PRE-RETREAT SURVEY
Shaping Your Future
We are excited to announce the upcoming IDIGH trainee Retreat 2025, organized in collaboration with the IDIGH Community & Research Engagement Committee (CREC) and TREMPLIN! This retreat aims to help you, the trainees, to explore diverse career paths and make informed decisions about your professional future.
The discussions held at the 2024 IDIGH PI retreat highlighted significant discrepancies between your career guidance needs and the resources offered to you. Your upcoming retreat will be tailored to offer you the necessary tools to navigate an ever-evolving professional landscape.
To ensure this retreat meets your needs and interests, we invite you to participate in our short pre-retreat survey. Your input will help shape the agenda, including the selection of workshops and discussions with both academic and non-academic professionals. It is very important that you take the time to reply to the survey to improve the future of the training in the IDIGH Program. A strong response rate will allow us to leverage additional resources directed to your development.
The link to the survey was sent by email to 120 IDIGH trainees and advertised on the RI walls. Data were collected from November 4 to November 15, 2024.
*Percentage of respondents selecting each option
| Response |
|---|
| Networking opportunities, career fair, talks from people in industry about career development |
| Having more workshops at the Glen would be helpful. I know there’s a lot on the downtown McGill campus, but it would be good to have more at the Glen as we’re further away. |
| I would like to see more opportunities for networking through interdisciplinary conferences, collaborative research initiatives, and specialized workshops in grant writing, leadership, and advanced technical skills. These activities would significantly enhance my career development and preparedness for future academic or industry roles. |
| Interview practices |
| It would be nice to have internship opportunities in non-academic institutions like pharmaceutical companies or government research labs |
| Industry wise job affair. |
| Skills/tips for an effective CV |
| During my MSc, I was so focused on my work that I did not realize the importance of exploring other roles and generating a network outside the lab. I felt I never had time other than to work on my project. I think it would be good to have a follow-up on this matter with other mentors than the supervisor, to have another perspective and guide. |
| Exploring the career paths mentioned in question 11 would be valuable, as I often only hear about options like industry, medical school, or becoming a faculty member. It would be interesting to learn how one can pursue other career paths as well. |
| I would love to see something akin to a job fair where professionals from a wide variety of scientific career backgrounds can discuss their jobs, their backgrounds, and their career path. |
| Expanding my network especially with peers in the medical field |
| A career day may be useful, showcasing a variety of careers outside of academia with alumni or representatives and how these people achieved what they did. A career panel (Q and A) may be ideal. |
| Online networking event for academic careers and/or starting an entrepreneurship. |
| Job fair in life science outside of academia, esp with all the mid-size and smaller biotechs in Quebec. |
| A guide on writing a good statement of interest. |
| Aide a appliquer a des bourses de recherche |
| More networking events |
| Networking with pharma compagnies activities. |
| Speed networking events |
| Améliorer mes compétences à écrire une lettre de présentation et mon CV et améliorer ma façon de me présenter lors d’une entrevue. |
| I don’t even know |
#Scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is ‘Not interested’ and 10 is ’Very interested.
| Responses |
|---|
| All questions provided my concern. |
| I think you are doing a great job, it’s just difficult for the trainees to see how important is to participate in activities that will impact their future. Especially, with daily pressure to present results, study, and keep up-to-date |
| It will be my first event, so I don’t have any particular expectations or requirements. I’m just intrigued and excited to be attending this retreat :) |
| This could be an add on to the Research Symposium usually organized by IDIGH and/or the trainees. This may be a useful addition as it can communication between presenters and recruiters. |
| Not at this time |
| I wont be available during this retreat, unless it is done online |
| Not at this time |