Science Sims for PhDs

InterSECT is a collection of interactive simulation exercises of career tasks. Completing these job sims helps an individual identify their interests by trying it out. Each job sim was written to simulate a common task of PhD-level professionals in industry, academia, and government sectors. While the simulations do not evaluate an individual’s performance on the task, they offer insight into the specific, real-life duties of varying career paths. By completing job simulations you can consider which careers are of interest to you and utilize provided resources to explore future courses of action by following up with professionals in the career field.

HOW TO EXPLORE

If you’re early to exploring what’s out there - read through a 3-5 job sims and take note of the organization type, the information you’re working with, and the way you will communicate what you find. The goal is to get insights into your interests, and narrow down 1 or 2 career areas for which you will deepen skills and expand your network.
If you’ve narrowed down one or two job areas you’re interested in pursuing - dig deeper in the to the job sim tasks, and complete one or two job sims completely. Your goal is to learn the terminology of the field, where professionals in the field gather and share information, and possible communities.
If you’re interviewing for roles in a job area, use these as practice for the work and to help you understand the task, the process for a task, challenges, and how you might report on it and to whom.
RESOURCES TO HELP YOU GET STARTED AND STAY MOTIVATED:
For more tips, watch how to use InterSECT (Youtube) by Dr. Thi Nguyen, founder of InterSECT.

Read about how researchers are using InterSECT Job Sims (ScienceCareers article, 2018).

Follow on Winning in Science Substack for more tips on Career Exploration.