Ep 79: Career Readiness, Self-Advocacy, & Mentoring Up - Propelling Careers Podcast 

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Jim and Lauren both get questions about career readiness, self-advocacy, and how to mentor up. Inspired by a recent Q&A session Jim had at Boston Children’s Hospital, in this episode, we answer the questions from the audience, and other advice to help our listeners. We hope you find the advice in this episode helpful and hope you enjoy listening.

• Why Jim was at BCH?
• Strategies we have found most effective for prioritizing time and energy to balance research, writing, mentoring, and networking?
• Advice for postdocs to set realistic short-term and long-term goals to stay on track in academia
• Common time-management mistakes postdocs make and how these can be avoided
• Advice for postdocs to approach difficult conversations with their PI, especially when there are disagreements on research direction?
• Advice for how postdoc can maintain a healthy work-life balance and professional boundaries when their PI has high expectations, including making requests at all hours and occasionally overstepping personal boundaries?
• Steps postdocs can take early on to prevent authorship disputes
• Institutional resources or best practices for resolving authorship conflicts
•  Developing productive relationships with colleagues, your boss, and other people you engage with in your work

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.

As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!