PostDoc Stories  (background, situation, emotions, solution, lesson)  and resources

http://www.benchfly.com/blog/my-postdoc-story-junior-faculty-member/

http://www.benchfly.com/blog/my-postdoc-story-start-up-company-scientist-anonymous/

http://www.benchfly.com/blog/my-postdoc-story-staff-scientist-27andaphd/

http://www.benchfly.com/blog/backing-out-of-a-postdoc-offer-for-a-better-on/  (followed by a series of links to articles of interest to postdocs)

http://biocareers.com/tv/career-path-leaving-bench-tapping-your-inner-entrepreneur   2012 webinar on leaving the bench (also see a list of other articles here on career path changes)

http://biocareers.com/tv/career-path-staying-connected-science-research-administration-career-choice-phd-scientists

http://www.benchfly.com/blog/careers-after-the-phd-a-primer-on-consulting/

http://www.benchfly.com/blog/problems-communicating-science-to-family-its-not-them-its-you/  a blog on science bench problems

http://www.benchfly.com/blog/career-development-resources/   links to thoughtful articles on a variety of relevant topics (grad school, post docs, non-academic careers, professional issues, big picture and career management)

Some Useful Online Websites for Career and Job Search (free)

Job Hunter’s Bible  – for basic career-design information (classic Richard Bolles, who wrote the equally classic What Color Is Your Parachute?)

The Riley Guide  – for basic skill building in job hunt

Job-Hunt  – for articles and literally thousands of links to information on the job search, anywhere in the U.S.
Job-Hunt for Washington State Only
Dr. Kate Duttro’s articles on Careers for Academics on Job-Hunt

The Versatile Ph.D.  – for multiple forums on the topic of careers after (and before) the Ph.D., written and read by current students, post-docs and alumni of varing degree

UW Career Center Articles on Academic Careers   -for articles, relevant UW events and other resources relating to academic careers

UW Career Center Articles on Careers Beyond Academia    -for articles, relevant UW events and other resources relating to careers beyond academia

Jibber Jobber and Fresh Transition  – for two sites  that help you plan, organize and track your job search (and contacts)

Wordle   – for a new way (using Word Clouds) to check the match between your resume and job descriptions

Preptel   – for articles on Applicant Tracking Systems  (click Resources for articles)

 Visual CV  – for a career portfolio website that you can use to store and display your choice of your career materials

Tools for Self-Assessment

All of these tools are available to anyone. Cost ranges from free to low-cost, but it’s important to have have help to make sense of it, to see how insights can be applied to your own situation and what they mean to you as an individual.

UW Career Guide DS Exercise pages     The basic exercises on these pages can be used to draw out your Dependable Strengths, which in turn, give clues to one’s preferred ways of working.

VIA Survey    The (free) VIA Survey includes a listing of your Character Strengths. (The full 18-page report can be purchased for $20.)

Strengths Finder  Assessments    The code is accessed through several books by  Marcus Buckingham, Douglas Clifton and/or Tom Rath (Gallup organization)  Three of these books are:  Now, Discover your Strengths (Buckingham and Clifton), Go Put Your Strengths to Work (Buckingham) and Strengthsfinder 2.0 (Rath)

Reach Personal Branding Assessment    Another tool that may bring out important clues, in a very different way.  (Basic tool is free, but needs interpretation.)