and how to acquire mentors who will assist you in your chosen career path.
In short, if you have not taken this, it's fast (15-20 minutes is pretty accurate for the assessments), thorough, relatively painless, and free.
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