Developing career-specific skills in your chosen career path will give you a competitive advantage in achieving your career goals. These experiences vary in both time and commitment. Attending workshops to develop career-specific skills will require a small degree of effort, whereas taking a course or contributing to a team-consulting project outside of your training program will require a greater time commitment. An internship requires a significant commitment and therefore may be appropriate for only a very few trainees. Whatever you decide, make sure to develop career-specific skills for your chosen path that will make you stand out among your peers.
Resources for Career-Specific Skills Development
- General Resources for the Development of Career-Specific Skills
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- 10 Simple Rules: A collection of "10 Simple Rules" guides to help you make a variety of career choices
- LinkedIn Learning Courses, Events, and Webinars: Access high-quality eLearning to help you develop additional, career-specific skills
- VolunteerMatch: Find opportunities to gain new skills and experiences to complement your academic training
- New Venture Ideas: If you're interested in the entrepreneurial path, this is a comprehensive guide featuring 82 compelling small business ideas
- Career-Specific Skills for Academia
- General Resources:
- Pathways to Science for Postdocs: Professional development opportunities for postdocs.
- Pitt's Open Scholarship and Research Impact Challenge: Asynchronous online course that will give you practical tools to make your research more accessible and impactful, more reproducible, more connected to the public welfare, and more in line with your personal values!
- Promoting Your Research: HSLS describes multiple ways to promote your research, from press releases to writing an engaging pitch and more.
- Open Scholarship and Research Impact Challenge: Asynchronous course to gain practical tools to make your research more accessible and impactful.
- Pitt's Health Sciences Library System Classes: HSLS has a series of classes covering a range of critical skills for your success in academia. Find upcoming sessions here.
- National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity: Mentoring, tools, and support you need to be successful in the Academy
- Reviewers Rule: Strategies for Faculty Advancement: Learn how to rigorously review grant proposals
- Tomorrow's Professor e-Newsletter: A collection of blog posts about the Academy
- NIH outlines the career path for researchers: Find funding opportunities based on your career stage, from undergraduate to established investigator
- Peer Review: HSLS' page describing Peer Review, peer review resources, tips for how to peer review, and more.
- Measuring Research Impact: Learn about the tools and indicators used for measuring research impact including bibliometrics, altmetrics, and mor
- NIH's "How to Apply" Application Guide: Specific guidelines for different grant mechanism, and general tips on how to prepare for, write, and submit applications
- Winning NIH Grants: Swimming with Sharks: An OACD webinar that covers how to target the right home at NIH, tips and tricks for writing a successful grant proposal, and more
- How F30, F31, and F32 Applications Succeed, and How They Fail: Insights From an Insider: An OACD webinar that outlines how to write a successful fellowship application
- Selected Grant Writing Resources The OORHS's list of additional resources for grant-writing success
- "Introduction to Grant Writing" Course: An eight-week course at the University of Pittsburgh that will help you develop the skills needed to effectively communicate scientific discoveries and to successfully compete for research support, with a complete draft application as an outcome.
- NIH Review Criteria At a Glance: See what reviewers are scoring when evaluating your applications
- Sample NIH Grant Applications and More: Sample applications and summary statements for research grants, small business grants, training and career awards, and cooperative agreements can be found here
- Open Grants: This is an open repository of funding proposals and applications
- Reference Letters vs Letters of Support: NIH outlines the differences
- Know Your K: Writing a Successful Career Development Award Application: An OACD webinar with step-by-step instructions on how to prepare an outstanding and successful K application
- Career Development Awards: Review NIH's list of research career development awards to find the one that is right for you!
- The K99/R00: Pathway to Independence Award: An OACD webinar that walks you through application process, and a panel of recipients share how they answered customizable sections
- F and K Awards by Institute: Look through NIH's matrix to see what institutes offer the K and F awards you are interested in
- K Award Application Advice: NIH's step by step guide, from finding the right funding opportunity to managing your award
- How to Write a Good Career Development Plan: Tips from NINDS
- Career-Specific Skills for Teaching in Higher Ed
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- Center for Integrating Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) University of Pittsburgh: CIRTL trains the next generation of STEM faculty
- Certification in STEM Teaching: CIRTL offers three certification levels in STEM teaching, which can be included on your CV
- CIRTL's Certificate Program : An OACD webinar that describes this program and how it can benefit your career
- University Center for Teaching and Learning (UCTL): Resources for teaching at Pitt
- Teaching: The Basics of Best Practices: CIDDE overviews topics related to excellence in teaching and learning
- Career-Specific Skills for Industry
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- Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship: This office at Pitt enables innovators to achieve impact
- Innovation Institute - University of Pittsburgh: Programs, services and funding to assess the commercial potential of your innovation and accelerate it on the path to market
- Fourth River Solutions (4RS):PhD candidates and postdocs translate skills from cutting-edge academic research to real world business solutions
- From Academia to Industry: Seven Tips for Scientists Taking the Leap: Advice for moving out of the lab and into industry
- Ascender Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh's community for entrepreneurs
- Udacity- How to Build a Startup: A free course on how to build a successful startup
- VentureWell: Helps innovators and entrepreneurs, including trainees and faculty, develop inventions and transition from lab to market
- Career-Specific Skills for Policy Making
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- AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowships: A list of policy fellowships
- Advocacy Committee - National Postdoctoral AssociationNPA's postdoc guide to advocacy, agenda for change, and more
- Pitt Science Policy GroupAn organization for Pitt grad students, postdocs, and faculty to engage in open discourse focusing on the intersection of scientific research and policy formation
- US Science & Technology Policy Fellowships: An extensive list of policy fellowships compiled by a former AAAS fellow
- Career-Specific Skills for Writing
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- National Association of Science Writers Community of writers who produce material to inform the public about science, health, engineering, and technology
- Whitsell Innovations Internship Full-service medical and scientific writing company that hires interns yearly
- Science Writing Steps for writing about science for any audience
View archived webinars in our video library and use our searchable resource directory to find more career-specific resources and content to help you gain valuable skills, which will position you for the next stage of your training experience on the way to your ideal career.
How You Will Benefit
Engage in experiential learning
Acquiring experience relevant to your chosen career will increase your attractiveness to prospective employers. Your education, transferable skill development, and hands-on experience will provide you a distinct advantage over other employment candidates. Participate in programs like Pitt Ventures First Gear to learn about commercialization.
Equip yourself with skills particular to your chosen career
Career-specific skill development provides you the advantage of enhanced job readiness. What training or experiences outside your discipline will better prepare you to meet the challenges of your chosen career? Examples may include attending workshops, gaining leadership experience with affinity groups or clubs, receiving pedagogical training or teaching experience, and/or taking business, statistics or communication courses, among others.
Demonstrate your commitment to prospective employers
Prospective employers will consider your degree of job readiness to also represent your depth of commitment to that career path. Systematic exploration and subsequent immersion in your chosen career pathway during your training period will establish you as a serious candidate when you are ready to enter the workforce.