Workshop
IN THIS LESSON
You have invested, and will continue to invest, significant time, energy, and effort into your education. How does all this effort translate into a satisfying career?
You will:
Create an Individual Development Plan (IDP), a concept commonly used in industry to help employees define and pursue their career goals.
Planning your development
An Individual Development Plan (IDP) can be used to connect your academic training (skills) to your own personal values and interests. Through a series of reflective questions related to your skills, values, and interests, an IDP can help you define and pursue career goals that work for you.
What do we mean by skills, values, and interests?
Skills: which of the core competencies of scientific professionals, for example, research skills, communication skills, or leadership skills, resonate with you the most?
Values: what personal values do you want to define your professional career and work environment? When your own values align with those of your chosen career, you are likely to have greater job satisfaction.
Interests: What are your preferences regarding work activities and environments? Finding out what you enjoy doing regularly will help you identify a career that you enjoy.
Some advice to keep in mind before starting a myIDP:
Consider approaching the IDP from a position of purpose, not a position of destination.
What you put into an IDP is what you will get out of an IDP. Find a quiet place where you can focus for ~25 minutes to thoughtfully consider the IDP prompts.
Have an open mind and answer the prompts the way you yourself would answer. Do not answer the prompts from the point of view of the career professional you think you will be someday, answer using your own voice.
Honest answers will provide the best data. No one else will see your results so be honest with the skills, values, and interests you currently have.
Scoring “low” on an item is not a bad thing. It could mean that you have yet to learn that skill or have never thought about that interest/value. That is OK! “Low” scores can serve as a roadmap for identifying what skills you need to learn or what interests/values you should consider reflecting on.
An IDP is an algorithm and does not make perfect predictions. Do not panic if you are presented with career matches that do not match your current vision. Have an open mind and explore these new career possibilities, you may be surprised!
There are four possible IDPs to choose from. They all share the core assessments related to skills, values, and interests. Any of these tests will be valuable in allowing you to reflect on matching your own skills, values, and interests to possible career paths. Feel free to take more than one!
1. Imagine PhD was originally designed for students in the humanities and social sciences. However, Imagine PhD is the most flexible of all IDPs and will be very useful for students interested in science careers. This IDP has an incredible amount of additional career development resources built around it that you can engage with as the next step after completing the IDP.
2. myIDP from Science Careers. This IDP is for life sciences and is mostly geared towards academic research careers in biomedical and life sciences. If you are feeling a research career, this IDP is for you.
I completed an IDP. Now what?
You just identified what skills you are confident in and which skills still need some developing. Use your IDP as a road map! How can you further develop the skills you need?
Be reflective on the values and interests that you scored high. These are clearly important to you. Now, how do you start to integrate these into your career plans?
You made an account to take any of the above IDPs, which means your results have all been saved. Check back in 6 months, take the IDP again, and see what has changed.
3. PHaSS-IDP is for anyone considering a career connected to public health. This includes careers in Biostatistics, emergency management, environmental and occupational health, epidemiologists, and environmental economics. **This IDP is currently in beta-testing, so have some patience if you choose PHaSS-IDP. It will continue to get better!
4. ChemIDP has additional resources for anyone considering careers in industry and/or start-ups and entrepreneurship. If these careers are calling you do not be scared away by the inclusion of chemistry! Industry and entrepreneurship are for all scientists!