Career Goals

Table of contents

1. Career Goals
   1. Getting a Job in Industry
      1. Skills
      2. Displaying Your Skills
         1. Linkedin
         2. Github
         3. Resume/Cover Letter
      3. Networking
         1. Finding people to interview
         2. Running an informational interview
      4. Preparing for job interviews

Getting a Job in Industry

Skills

Towards the latter half of your degree, it’s important to think about the portfolio of skills you are building. You have more skills than you think, research in this group will build skills in materials simulation, programming, data analysis, and communication, among other things. Compare this to the skills you need for the job you want. If there is something you feel you are missing, talk to Ambar about doing a project that can emphasize that skill.

There are some industry-specific skills which may not come up much during your research such as familiarity with SQL, AWS, or other techniques. Spend some time practicing these skills outside of research if needed.

Displaying Your Skills

Armed with this portfolio of skills, now you need to advertize them effectively:

Linkedin

• Create a Linkedin page and add a professional headshot
• Make as many connections as possible with people you know
• Write a short about section (~2 paragraphs). Use what other people have written as a guide.
• Add jobs and achievements to your page, you can also add links to your papers

Github

• Clean up existing scripts and add them to your Github account
• Collaborate on projects within the group using Github
• Practice pushing code to a personal repo and add to it regularly
• For larger projects, write a clear README file and create a Read the Docs for it.

Resume/Cover Letter

Polish your CV and prepare a cover letter for the job you are applying to. Formatting is different for different fields so ask for an example from someone and ask people to look over your CV in informational interviews.

Also consider creating a Twitter account and/or a personal website.

Networking

A lot of people feel weird about networking, but it’s an important part of finding a job and maintaining a professional network. Networking mostly comes down to meeting people during collaborations, conferences, or through friends. Your professional network can help you find a job in the future!

One important part of this is conducting “Informational Interviews” with people working in industry.

Finding people to interview

This is where your personal network comes in; ask people you know to connecting you with people in the industry you want to work in. You can also ask for a 1-on-1 meeting with people you interact with at conferences or in your collaborations. You can try reach out to people on Twitter, Linkedin, or cold-email though your success rate will be much lower if you don’t know each other offline.

Running an informational interview

Informational Interviews typically follow this pattern:

1. Describe your background, interests, and career goals
2. Ask your interviewee about their background and current position
3. Ask several prepared questions about their work, important skills you should build, etc.
4. Wrap-up the meeting, thank them for their time, and send a thank-you email afterwards. Follow up on anything you discussed in the meeting such as other people they could connect you to.

Some good questions to ask:

• What is your day-to-day work like?
• What kinds of skills should I build to be a competitive applicant for a position in your industry?
• What are the current trends in your industry?
• Are there current openings at your company or related companies that I should know about?
• Ask curiosity questions and follow-up questions about their work/research
• Can you look over my CV? What could be improved in your opinion?
• Are there other people you think it would be good for me to talk to? Can you connect me to them? (this is the most important question, your interviewee may be able to introduce you to other people in the field, building your personal network)

Some other notes:

• Aim to ask only a few (~5) questions. They usually lead to a longer conversation which you don’t want to rush.
• An informational interview is not a job interview and you should avoid asking your interviewee to hire you.
• Make sure you are on time and don’t go over time (unless they are cool with it), they are spending valuable time on you!
• Dress a little more formally than you would normally and be respectful, you want to make a good impression.
• Take notes on what they say and try to ask good follow-up questions.
• You may want to consider keeping in touch with this person over the long term by reaching out regularly or meeting them at conferences.

Preparing for job interviews

Different industries have different interview practices but you will want to prepare for a technical interview and a behavioral interview designed to assess personal fit.

Look up what kinds of questions get asked in technical interviews in your field and prepare for them. Companies will also ask behavioral interview questions to assess personal fit, such as “describe a situation where you demonstrated integrity”. To prepare for these, research the STAR interview technique and prepare for common behavioral interview quesitons. You will want to prepare a few stories about yourself that demonstrate good qualities and practice using them to answer interview questions.