Using stakeholder insights to enhance engagement in PhD professional development

Abstract

There is increasing awareness of the need for pre- and post-doctoral professional development and career guidance, however many academic institutions are only beginning to build out these functional roles. As a graduate career educator, accessing vast silos and resources at a university and with industry-partners can be daunting, yet collaboration and network development are crucial to the success of any career and professional development office. To better inform and direct these efforts, forty-five stakeholders external and internal to academic institutions were identified and interviewed to gather perspectives on topics critical to career development offices. Using a stakeholder engagement visualization tool developed by the authors, strengths and weaknesses can be assessed. General themes from interviews with internal and external stakeholders are discussed to provide various stakeholder subgroup perspectives to help prepare for successful interactions. Benefits include increased engagement and opportunities to collaborate, and to build or expand graduate career development offices.

Developing evidence-based resources for evaluating postgraduate trainees in the biomedical sciences

“…Furthermore, recent research from the NIH Broadening Experience in Scientific Training (BEST) consortium suggests that participating in professional development, such as career panels, skill-building workshops, job search workshops, site visits, and internships, neither reduces efficiency (i.e., no delayed time to degree) nor productivity (i.e., no fewer total or first author publications) [ 12 ]. Despite initial attempts to gain stakeholder perspectives [ 13 ], more research is needed to better develop and align postgraduate training with trainee goals, employer needs, entrepreneurship, and economic workforce predictions.…”