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b'Deciding to embark on graduate studies can be a big step to take. For a lot of you out there, it represents your first leap into independent life and can carry a lot of unknowns, especially if you are a first generation graduate student. One of the big challenges this decision carries, besides having to deal with stereotypes to do with \\u201cstaying in school\\u201d versus \\u201cgetting a job\\u201d is that for the first time you will be fending for yourself as an active adult and negotiating your way through applications and offers for what will be, for all intents and purposes , a 5-year professional engagement leading to your degree. This week, Stefanie, the host of the Career Conversations channel on Youtube will be sharing her experience in her ongoing doctoral research and some insights she has drawn from her work on Career Conversations.
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\\nStefanie is a PhD student in skin cancer research and as a side project, she has a Youtube channel where she helps fellow PhD students make the most of their careers by showing them the features of their careers that they are in control of.
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\\nJoin the Papa PhD Postgraduate Career Exploration Group!
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\\nWhat you\\u2019ll learn about in this episode:
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\\n \\tThe difference in effort and amount of information from high school to university
\\n \\tThe importance of weighing how the detailed curriculum fits with your interests when choosing a master\\u2019s program
\\n \\tWhy you should allow yourself to come back on decisions you may have made earlier in your life \\u2013 new experiences and new connections may change your outlook completely later on
\\n \\tHow an internship in industry can rekindle your passion for research and even lead to publications
\\n \\tHow learning to trash a project that is not working is a good skill, which is predominant in industry
\\n \\tSome specifics of industry culture Stefanie was not expecting at the outset
\\n \\tHow networking can help you in your academic and non-academic applications
\\n \\tHow a supervisor/superior who inspires loyalty drives productivity and morale up in a team
\\n \\tWhat you can learn and gain by taking active part in university/institute governing bodies
\\n \\tHow important it is to set standards for yourself when looking for a position, minimum conditions to be met for you to consider an offer
\\n \\tHow being detached from your results and your successes will help you keep moving forward at a healthy pace
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\\nThis episode\\u2019s pearls of wisdom:
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\\n\\u201cI think that part of why I thought I hated science was really the university and the studying, and so on, which didn\\u2019t go well with me, but as soon as I had some independence, I really fell in love with science again.\\u201d
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\\n\\u201cWhat inspires me the most about my current supervisor is actually her leadership style, because she is a very, very kind person, but she is definitely not a pushover.\\u201d
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\\n\\u201cOne thing she said to me was \\u2018Always show up as the best version of yourself that is available to you on each particular day.\\u201d
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\\n\\u201cAs researchers, we are very often measured in citations. This is not a good way to be measured \\u2013 I don\\u2019t think it says anything of the quality of a researcher, but this is still the reality of how researchers are hired, very often. It is not the only factor, but it is a huge factor. And we are not in control of whether people like our paper, but we are in control of how many people see our paper. And since I\\u2019ve realised that we can tweak the algorithm, especially of Twitter, very much, and that there are a lot of scientists on Twitter, I thought \\u2018Why not show people how to do this?\\u2019.\\u201d
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\\n\\u201cJust ask for whatever you want and you will be surprised by how willing people are to help you.\\u201d
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\\n\\u201cMost people don\\u2019t realize how valuable their talent really is. And I hope that there will come a day when universities will be competing for talent by offering proper work conditions.'