Are you becoming disillusioned by the prospects of a career in academia? Are you already disillusioned?
Traditional academic jobs are few and far-between, let alone the unicorn six-figure, hard-money, tenure-track positions with reasonable teaching loads and sufficient start-up funds to propel your research program. And they want how many years of post-doc experience? With the bleak academic job market, what is a social scientist to do?
Instructor, Dr. Jake Ball, received his MA in anthropology and PhD in epidemiology from the University of Florida, and successfully transitioned from academia to government and then from government to industry, and has been on both sides of the interview table.
In this workshop you will learn about some of the hiring norms, expectations, and business processes in the federal and private sectors. Who are the gatekeepers to the interview? What can be expected in interviews? What does career progression look like in the respective industries? How does compensation compare across sectors? Retirement? Stability? Lifestyle? Just like graduate school, there is no “right” way to do it, and everyone has a different journey.
As a group, we will: (1) decode the job requirements and qualifications of posted positions in the federal government and private sector; (2) translate your experiences into a cohesive narrative that answers the ultimate question: “why is this position a good fit, and a natural next step in your career progression?”; (3) provide hands-on, no-judgment feedback on the tools (e.g. resume, federal resume and CV) you are using to tell that narrative.
WARNING: there is a lot of pre-work, but you need to know what you’re up against. You will be asked to create a full, public LinkedIn Profile and add me. In addition to some readings, you will be asked to identify 2 open positions in DIFFERENT federal agencies on www.usajobs.gov in the GS-9 to GS-11 salary range, and 2 open positions in the private/nonprofit sector via LinkedIn that you could be interested in or qualified for after graduation. Lastly, you are expected to develop a one-page professional resume (download a free template online) and a draft federal resume (using the federal resume building tool on usajobs.gov). The pre-work will take a lot of time, but it will be immediately helpful for you to think about and practice selling yourself on paper.
This workshop is limited to 15 participants
Instructor: Dr. Jake Ball
Jake Ball is a Senior Associate Director, Value and Evidence Liaison at Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. In this role, he communicates the clinical and health economic scientific evidence around the company’s portfolio of drugs to health system and insurance executives with the goal of increasing the access of the drugs (i.e. more plans covering the drugs at lower cost to patients) and improving patient outcomes. Prior to Boehringer, Jake was a civilian epidemiologist and health statistician for the US Army Public Health Center he led a COVID-19 modeling team and worked on a variety of behavioral and social outcomes projects. From 2018-2021, Jake held Adjunct Assistant Professor positions with the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Kentucky, and the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and mentored graduate students. Jake received his MA in anthropology and PhD in epidemiology from the University of Florida, and successfully transitioned from academia to government and then from government to industry, and has been on both sides of the interview table.
Registration Fee: $50
Date: Friday, April 19, 2024
Time: 9:30am - 4:00pm
Location: Cowden building, Room 124
Lunch will be provided for all participants
Registration is full, waitlist is closed
Workshops are open to faculty, staff, graduate students and undergraduate students both ASU and the non ASU community.