WORKSHOP: Opportunities Abound – STEM-Related Careers Are Virtually Everywhere

Most STEM graduates have limited knowledge of the types of careers they can pursue upon completion of their training based on the limited amount of information they are exposed to during their training. Typically, STEM graduates, postdocs and early career professionals seek career advice from advisors or someone in an academic role at their institution. The problem is that these mentors are usually only familiar with careers in academia and possibly positions in a related career industry. This is a HUGE disservice to the emerging STEM workforce, since the variety and diversity of possible career options is rapidly growing. Because only about 10% of PhD graduates obtain tenure-track faculty positions, the remaining 90% need to explore other career possibilities.

This workshop addresses this knowledge gap and introduces STEM graduates, postdocs and early career professionals to the numerous career paths that are available to them outside of academia, many of which they probably know very little about.

Sample career fields include the following:

  • Consulting
  • Law
  • Science Writing
  • Technology Transfer
  • Software Development
  • Marketing
  • Business Development
  • Nonprofit
  • Science Policy
  • Government
  • Patient Examination
  • Big Data Analytics
  • Venture Capital
  • Think Tanks
  • Science Communication
  • Finance/Banking
  • Technical Sales Support
  • Science Program Officers
  • Product Development and Engineering
  • Product/Project Management
  • Medical Science Liaison

As a supplement to this workshop, STEM Career Services will conduct private one-on-one career counseling sessions with participants so that they can learn more about career fields that interest them. In addition, we will help them determine if they have the necessary skills to enter those desired fields. If they don’t, STEM Career Services will help them acquire the necessary experience so that they can enhance their resumes and become competitive candidates for the career fields they desire.