Syracuse University Gradcast

What does a recruiter do? How can a recruiter help you in your job search, if at all?

Natalie Schmitt, a recent Career Associate in the Graduate School and a former staffing agency recruiter, has lots of great insights into the many applicants she met over the course of her time in that role and what a candidate can do to maximize their chances on the job market.

Today, Mary Idzior of the Center for International Services (CIS) takes us through their Top 10 Tips for international students to take advantage of the resources that CIS offers. If you had questions about CIS but haven't wanted to ask, this episode is for you!

In our first "Careers In" episode of the semester, we are joined by Vinnie Ustach, PhD, a Senior Machine Learning Engineer at GeneDX. Join us as Vinnie talks about his sometimes-circuitous path to his current role, his experiences--good and bad--in graduate school, and offers excellent advice on finding the right job for you.

Leo Lambert is president emeritus of Elon University in North Carolina and a nationally prominent advocate of student-centered higher education. But back in the 1990s he was associate dean of the Syracuse University Graduate School and a driving force in the establishment of SU’s highly reputed Future Professoriate Program. In this episode, Dr. Lambert discusses his tenure at Elon, his philosophy of “relationship-rich education,” his memories of SU, and his impending return to campus as guest speaker at the 30th anniversary FPP Kickoff event, 2:45 pm on Friday, September 15, in Lyman Hall 132.

Melissa Welshans, Ph.D., of the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising, joins Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., to discuss the collaboration between the Graduate School and the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA) to support the many types of fellowships and scholarships for graduate students and postdocs.

This episode's Grad Views features Yousr Dhaouadi, a Chemical Engineering doctoral candidate and the current president of the Graduate Student Organization (GSO). Yousr and Dan Olson-Bang discuss her experience coming here from Tunisia, what she's enjoyed about Syracuse University, and her perspective on the GSO--and she has a lot to share, having served in several roles leading up to the presidency. 

In a new series in partnership with the Graduate Student Organization, Syracuse University Gradcast is featuring the voices and perspectives of graduate students on campus. Today we hear from Prajakta Mane, a master's student in the iSchool, about life in the US, the differences between the Indian and American educational systems, and her thoughts on life at SU. 

Chris Caterine holds a classics Ph.D., worked in academia for a few years...and then wanted to get out. As with many, life had complicated the once-clear path that he'd expected and wanted, and he found himself casting about for new opportunities. Now, Chris works at Deloitte as a Lead in the Pursuit Center of Excellence and puts the skills he learned during his doctorate to work every day. His recent book, Leaving Academia: A Practical Guide, is essential reading for anyone wondering what their next step might be. Hear Chris's story, his thoughts on the pandemic, and on academia in general right here. 

Ever wondered if you could put your STEM PhD to work in consulting? Kim White, Vice President and Senior Consultant with Numerof & Associates, certainly thinks so. Numerof & Assoc. is a strategy consulting firm that helps businesses across the life sciences sector develop and implement strategies for competitive advantage in dynamic markets. The firm has a number of PhDs on its staff, many from STEM backgrounds. Join us to hear about the work they do, about consulting in general, and advice about how to succeed in such a role. 

What does a recruiter do? What is a hiring manager? These roles at companies are incredibly important to understand as a job seeker and are incredibly different. We’ll go over the differences and give you insight to help you improve your strategies with navigating the hiring process with both a recruiter and hiring manager.

Teaching demos are an often-overlooked part of an academic job interview, and they’re just as mysterious as their cousin, the teaching statement or “philosophy.” Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., breaks down the elements of a good demo, suggesting how to avoid inevitable pitfalls and, equally important, how to succeed at this sometimes-tricky assignment.

Whether you’re at a networking event or going to an interview, you’ll need to figure out the best way to introduce yourself to professionals. Not only that, but “small talk” is important to participate in as a way to warm up to a conversation with someone new. In this episode, we discuss tips for how you can prepare.

Graduate school trains scholars to work at research universities, even though only a small fraction of them will ever gain a permanent position at one of these institutions. For most doctoral students in the humanities and allied fields, the jobs they are being trained for don’t exist. In their recent book, The New PhD, Leonard Cassuto and Robert Weisbuch seek to overturn conventional wisdom in a clarion call for student-centered, career-diverse graduate education. I sat down with the authors, one of whom was an influential figure in my own doctoral program, to hear their take on how to fix the problems of a PhD that “turns inward,” rather than one that “looks outside the walls of the university.”

Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer G’15, answer the most frequently asked questions on job offers including: What should I say when I receive a job offer over the phone? How do I research salary? What are some of the aspects of a job offer I can negotiate? And more!

Time to dive into the mindset of the person who may hold your job or internship in their hands! Former recruiter and current career development specialist Tracy Bauer, G’15, offers tips on what recruiters think and how you can think like a recruiter in your job search. 

Join Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer, G’15, for their take on how to succeed in a new position once you have accepted an offer. We’ll go over questions to ask, things to remember, and ways to impress from the start!

Sometimes a graduate student's career path really stays with you, and that's the case with Carli Flynn, Ph.D. Carli and I worked together on two career trajectories--first, she was a postdoc at RIT in the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, before she shifted gears to become a consultant for McKinsey & Co. Listen as Carli tells us about her work, about adaptability, and about why being a graduate student in the sciences is really about entrepreneurship. 

Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer, G’15, tackle some of the most common myths they hear from students and provide alternative ways to approach the job search in a more strategic way.

Listen to some of your frequently asked questions about the job search answered by Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer, G’15. We talk about some common anxieties about being employable, how to balance your job search and your academics, and what to do when you’ve been rejected from a job.

Alumnus Akshay Bagde, G’20, (Information Management, iSchool and now Cloud Support Associate at Amazon Web Services) answers questions about how he secured a position in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and what he did prior to graduation to create success. Akshay shares what he focused on in his job search, how he balanced his academics and job search, as well as advice for current students and for those starting a new role remotely.

People talk about "transferable skills" that PhDs possess all the time. But what are they, and do you have them? If you're not in a technical field, what "skills" do you have? And what do we mean by "Beyond?" This episode is here to help you wade through the quagmire and to show you how you already are a match for jobs--regardless of the skills they name. 

Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer, G’15, answer questions on references and letters of recommendation, such as, What is the difference between letters of recommendation and references? Who should I ask to be a reference? How many should I have ready? When should I ask them? References and letters of recommendation can be a maze whether you are a master's or PhD student, and we hope this episode will offer some much-needed clarity. 

Joshua Ratel-Khan, G’20, and Mariann Fant, G’20 both graduated with master’s degrees in Communication and Rhetorical Studies in May 2020. As a couple, they navigated a successful job search both securing positions in the same geographic location during a pandemic. Whether you’re searching for a job with a partner, or not, their experience and advice will help with your own job search.

Glenn Wright, Ph.D., and Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., provide an overview of our next PhD/postdoc challenge, this time focused on Career Exploration. They outline and provide helpful tips for ways of, well, doing something when you're not sure what to do! 

Make sure to sign up for our challenges (happening each semester) so you can learn a step-by-step guide to career exploration!

Thi Nguyen, Ph.D., a career expert, scientist, and founder of InterSECTjobsims.com, joins us to describe her career path, an in-depth rundown of what InterSECT Job Sims offers, and how you can benefit from it! InterSECTjobsims.com is a website that gives you bite-sized chunks of tasks--job simulations--of a variety of career paths, with the intention of helping PhDs and postdocs to discern what careers would be most interesting to them. 

Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer, G’15, provide general tips in writing professional emails; responding to recruiters and how to respond to emailed offers.

If you’re not sure how to conduct a strategic job search, or have never conducted a job search before, take a listen as Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer, G’15,  discuss the steps so you can be more proactive in your search.

Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer, G’15, discuss their top tips and for the semester break in our last episode until January 2021. While we take a break, catch up on previous episodes.

Caitlin Dawson Brown, LMHC, G’14, helps us better understand self-care and how to reframe our thinking on what it is and why it is incredibly important to incorporate it into our daily lives. Caitlin can be found on Instagram at @cdbrowncounseling.

It's not often that you get a chance to talk to an expert in quantum computing about his experience of transitioning from quantum physics into industry, but that's the opportunity we had when we interviewed Hugo Hao, Ph.D., a MEMS development engineer II at SiTime. When Hugo was at Syracuse University, we were privileged to learn about his work and to help him in his job search, and in this podcast, he explains how he got to where he is--as well as what he gleaned along the way. 

We’ve worked really hard on our 30+ episodes so far. While we’ve worked hard, we’ve also messed up and laughed hard. In this short episode, to bring you laughs during midterms, Dan Olson-Bang, Ph.D., and Tracy Bauer, G'15, share a few of the times they’ve messed up. We hope it makes you laugh!

Sonali Pandhe, Ph.D., Hematology-Oncology Medical Science Liaison (MSL) at AMAG Pharmaceuticals, gives a sense of "a day in the life" of an MSL.