Focus on measuring predictors of career outcomes for graduate students & postdocs
Little is known about the career prospects of advanced degree-trained individuals, despite the considerable resources they and the institutions that train them devote to developing these scholars & scientists.
Recently, institutions have been collecting and reporting important training and outcome data.
However, more needs to be done to improve our understanding of career prospects for Masters and Ph.D. students and well as postdoctoral scholars. Such data will allow us to better prepare these talented individuals for a changing 21st Century workforce.
My research has shifted from my training in Neuroscience toward work that seeks to better understanding career outcomes of graduate students and postdocs. In addition, I seek to understand the effect professional development programming initiatives have on career outcomes.
Recently, institutions have been collecting and reporting important training and outcome data.
However, more needs to be done to improve our understanding of career prospects for Masters and Ph.D. students and well as postdoctoral scholars. Such data will allow us to better prepare these talented individuals for a changing 21st Century workforce.
My research has shifted from my training in Neuroscience toward work that seeks to better understanding career outcomes of graduate students and postdocs. In addition, I seek to understand the effect professional development programming initiatives have on career outcomes.
Research Work
Work conducted in collaboration with members of the Future_PI Slack Community
Key Take-Home Points:
We hope that this study will provide an avenue for better data-driven decision making by the applicants and search committees, better evidence-based mentorship practices by principal investigators, and improved hiring practices by institutions.
Key Take-Home Points:
- Analyzed 317 responses to an anonymous survey for faculty job applicants from the May 2018 - May 2019 market cycle
- Participants:
- Largely from North America
- Mostly conducting research in biological/biomedical sciences
- Participants were highly successful with 58% of applicants receiving at least one offer.
- Traditional metrics (funding, publications, etc.) of a positive research track record above a certain threshold of qualifications were unable to completely differentiate applicants that did and did not receive a job offer.
- Applicants’ perception of the faculty job application process as unnecessarily stressful, time-consuming, and largely lacking in feedback, irrespective of a successful outcome.
We hope that this study will provide an avenue for better data-driven decision making by the applicants and search committees, better evidence-based mentorship practices by principal investigators, and improved hiring practices by institutions.
Traditional metrics of scholarly productivity were assessed against faculty offer percent (Offer % = # of offers/# applications).
While continuous data was split by median for illustrative purposes, correlation analyses were also conducted and supported these relationships, or lack thereof.
(Excerpt from Fig 4 in Preprint)
For Further Reading
The PhD Factory: The world is producing more PhDs than ever before. Is it time to stop?
The impact of postdoctoral training on early careers in biomedicine
Intellectual synthesis in mentorship determines success in academic careers
Labor and skills gap analysis of the biomedical research workforce
The 10,000 PhDs project at the University of Toronto: Using employment outcome data to inform graduate education
Applying inter-rater reliability to improve consistency in classifying PhD career outcomes
Visualization of gender, race, citizenship and academic performance in association with career outcomes of 15-year biomedical doctoral alumni at a public research university
The impact of postdoctoral training on early careers in biomedicine
Intellectual synthesis in mentorship determines success in academic careers
Labor and skills gap analysis of the biomedical research workforce
The 10,000 PhDs project at the University of Toronto: Using employment outcome data to inform graduate education
Applying inter-rater reliability to improve consistency in classifying PhD career outcomes
Visualization of gender, race, citizenship and academic performance in association with career outcomes of 15-year biomedical doctoral alumni at a public research university