CDPG 2015-2016
Career Development Peer Groups (CDPG) Program
Co-Directors 2015-2016
Andrea Mislak & Jessica Miles
Program Designer
Becky Delventhal, GRD ‘15
Contributing Authors
Megan Ericson, GRD ‘15
Liz Genné-Bacon, GRD ‘16
Kerry Hollands, Ph.D.
Jessica Miles, GRD ‘16
Shalini Nag, Ph.D.
Christal Sohl, Ph.D.
Maria Tokuyama, Ph.D.
Nikki Woodward, GRD ‘15
Victoria Blodgett, Former Director of GCS
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Ph.D. graduates underappreciate how in demand the skills that they develop during their study are for the diversity of career pathways beyond a tenure-track position at a research university. In fact, up to 80% of science and engineering (S&E) Ph.D.s are employed outside of academia within 3 to 5 years of obtaining a degree (NSF, 2008). It is important that Ph.D. candidates and graduates recognize how and why many professions value their versatile skill sets.
“Young people themselves don’t realize how valuable they are with a Ph.D. It means an ability to think deeply, solve problems, analyze data, criticize and be criticized. [Ph.D.s] often don’t realize the breadth of what they are capable of doing.” -Neal Lane (Director, National Science Foundation)
Today, most career paths will not follow a straight trajectory. The current job market requires candidates to be flexible to industry changes and adaptable to evolving demands. By mastering the fundamentals of a successful job search strategy, you will be better equipped to face these challenges, and this will ensure a lifetime of success in managing your career. Defining your professional skills and traits will not only heighten your awareness of your professional identity and relevant experiences, but it will also help you identify the “best fit” career path(s). Ultimately, you will be able to make deliberate career preparation choices and position yourself to obtain a fulfilling career in the future.
This program is not designed to meet all of your career development needs. It offers an opportunity to engage in individual and group activities geared towards understanding and articulating your personal and professional training and development, what you want may choose for a next career pathway, and how to navigate that process intentionally and effectively.
Through the CDPG Program, participants will:
§ Actively engage in self-reflection through structured exercises to reveal individual strengths, values and interests
§ Obtain information about a variety of career paths both through independent research and networking with CDPG participants
§ Foster a supportive peer network for discussing individual strengths, values, and interests to gain additional insights and perspectives
The program booklet includes instructions for career development exercises and a suggested timeline for peer group meetings. Peer Group members are encouraged to develop a schedule based on a mutually agreed upon level of time commitment, which may or may not vary from the suggested timeline. The key is to discuss and make firm plans that will assure the completion of all aspects of the curriculum from the outset.
Throughout the process you are encouraged to seek additional information and support through the advising services offered by Graduate Career Services.
Please make the materials work best for you and your Peer Group!
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Table of Contents
General Timeline……………………………………………………………………….. 1-2
Meeting 1………………………………………………………………………………… 3-4
Meeting 2………………………………………………………………………………… 5-8
Meeting 3………………………………………………………………………………… 9-11
Meeting 4………………………………………………………………………………… 12-15
Meeting 5………………………………………………………………………………… 16-18
Meeting 6………………………………………………………………………………… 19-20
Exit Survey……………………………………………………………………………….. 21
Additional resources…………………………………………………………………….. 21
General Timeline
While the majority of the CDPG program will be done at your own pace in your peer groups, we have partnered with the Office of Career Strategy (OCS) to offer several workshops for the entire CDPG program:
Your Career Strategy 101 (Monday, November 9th from 4-5PM, Office of Career Strategy)
This session will help you to develop a strategy for your job search, and inform you of the ways to pursue opportunities through both on- and off-campus recruiting. You’ll learn how to reach out to contacts and conduct research to uncover more contacts, opportunities and information.
CV to Resume Conversion (Thursday, December 3nd from 4-5PM, Medical School)
This session will help you turn your CV into a resume! Whether you have a CV or resume, this workshop will help you to understand the difference and offer tips for formatting one or the other depending on the job posting.
Salary Negotiation (Monday, March 7th from 4-5PM, Office of Career Strategy)
Join Office of Career Strategy staff to learn about effective techniques used in salary negotiation. Whether you have negotiated before, or if this is your first time, they'll provide guidance on how to be (a) objective, (b) persuasive, and (c) strategic.
Career Focus Group Discussions (throughout the program, TBD)
You’ll meet with a larger group outside of your peer group to share diverse perspectives, tips and resources. The meetings will be separated into broader career categories (e.g. separate meetings for science policy, teaching, industry, academia, etc.). You are encouraged to attend as many meetings in which you are interested.
Please register for these workshops on Symplicity at:
https://yale-csm.symplicity.com/students/
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Program Phase / Peer Group Meeting / Individual Exercise / Estimated time* / Suggested DatesIntroduction / Your Career Strategy 101 / 1.5 hrs / Monday, November 9th
Mtg 1) Introductory Meeting / Reflect on goals and expectations for participation in program / 1-1.5 hrs / November
Self-Assessment / Mtg 2) Personality & Activity Preferences Assessment / Myers-Briggs, "Likes and Dislikes" Forced Choice Analysis / 2-2.5 hrs / December
CV to Resume Conversion / 1.5-2 hrs / Thursday, December 3nd
Mtg 3) Interests, Values and Skills Inventories / "Five Lives" and "Leadership Narratives" writing exercises, Subjects Chart / 1.5-2 hrs / January
Mtg 4) Strengths and Peer Assessment / StrengthsFinder2.0, Solicit peer assessment / 2.5-3 hrs / February
Career Exploration / Salary Negotiation / 1.5-2 hrs / Week of
March 2
Mtg 5) Transition to Career Exploration / ScienceCareers’ Individual Development Plan (myIDP). Begin researching a few career fields and specific positions. / 1.5-2 hrs / March
Mtg 6) Career Exploration and Preparation / Construct and receive feedback on Archive CVs
Construct “Tailored” CV for selected job posting
Construct LinkedIn profile / 2-2.5 hrs / April
CDPG Program Career Focus Group Discussions / November - April
*Estimated time for completion of individual exercises, prior to Peer Group meeting. Group meeting time will be determined by individuals’ contributions and availability.
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Meeting 1: Introductions
Getting started
We suggest creating a personal Career Development journal to catalog all of your notes from professional development and job search activities. These may include workshops or career panels, personal reflections or ideas, and CDPG meetings and exercises. We also recommend that you use the journal to keep track of your expanding personal and professional network.
We strongly encourage your Peer Group to set tentative meeting dates and times for the duration of the program (every other Friday for lunch, for example). It will also be helpful to discuss any travel plans or scheduling restrictions that members of the Peer Group have.
Also, consider establishing some record-keeping policy – for example, you may decide to take notes for each other or audiorecord each discussion session. We have included note-taking sections in this booklet.
For Peer Groups that would prefer to meet less frequently, but for a longer time each meeting, we recommend combining Meetings 1 and 2.
Individual Exploration
Task: Reflect on and outline specific expectations for participation in CDPG program
Prior to your first Peer Group meeting, we encourage you to reflect on your personal goals for participation in the CDPG program. It may be helpful to think about the group discussion questions outlined below and jot down some notes beforehand.
You should take notes on your expectations of your Peer Group’s role and what you hope to get out of the relationship. Consider the following questions:
How often do you want to meet? For how long?
Where would you like to meet? At a coffee shop, over lunch or dinner?
What are your expectations for assignment completion?
How do you feel about confidentiality of information shared?
What can you contribute as a Peer Group member?
Peer Group Discussion
Objective: Get to know each other and set expectations for the group.
q Where are you from?
q What got you interested in science?
q Why did you decide to pursue a Ph.D. or postdoc?
q How did you choose Yale?
q What are you studying now?
q What were your initial expectations, and how well do they match your experiences at Yale so far?
q How do you feel about your current work and progress?
q What are your personal goals and professional expectations for the future?
q What are your concerns or challenges about meeting those expectations?
q Why did you decide to participate in the Career Development Peer Groups program?
q What would you like to get out of participation in the CDPG program? What are your goals?
q How often would you commit to meet and for how long at each meeting?
Meeting 1: Notes
Meeting 2: Personality Type and Activity Preferences Assessment
Individual exploration
(complete prior to peer group meeting)
Task #1: Take Myers-Briggs personality type indicator
Please note: While personality type testing is popular in some circumstances, and sometimes utilized by organizations and employers to establish project teams and hiring strategies, it is not supported by all psychologists. Experts caution that personality type is only a preference indicator and should never be used as a reason to avoid doing something. There is no better “type,” and types can change over a lifetime. Personality indicator tool may offer you insights, but keep in mind that the results are simply categorizing information provided by you. These tools do NOT provide definitive answers to career paths and should be used as tools for discussion only.
Below are a few different free web resources; they all configure the test a little differently. You can also find additional free versions through Google.
Recommended tests:
1. http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html#Inventory
(Explains the philosophy behind the test, and allows you to self-assign categories)
2. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
(Relates results to careers)
3. http://kisa.ca/personality/
(Allows you to choose an “in between” option)
Task #2: “Likes and Dislikes” Forced Choice Analysis
Write a two-column list: 1) things you like, and 2) things you dislike about your current work situation (e.g. grad student/post-doc).
It may also be informative to write additional two-column lists for any other extracurricular activity at which you spend a significant amount of time (e.g. teaching, student organization, volunteer work, etc.), or former jobs.
Once you have completed your two-column list(s), perform a “forced choice analysis” to rank each item in the order of importance. Start by comparing the first two items in your “likes” column, decide which one is more important, and put a tally mark by it. Next compare the first item with the third, continuing down until you have compared the first item with every other item on the list. Then continue with second vs. third/fourth/fifth, third vs. fourth/fifth, etc. until you’ve compared every item to each other. At the end, count up the tally marks and assign a rank number to each item. See below for an example.
Example: Daily Tasks
Likes / Dislikes / Likes(in order of importance) / Dislikes
(in order of importance)
Cooking * * / Dishes * * * / Call parents / Laundry
Work / Take out trash / Play w/ pets / Dishes
Shopping * * * / Laundry * * * * / Shopping / Pay Bills
Read the news * / Emails * / Cooking / Emails
Call parents * * * * * / Pay Bills * * / Read the news / Take out trash
Play w/ pets * * * * / Work
Below is a Word Bank of some terms to get you started thinking about your “likes” and “dislikes,” and blank Forced Choice Analysis table for you to use. Don’t feel limited by these choices—feel free to come up with a framework that works for you!
§ Autonomy§ Work hours
§ Problem-solving
§ Planning
§ Analysis
§ Creativity
§ Collaboration
§ Writing
§ Experimentation / § Pay flexibility
§ Promotion ability
§ Application to “real world”
§ Leadership
§ Helping others
§ Socializing
§ Recognition for work / § Responsibility
§ Shared commitment
§ Communication
§ Learning
§ Work
§ Politics
§ Control
§ Management / § Mentoring
§ Teaching
§ Project design
§ Outreach
§ Networking
§ Administration,
§ Conflict resolution
§ Competitive work environment
Create your own!
Likes / Dislikes / Likes(in order of importance) / Dislikes
(in order of importance)
Once you have your ranked two-column list, rewrite them in order to get a clear picture about which aspects of each “job” you like the most, and which aspects you dislike the most. If you wrote multiple lists, put all the “like” lists side-by-side, and do the same with the “dislike” lists. By doing this “meta-analysis,” you can see if there are any common themes across multiple aspects of your professional life.
Focus on the top three likes as qualities that you should strongly consider incorporating into a future career. Likewise, the top three dislikes should be qualities you want to minimize in a future career. Also, look to the bottom of each of your like and dislike lists for qualities on which you are willing to compromise.
Peer Group discussion
Objective #1: Explore you and your peer group members’ personality characteristics and how they may apply to career development.
q What was the result of your Myer-Briggs “type”?
q How well do you feel it described you?
q In what ways did it miss the mark?
q Did you learn something unexpected?
q Is there a “letter” you more strongly identify with? Why?
q How informative/applicable do you feel this is to your career path?
Objective #2: Discuss your interests and preferred activities in a job or a career.
q If you wrote multiple lists for different avenues of your professional life, what were some commonalities that you found?