POSTPONED: Annual NICHD Fellows Retreat
The 16th Annual Meeting for Postdoctoral, Clinical, and Visiting Fellows and Graduate Students for 2020 has been postponed until the spring of 2021. We will keep you posted!
Gain Programming Skills while Teleworking from Home
During this time of extended telework, the NICHD’s Bioinformatics and Scientific Programming Core (BSPC) is offering to help fellows gain valuable programming and data analysis skills. BSPC can provide several resources for learning the R programming language as well as develop custom learning plans using online resources to meet specific learning goals. If you are interested in programming and data analysis, please contact Dr. Ryan Dale at ryan.dale@nih.gov.
Summer Webinar Series: Job Searching and Interviewing during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Lauren Celano, MBA, CEO (Propel Careers)
Adapting Your Job Search Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Thursday, July 23, 11 a.m. – 12 noon
Lauren Celano will cover information to help fellows adapt their job search strategies and approaches due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lauren will cover the following topics: (1) how to improve and leverage your online presence for specific roles/positions and increase potential career opportunities, (2) how to prepare for and excel during virtual interviews, since almost all organizations have now moved to an online interview process, and (3) how to successfully initiate and conduct informational interviews to gain insights about potential career paths.
Tips to Navigate a Successful Virtual Interview Process
Wednesday, August 19, 11 a.m. – 12 noon
Lauren Celano will provide advice for how to prepare for and navigate a virtual interview process, since most companies are moving to virtual platforms such as Skype, Zoom, and WebEx during the COVID-19 pandemic. She will provide advice for tailoring responses, depending on the interviewer—HR representative, hiring manager, or direct colleague. This webinar will cover different scenarios, including one-on-one and group interviews, and interviews that require a presentation. Lauren will provide advice on questions you can ask during your interview and how to appropriately follow up after interview day. In addition, advice will be provided regarding how to evaluate and negotiate an offer.
Making the Most of Your PhD and Postdoc: How to Develop Career Relevant Skills in Academia
Thursday, September 24, 1 – 2 p.m.
This webinar will provide advice on ways to proactively build, develop, and enhance specific skills during your PhD or postdoctoral training in order to build transferrable skills that are valuable for your career. Lauren will provide an overview of skills useful for both research and non-research careers such as consulting, business development, communications, and medical affairs. She will also highlight ways to build transferrable skills such as collaboration, leadership, management, and presentation skills, as well as hard skills like budgeting, vendor management, protocol development, and writing. Additionally, she will showcase ways to highlight these skills on a resume so that organizations looking to hire you are aware of the value you bring to them.
Please email Ms. Monica Cooper (cooperm@mail.nih.gov) if you are planning to participate in any or all of these webinars.
PRAT Program Now Accepting Applications
Submission Deadline: October 2, 2020
Each year, NIGMS accepts applications for the Postdoctoral Research Associate (PRAT) Program, a competitive fellowship program for intramural postdocs that provides research training in the basic medical sciences. This award provides three years of stipend support for intramural training in various research areas such as cell biology, biophysics, genetics, developmental biology, pharmacology, physiology, biological chemistry, computational biology, technology development and bioinformatics.
For eligibility and submission information, please visit the NIGMS PRAT website: https://www.nigms.nih.gov/training/pages/prat.aspx. The Office of Education is offering a virtual information session for NICHD fellows on Wednesday, July 22, at 10 a.m. to discuss the PRAT application submission. Please email Erin Walsh (erin.walsh@nih.gov) if you would like to attend.
