Own Your Future program positions trainees for career success
The career prospects of graduate students have changed considerably in the past two decades, particularly for PhD candidates. Historically, doctoral education has focused on preparing trainees for academic research positions. However, with Canadian universities producing far more PhDs than there are new faculty openings, the vast majority of our graduate students now go off campus in search of careers in the private sector.
This requires graduate students to develop professional skills and qualities that prepare them to be competitive in today’s ever-changing job market.
The interest in professional development for graduate students extends to the Tri-Council Agencies, who want to ensure that the recipients of grants and scholarships are provided with the best training and opportunities to succeed after they graduate.
In fact, the traditional training of graduate students in the lab not only teaches them how to complete a western blot, or how to record signals from a tissue or a cell; trainees also learn time management skills, how to cope with stress and interpersonal challenges, and how to work in teams.
Trainees also learn how to effectively communicate their research results and how to present their findings to a variety of different audiences, including their supervisors, peers, friends and families. In addition, they gain leadership experience by teaching, mentoring, and pursuing outreach activities in the community.
Many students have relied on these professional skills to successfully transition from academia to industry and alternative careers. However, little of this professional skill development is currently formalized within the curriculum for graduate students, although many of these skills are now explicitly part of the learning outcomes of graduate courses and thesis work.
The implementation of the Own Your Future program by Western’s School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will add a formalized framework to professional skill development at the doctoral level. All new PhD candidates at Western will be enrolled in this program, gaining access to online assessment tools, workshops, and customizable schedules that will maximize their success in graduate school and future careers.
The Own Your Future curriculum is structured around six core professional competencies: Career Engagement, Communication and Relationship Building, Intercultural and Social Fluency, Thriving, Teaching and Learning, and Leadership.
With the implementation of this program, Western remains at the forefront of graduate education, aiming to provide the highest quality educational experiences for students.
Some graduate programs have already embraced this opportunity and now use the Own Your Future program as an effective recruitment tool.
Susanne Schmid, PhD, is Associate Dean, Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry. She also currently leads the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Western University. Dr. Schmid is an internationally recognized biomedical researcher focused on elucidation of cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying sensory filtering and higher cognitive processes in normal and disease states.
