Counseling
BioSci Careers provides comprehensive counseling and coaching services to support the academic, professional and career development of trainees in the Biosciences.
During your first few years, we help you get acclimated to Stanford. There are many professional skills which, obtained early-on, will help you throughout training and beyond. These include: self-awareness about lab choice and mentorship needs, networking, social media strategy, project management, conflict management, leadership development and many more. We help you obtain these skills, apply them during training, and then translate them into your career of choice later.
In the middle of your training, we help you identify which career of choice options may best fit your interests, skills, and values. Then, we help you hone and practice skills for, and make connections to, the sectors of most interest to you. More detail on various career sectors can be found at What Can I Do With My Degree?
Before you leave, let us help you transition into your desired career of choice through deeper connections, application reviews, interview practice, negotiation strategy and important discussions to start off on the right foot in your first position.
Schedule an Appointment
You can schedule a career counseling/coaching appointment through Handshake, Biosciences, our online appointment system: https://stanford.joinhandshake.com/login.
Detailed directions to our office are available here.
Our confidential, individual counseling/coaching appointments:
Address any academic, professional, and/or career development concern trainees may have. Some of the most common questions we encounter include:
- How do I choose the right career for me?
- What are my career options?
- How do I make the most of my IDP?
- How does my academic training translate into my career of choice?
- How do I balance external stressors and my training?
- How do I get the job I want?
- How can I be successful in my career?
- What if I’m worried that I will fail or that I won’t live up to expectations?
- How do I deal with workplace or educational challenges or conflict?
Help you understand your career preferences and options:
- Discover your interests, skills, and values through assessment tests, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Strong Interest Inventory, the Knowdell Career Values Card Sort, the Knowdell Motivated Skills Card Sort, myIDP, Career Leader (for business careers), and StrengthsQuest.
- Learn about numerous career options, such as: academia/education, biotechnology, communications/media, consulting, data, finance, government, healthcare, law, policy, and many others.
Help you prepare for, and transition to, your career of choice:
- Learn job-search strategies
- Understand how to network effectively
- Review and develop LinkedIn profiles
- Develop skills for career success.
- Refine your career documents and presentations, especially:
- CVs
- Resumes
- Cover letters
- Statements of purpose
- Teaching, research, and diversity statements
- Job talk preparation
- Learn how to interview with confidence:
- Practice interviewing (mock interview).
- Learn interview strategies and techniques.
- Rehearse job talks and chalk talks.
- Practice negotiating.
Graduate Students & Postdocs
We assist graduate students and postdocs define their interests, skills, and values in order to apply these to both their academic training and beyond. In addition to using traditional counseling and coaching, we offer:
- Career interests assessments
- Job application review
- Interview practice
- Professional presentation/job talk practice
- Negotiation strategy development
- Setting academic and careers goals
- Networking strategy for academic conferences and organizational events
- Finding postdoctoral and other professional opportunities
- Anxiety and other wellness concerns effecting student academic and/or career success
MDs
Medical students, MDs, residents, fellows, and dual-degree MDs often face their own questions, including:
- Which clinical practice option is right for me?
- What are my career options both in the healthcare sector and beyond?
- What are my career options within academia, biotechnology, government, healthcare, or nonprofit organizations?
- How can I succeed in my residency and fellowship interviews?
- How can I ensure a successful match? How do I prepare for and get the job I want?
- How can I prevent or deal with burnout?
Schedule an appointment and we can help answer these questions, and prepare you for your next steps toward your career of choice.
More Counseling Resources
To see more counseling references, reading and archived presentations, please see the Resources section.
My coach had a great intuition for what I wanted even without me articulating it clearly at first. She had great ideas that I hadn't thought of, came up with a good plan with me, and had answers to all of my questions.