For the second instalment in the graduate Q&A blog series, Alex from @brainybabescommunity kindly shared her journey after graduating and how she secured her job in research in Washington DC! Alex's storyMy name is Alex, I'm 22 (23 in a few days!) and I graduated last year with a bachelor's degree in Psychology. I went to the University at Buffalo in New York, my local university. I got a job doing research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Washington DC area right out of university. Q: How did you secure your current job? What was the interview process like and how did you make yourself stand out against other applicants?A: While working in a research lab at my school, my advisor mentioned this great opportunity to apply for a paid position doing research at the NIH. At first, I didn't apply because I was afraid I wouldn't get accepted to such a selective position and I was afraid of failing. However, my advisor believed in me and taught me that you should never shy away from a job opportunity you're interested in, even if you're afraid you might not be qualified or be selected - it's always worth a shot! I applied in the winter of my senior year, had the interviews, and was selected for the position by January! My video interview was well over an hour long, and it involved two of my future bosses asking me questions about my research, how I would respond to certain situations, and why I was interested in their lab and research. I wasn't sure if a long interview was a good or a bad sign, but I felt like I was true to myself and tried to be honest with all my answers. Later, when I started working with them, my interviewers told me my personality was exactly how I came across in the interview. My advice to anyone in an interview situation is try to be your genuine self as much as possible. Don't try to change yourself. If they don't like your genuine self, the job position probably isn't the right fit anyway! And most of the time, being yourself pays off and helps the interview flow more naturally. I think the most important ways to make yourself stand out in an interview are: 1. Be yourself 2. Dress professionally - it's always better to overdress for an interview than underdress 3. Research your interviews or the company, and have questions ready to ask that show you did your research and are truly interested in the position Q: How did you feel when you started your job vs now? What does you day to day look like?A: When I first started my job, I was extremely nervous. Just a couple weeks after my graduation I was starting a new job in a new city hundreds of miles from home! At first, I wasn't even sure I'd like my coworker, but she's since turned out to be one of my best friends. My advice is expect the first day - or first week - of a new job to be scary and overwhelming. Don't expect first impressions of your coworkers or bosses to be accurate - give yourself time to get to know people. A typical day at my job would involve me waking up at 6am, starting work at the NIH Clinical Center at 7am, where I would check-in with our patient volunteers (people who had signed up to stay in the hospital for 1-4 weeks to participate in clinical research on obesity/nutrition) and start any patient procedures/tests that needed to be done. Some of the procedures were simple surveys or bringing the patients to a different department for a blood draw or MRI scan, while other procedures I complete myself, such as DXA body scans or resting energy expenditure tests using a metabolic cart (if you're interested, look these up!). I would typically have 1-2 meetings per day, but the majority of my day to day was completed independently and with my co-workers, with minimal supervision. This was scary at first but I had months of training, and now I love the independence of my job and the comradery of my coworkers! Due to the pandemic and stay at home orders in the US right now, my day to day involves working remotely, attending virtual meetings, and conducting data analysis. However, this has given me the time to develop a project with my friend, Ari, called Brainy Babes! Brainy Babes is a community of women in university or recent graduates who have come together to learn from each other and discuss a wide range of topics in a supportive, online community. We currently have members from all over the world - including the US, France, UK, and the Netherlands - and we have groups dedicated to science, psychology, self-development, business, design, and more! We are always looking to expand our community, so please check out our instagram page @brainyblossomscommunity for more information if you'd like to join! Q: What do you miss most about university?A: The thing I miss most about university is my friends! I have great coworkers and new friends at my job, but I miss living close to all my best friends from college and being able to go to different school events together, staying up late either studying or... not studying, and seeing each other every day. I would say I miss taking classes and learning new things, but I'm still taking night classes after work to prepare for medical school!
If you would like to feature on the blog and share how you beat the blues, please contact me!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorThe Blue Graduate is a career and wellbeing advice and guidance blog for students and graduates experiencing post-uni 'blues'. Archives
September 2020
Categories
All
|