Setting Students Up For Success

When Bennett was a student, he said he connected with post-doctoral fellows and other nurses about their experiences and insights about mentoring, places to work, and workplace culture.

“Remember, the interview process begins long before the actual interview,” he says. “It begins with first impressions between yourself and potential mentors or department heads. Many of these meetings happen at regional conferences, especially during evening receptions.”

He also says communication is key – remember to send a follow-up email with people you meet to stay connected.

Bennett suggests PhD students start the job search process, including post-doctoral fellowships, at least one year in advance of earning their degree. He created a list of institutions he was interested in applying to and started submitting job applications in the fall of his final year of post-doctoral fellowship training.

“One piece of advice I received was to interview at your top choice last,” he says. “It allows you to pitch yourself and deliver your job talk to a few different audiences and handle various questions before interviewing for your number one choice.”

As with many interviews, potential employers will explain job duties during the interview process. It helped Bennett decide what job best aligned with his priorities.

“Some institutions are focused on teaching, and others are more research-intensive. My current priority is developing as an early-stage investigator and building my program of research,” he says. “Sometimes your research focus might not align well with different institutions’ research priorities, and other times your research focus aligns wonderfully.”

Bennett says deciding what job to accept isn’t an easy decision. These decisions are often multifactorial. Venturing outside the institution where an individual receives training might come with uncertainty, but also exciting possibilities. Bennett was intrigued by the evolving nurse scientist role at the Mayo Clinic, and the opportunity to make an impact on nursing science at the three-campus enterprise and beyond.

“In the past ten months, I’ve been able to invest 100% of my time into my work as a scientist and travel around the world disseminating my research," he says.

• Have a Backup Plan Bennett also says to prepare for the unexpected. “I’m in the class of 2021 – and none of us could have predicted the impact of the pandemic. Each of us learned the importance of having a backup plan,” he says.
  
  
• Adjust Expectations Bennett says a student’s PhD dissertation is just a piece of their body of research. “There might be many research questions you want to pursue, but they will happen throughout your career,” he says. “Only you can decide what your scientific contributions will be.”
  
  
• Be Nimble One of Bennett’s former faculty members told him to avoid being a one-trick pony. Be teachable and learn different things. “There might be times when your niche matches certain research or positions, and sometimes it doesn’t,” he says. “By being nimble, you can contribute your skills to other colleagues’ research, or you can broaden your scope of research.”
  
  
• Find a Good Mentor “Good mentorship is gold,” Bennett says. “This relationship requires a balanced commitment by both the mentor and the mentee.” Bennett says mentors guide to help facilitate growth, open doors to new opportunities and expand professional networks. He also says a mentee needs to be prepared to learn and most importantly, show up to move your career forward. "If you’re lucky, a mentorship turns into a sponsorship,” he says. “Long after formal obligations have ended, your mentors continue showing up for you at conferences, serve as co-authors on your papers, and become co-investigators in your grants.”