IN THIS LESSON

You have invested a lot into your education. To leverage your expertise into a satisfying and productive career create an Individual Development Plan (IDP), a concept commonly used in industry to help employees define and pursue their career goals. 

Planning your development

IDPs are a tool for evaluating the career related skills, values, and interests that are important to you.

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 satisifaction.

 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:

 1.   What you put into a myIDP is what you will get out of a myIDP. Find a quiet place where you can focus for ~25 minutes to thoughtfully consider the myIDP prompts.

2.   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.

3.   myIDP 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 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 the life sciences.

3. PHaSS-IDP is for anyone considering careers in public health. This includes careers in Biostatistics, emergency management, environmental and occupational health, epidemiologists, and environmental economics.  

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!