Syracuse University Gradcast

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...

Bekka Burton , G’20, M.A., Linguistic Studies, is now a User Experience Content Writer at Paychex in Rochester, NY. Prior to securing this position, she went through a lengthy job search process filled with rejection. She shares her tips for if you’re experiencing the frustrations of the job search.

Alumna and Licensed Mental Health Counselor Caitlin Dawson Brown, G’15, discusses developing more self-awareness and self-compassion throughout your life. If you would like more assistance with these topics at SU, please visit the Counseling at Barnes Center at the Arch .

Last year we compiled a bunch of our bloopers and we’re back again with more; we hope you enjoy it!

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.

Engineering Management alumnus Saad Sayed , G’21, earned four job offers by the time he graduated. We’ll learn how he strategized and planned for his job search, what he learned along the way, and what he wishes he handled differently.

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.

Join Jeffrey D’Andria , G’12, M.S., Student Affairs Counseling, former Technical Recruiter and liaison to tech and start-ups in Silicon Valley as he gives us insight into how to get a job in Big Tech (with advice applicable to other industries), advice he has for students that are struggling to land interviews, as well as what it’s like to live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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...

We tell you to make an appointment on Handshake all the time, but what is Handshake, what is it good for, and how does it help advance your career goals? Tracy Bauer, G'15, and Dan Olson-Bang, Ph. D., take you through the platform so that you know how to use its many features, from making an appointment, to learning about in-person and virtual events—and events to connect with employers through ca...

We’re back for season two! Join Dan Olson-Bang, Ph. D., and Tracy Bauer G’15, as we discuss fall opportunities to advance your career and what we learned from season one. After over 55 episodes and over 7500 downloads, we have come a long way—and hope you’ll tune in this year. Resources mentioned in this episode: - Book individual appointments via Handshake - Use VMock to get your resume reviewed...

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 g...

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.

Katina Rogers, Ph. D., author of  Putting the Humanities PhD to Work: Thriving in and beyond the Classroom  (Duke UP, 2020) gives a little background on the talk she gave during the initial publication of this episode, Scholarship for the Public Good: Expanding Definitions of Academic Success. Katina also shared her path from a Ph. D. in Comparative Literature from UC Boulder to her curr...

Glenn Wright, Ph. D., joins Dan Olson-Bang, Ph. D., as they discuss one of the best opportunities to hone your research communication abilities: the 3-Minute Thesis Competition . 3-Minute Thesis is a research communication competition hosted by over 900 universities in 85 countries worldwide. It challenges graduate students in all research programs to present a compelling oration on their disserta...

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...

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 epis...

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!