Labor Day may signal the end of summer, but PhD students are just as busy as usual. Did you know that human resources (HR) and labor relations specialists are currently in high demand in both industrial and academic institutions?
Curious what human resources and labor relations are about? Check out these PhD programs and career opportunities:
With a PhD in HR and Labor Relations, you have options to go into academia or industry and easily earn a six-figure salary. Factors such as your publications, experience, the number of people you manage, and the type of employer can impact your base salary. Salary is simply one of the factors in your career decision, but ultimately you should just follow what you really love to do!
Sources: phdinhr.org, BLS.gov
Helloquence]]>Did you know that the First Labor Day was celebrated 100+ years ago in New York City?
Labor Day has always been held on the 1st Monday of September since 1882 to pay tribute to the contribution of workers to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. Read more history of the Labor Day here.
Also check out studies on "The Challenging Future of the U.S. Labor Movement" by PhD students and professors from UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, Duke, Harvard, and more.
Happy Labor Day!
Sources: dol.gov, scholarstrategynetwork.org
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Sources: boston.com, cleveland.com, tripsavvy.com, curbed.com, pennlive.com, sftourismtips.com
Ben Duchac]]>I was part of Shenoy Lab at Stanford University studying the functionality of one part of the brain in the preparation of arm movements. The objective was to be able to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of human neural prosthetics for paraplegic patients.
After my graduation from Stanford, I decided to join the Boston Consulting Group in Bangkok. I am currently working as a Consultant there now.
I was always interested in gaining more experience in business during graduate school because I wanted to see how technology can be transformed from an idea in a lab into a product in the real world. By working in consulting, I am exposed to various aspects of business ranging from new product development to organizational design. It’s one place where I can learn multiple skills in multiple industries at the same time without having to move my career around.
What graduate school has prepared me the most for consulting is the ability to problem-solve. It might sound really broad but it is true. Graduate students face different challenging problems every day in graduate school. We have to learn to be creative and adaptable to tackle new problems that emerge every day. This capability sounds easy on paper, but you need to practice in order to acquire the skill on a competent level.
No, I am happy with all the decisions I made. Mistakes were made but I learned greatly from them.
There is one piece of advice from my advisor that has always stuck with me. He told me once that I should just focus on what I do rather than spread myself too thin. I think that's what helped me get to where I am today.
Don’t stop learning even after you graduate. I think that is one of the most refreshing part of post-grad life. There is so much more to learn.
Thank you Joe, and best of luck with your future endeavors!
The months leading up to commencement can be stressful and hectic. Between finishing your thesis, studying for your defense, and searching for a job, you also need to plan for commencement. Luckily for you, we’ve gone through this before, and with this experience compiled a checklist of things you need to do. While we can’t write your thesis, we hope that this guide will streamline planning for you so that you can actually finish writing your thesis.
Most people invite their parents, siblings, and significant others. It’s always nice to see grandparents and other extended family at commencements too - we all know they are always proud of you and would never skip a chance to celebrate with you. Be aware that some ceremonies, usually the university-wide commencement that includes the undergraduates, only allow you to invite a limited number of guests.
Your guests’ trip length depend on their schedules and the days commencement fall on. If they haven’t visited before, try to get them to stay a few extra days to show off the city, campus, and that lab, office, or library chair that you’ve spent way too many hours on.
Once you’ve determined the trip length, look for airplane tickets on your favorite flight search engine (we like Kayak and Hipmunk).
Depending on where your university is, what you plan on doing, if you already have a car, and how many guests are visiting, it may be useful to rent a car. You can also just use Uber if you don’t plan on going on a far excursion.
Hotels book up quickly around the area, so if you plan on doing that, book early. Airbnb can be a great alternative, particularly if you have a large posse that wants to hang out in a house together.
Show your family and friends your favorite places on campus and around the area. If there are other places that you know they or you would like to see, plan a trip there.
If you want to take your guests to your favorite restaurant, book early. Popular restaurants get booked up quickly, especially the day of commencement. If you find that they are, try calling them to see if they have any tables open on the days leading up to commencement or the days after. Opentable and Yelp are great for making reservations.
Your guests will be excited see you, congratulate you, and celebrate with you. Once you’ve taken care of all of these considerations, you can focus on finishing your thesis so that you can actually walk.
]]>It’s time for graduation, and we want to make sure that you wear your beautiful regalia correctly. During my own graduation, I remember searching on Google for videos to try to figure out how to properly wear my gown. And since we often get this question here at PhinisheD Gown, we decided to share the instructions with you.
Most men wear a nice crisp dress shirt with a tie on top. A nice pair of slacks or khakis plus dress shoes complete the look. Ladies usually wear a summer dress and heels or flats. If your ceremony is on a grass field and you want to wear heels, make sure the heel points are wide enough that they don’t sink into the ground.
Most doctoral graduation gowns are worn closed with a front zipper, except Stanford which has an open style. Your sleeve should sit around your wrists, and the bottom of the gown should be about 8-12" above the floor.
To keep the hood secured in place, loop the string attached to the hood onto the button inside the gown near the top of the front zipper. Alternatively, you can loop the string onto your shirt’s button underneath the gown.
Once you have the hood on, have someone flip the part of the hood on your back inside out starting from the top. This reveals the hood lining color and shows off your school colors. To keep the hood in place, use the string to loosely tie the 2 buttons on the hood that should be sitting on your upper back.
If you are receiving your PhD degree, don’t wear your hood until after the hooding ceremony. During the hooding ceremony, you will be granted the degree and hooded by your department.
Wear the tam horizontally so that it is parallel to the ground and sits about an inch above the ears. Place the tassel on the left side of the tam (flipping the tassel is only for undergraduate degrees).
Have fun and celebrate your big day in style with PhinisheD Gown!
]]>As a soon-to-be graduate, you may have started thinking about what you want to do after you earn your doctorate degree. It’s great to start exploring your options as early as you can because you’ll have more time to talk to people to get advice and figure out what you want out of your next step.
Reach out to friends, past and current colleagues and alumni who have worked on each side to get their perspectives. A great way to find see what your network is up to is through LinkedIn. People are surprisingly eager to give advice, so go ahead and try to schedule coffee, a meal, or even a phone call with them.
Prepare for these by thinking of questions you want to ask ahead of time. Ask them what their thought process was. Make good impressions, and you may just be referred to job openings through one of these exploratory chats. In this networked age, the truth is that you must network yourself into the best jobs.
Keep in mind that everyone has different motivations and work preferences, so take their advice as inputs into your larger decision instead of letting them make your decision for you. That’s why it’s important to get as many perspectives as you can.
What do you value in your life? Your work interests? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Spend some time time introspecting, and think about how these play out in academia versus industry. Remember that you can make generalizations when comparing industry to academia, but depending on the company, division, and role, working in industry may not differ much from working in academia.
Do you enjoy the environment that you work in now? Being in academia right now, you have a great perspective into what life would be like if you stayed in academia. Would you enjoy having your advisor’s role and responsibilities? Do you enjoy teaching students? Writing papers and applying for grants?
In industry, you’re likely to work together as part of a team on a day to day basis. Work in academia is much more independent, even when collaborating with others in your field and working with others in your group or lab.
Working in teams in industry means that you’ll have to work a defined set of hours so that you can easily chat with your colleagues. This doesn’t mean you’ll work more or less, or that you won’t be working at night or during the weekend, just that you don’t get flexible hours because others are dependent on you being in the office at the same time they are.
In the business world, you’re less likely to be working on things with no foreseeable business-practical application. Companies need to make money in order to pay you and survive, so what you work on should have some timeline to impact the business’ bottom line.
In academia, you get control over what you work on to the extent you can get funding for it. In industry, this is not always the case. You’re more likely to be assigned to work on projects, and projects can last from months to years, on things that you may be interested in or not. You don’t get the same autonomy in academia of being able to work on what you want, but it can be rewarding working working
Your career is a journey, one you’re just starting on, and so you shouldn’t expect to find the mythical perfect job right. If you’re curious about industry, try it out (an internship is an especially great way to do this). If you find at any time that you don’t like it, you can return to academia. The reverse is always true. Don’t feel like you’re making the wrong decision or that you’ll always be trapped based on the decision you make.
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