PME postdoctoral researchers are encouraged to engage in purposeful and structured career and professional development across various competencies – all aimed to position you for success in a dynamic and global work environment. The PME fosters these competencies in 1:1 advising, targeted workshops, and supplemental programming, as well as in laboratory training and connections to university resources.
Career advising
Whether preparing for a career path in academia, industry, nonprofits, or government, meeting individually with a professional career advisor can be instrumental in a career journey. Advising conversations can focus on a range of topics, including but not limited to: exploring your skills and interests as it relates to identifying career options, job search and networking best practices, crafting effective job documents, and negotiating job offers.
PME postdoctoral researchers have multiple career advising support options. Those currently on the job market or in a more advanced training stage are welcome to meet individually with PME’s Director of Career Development, Briana Konnick, who can provide engineering-specific advising. In addition, the office of UChicagoGRAD offers robust career support that is more general. STEM career advisors assist in exploring career options, building professional networks, crafting effective job documents, interviewing, and negotiating job offers. Postdoctoral researchers can schedule career advising appointments directly through the GRAD Gargoyle platform.
Career programming
PME’s Director of Career Development, Briana Konnick, collaborates with alumni, faculty, staff, and others to provide tailored and specific career development programming for PME graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. PME career development events occur minimally every quarter, with future recordings made available upon request. Past topics have included: Considering a Career in Industry, Getting to the Interview, Effective Poster Presentations, Navigating Lab Dynamics, Simultaneous Job Searches, Transferable Skills, and more. Notices of PME career development events are shared via the monthly PME Career Development newsletter and on the PME Career Development & Entrepreneurship webpage.
PME postdoctoral researchers also have access to a wealth of resources across the broader University of Chicago campus:
- myCHOICE – myCHOICE programming exposes STEM postdocs to various career paths with mini-courses and workshops that support the development of professional skills and real-world experiences in careers outside of academic research.
- UChicagoGRAD – UChicagoGRAD provides career and professional development resources to help postdocs explore career options, build professional networks, craft effective job documents, interview confidently, and negotiate job offers. They offer these topics and more in workshops, alumni career conversations, summer camps, employer information sessions, career fairs, career exploration conferences, and more. Login to the GRAD Gargoyle system to RSVP for workshops and events, schedule advising appointments, and search job postings.
- Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation – the Polsky Center provides education and training, connects investors with partners, and supports new venture creation. They also collaborate with organizations across campus dedicated to advancing students’ and postdocs’ educational and professional career paths and connecting entrepreneurs to industry partners.
- Chicago Center for Teaching & Learning – The Chicago Center for Teaching & Learning advances teaching and learning at the University of Chicago by fostering a vibrant community of pedagogical reflection and innovation. They provide comprehensive support for faculty, graduate students, and postdocs across all disciplines. They facilitate a wide variety of events, seminars, and workshops throughout the academic year. Orientations take place each fall. Seminars and workshops are offered throughout the year. See upcoming events for current programming.
Mentor training and support
Effective mentoring is an invaluable competency in academia, research, and industry. Purposefully developing this competency can be a key asset in professional development and the job search process. The PME supports the development of this central competency through intentional and sustained training and opportunities to practice mentoring skills in the context of research. You can find more information on the Mentoring Resources & Opportunities webpage.
- The PME/BSD Postdoc Mentor Training Series offers postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to sharpen and perfect research mentoring competencies specifically calibrated to the needs and opportunities of their career stage. Using an evidence-based curriculum from the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER), the series explores topics such as effective communication, aligning expectations, fostering independence and self-efficacy, and addressing equity and inclusion. For more information, please contact Vipul Sharma or Laura Rico-Beck.
- In addition to research group mentoring, the PME offers several mentoring options working with graduate, undergraduate, and high school students in programs such as the PME REU, the PME City Colleges Program, the After School Matters STEM Lab Internship, and TeachQuantum.
- Exemplary postdoctoral mentors are recognized and celebrated by the PME annually with the Maria Lastra Excellence in Mentoring Awards.
Leadership and Management Training
The L-MAP, Leadership and Management in Action Program (L-MAP), is a new active-learning training program for postdocs to build a leadership, management, and inclusive teamwork skillset. L-MAP introduces postdocs to the interpersonal and psychological foundations of leading teams and managing people. It responds to the unique position of these trainees, who may be practicing leadership for the first time and who typically lack formal authority within the research environment. This training program was developed based on real-world research on the leadership and team dynamics challenges that postdocs regularly encounter in the scientific research environment. Using real-world scenarios and current research on leadership and team dynamics, L-MAP highlights professional behaviors and communication strategies that can be used in a variety of leadership and management scenarios. The L-MAP training program uses an active-learning format based on discussion of authentic case studies drawn from the experiences of postdocs from diverse backgrounds. Case study training facilitates learning through active problem-solving and allows participants to change attitudes, behaviors, and decisions related to conflict management, communication strategies and navigating organizational hierarchies.
Trainees work in teams on experiential case studies and activities in the L-MAP curriculum, led by a facilitator with expertise in leadership training. The program meets weekly for 6 weeks and is capped with a writing a leadership statement. Trainee participants are selected through an application process.
There are 6 units in the L-MAP training program
- Professionalism and Professional Identity
- Leading Without Authority
- Negotiation
- Working in Teams
- Inclusive Organizational Cultures
- Writing your Leadership Statement
Each unit builds on interpersonal and communication skills presented in previous units. Participants begin by practicing discrete skills early in the program and move toward analyzing increasingly complex leadership scenarios toward the end.
Development and pilot testing of L-MAP was done at Washington University in St. Louis and supported by a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.