You may have read about lots of different career paths that PhD-level biomedical scientists can pursue.  You may have even heard from many scientists through seminars or informational interviews about the various careers they have pursued and the skills they use in these roles.  Nevertheless, do you still wonder what it would be like to actually be a patent agent? a medical writer? a clinical trials associate? a policy advisor?

The ASPIRE Program hopes to give you the opportunity to test out these interests through offering a series of Job Simulations throughout the year that let you explore a variety of career paths through completing an exercise that simulates real-life projects you may encounter in that job.  ASPIRE Job Sims will bring in a professional in a specific field to lead a short 2-part workshop in which participants will learn about the job that this professional does, how and why they perform typical tasks associated with the role, and ways to find out more and prepare for a career in this field.

The first session of the workshop will generally be didactic, providing participants with the background and context necessary to complete a relevant job task (sometimes performed as a group) which will be assigned at the end of the first session.  Participants will reconvene  a week or more later after they have had time to complete the project or task, and will be given the opportunity to present the work they completed, receive feedback and discuss any questions or concerns they had during the process.

These workshops and exercises are intended to help you decide if a career path in which these tasks are a critical component aligns with your skills and interests.  Job SIMS are a valuable way to learn more before you invest significant time and energy into completing an internship or seeking additional training in a given field.

Recent and upcoming ASPIRE Job Sim workshops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This workshop is made possible by materials provided by the InterSECT Job Simulations platform.  The platform is freely available to students across the world. Simulations are developed to be self-guided and initial tasks in each exercise may be completed in as little as one hour. Please visit their website if you would like to explore up to 53 other interactive exercises in a variety of career fields including clinical trials, data analytics, entrepreneurship, medical writing, policy and advocacy and more.