Career Consultation and Advising Sources
Professional Advising and Consultation
Professional advising services
Biosciences graduate students, alumni, and trainee spouses are invited to use our one-hour appointments with a career advisor. Our advisors have an understanding of how personal issues affect academic/career progress as well as a breadth of knowledge about the professional opportunities available to students in the biosciences. Speaking with an advisor in a confidential setting about your personal career concerns can help you clarify your priorities, define your goals, prepare your credentials (CV, resume, cover letter), help you organize your individualized career development and transition, and more.
Scheduling a consultation
Please email us at somcareers@stanford.edu. In your email, please include your availability for an appointment in the upcoming two weeks, Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Career and professional assessments
In advising sessions, an advisor may administer and interpret your career and personal interests, skills, and values using the following assessments:
Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The MBTI uses a four-letter code to help those taking the assessment identify their personal preferences for decision-making, communicating, and interacting with the world. This information can then be translated into professional fit and interests. The MBTI can be taken online at no cost, and results must be obtained and reviewed in a one-hour consultation appointment.
Strong Interest Inventory (SII)
The SII compares a person's professional, leisure, and educational interests with those employed in particular fields. Based on similar interest patterns, the test can be used to evaluate potential interest and satisfaction in various occupations. The SII can be taken online at no cost, and results must be obtained and reviewed in a one-hour consultation appointment.
Knowdell Motivated Skills Inventory
The Knowdell Motivated Skills Card Sort is a quick and easy way to identify the areas that are central to personal and career satisfaction and success. Based on experience, feedback, and instinct, clients use the cards to assess their proficiency and motivation in 51 transferable skills areas. This card sort is taken at no cost and administered and reviewed in the office during a one-hour consultation appointment.
Knowdell Career Values Inventory
The Knowdell Career Values Card Sort is a simple tool that allows one to prioritize their values in as little as five minutes. Fifty-four variables of work satisfaction—such as time freedom, precision work, power, technical competence, and public contact—are listed and described. This is an effective tool for job-seekers, those fine-tuning their present jobs, and career-changers at all ages and stages. This card sort is taken at no cost and administered and reviewed in the office during a one-hour consultation appointment.
CareerLeader
CareerLeader is a fully integrated approach to business career self-assessment, built on the premise that one's interests, motivators, and skills will drive one's future career success and satisfaction. Based on over 50 collective years of scientific research and career-development experience, CareerLeader has been designed to:
- Provide expert assessments of one's unique pattern of business-relevant interests, motivators, and skills.
- Match an individual to specific business-related careers when compared to our database of hundreds of thousands of business professionals.
- Help one understand what organizational cultures will be the best fit for them.
This assessment is administered in the Biotechnology Business and Finance class during the winter quarter or by request.
Thomas-Kilman Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)
The TKI is a helpful assessment for understanding how different conflict-handling styles affect interpersonal and group dynamics. It can also go beyond conflict management to support one's team building, leadership and coaching, as well as retention goals. This assessment is administered in the Biotechnology Business and Finance class during the winter quarter or by request.
StrengthsQuest
Coming soon! StrengthsQuest will help a trainee gain insight into one's areas of greatest potential—the things that one naturally does best. It provides valuable information about who you are and gives you clues to the type of work environment in which you are most likely to thrive. This assessment can be taken online at no cost, and results must be obtained and reviewed in a one-hour consultation appointment.
