Maximizing Your Individual Development Planning

Date: 

Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Location: 

Countway Library - Minot Room

The use of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) have been widely promoted to support graduate student professional development. IDPs are structured frameworks to consider short-term and long-term career plans, laying a foundation for meaningful goal-setting.   This workshop will introduce trainees to knowledge and skills to inform IDP discussions.  It is open to all trainees, including master's and doctoral students.

Part 1: More Than Just Paperwork: Making IDPs part of a Meaningful Mentor-Mentee Discussion

Angela DePace, Ph.D.

Students who complete IDPs may find it helpful to discuss these with advisors or peers.  Strategies to improve these discussions have previously been described in a Harvard-based publication: Yearly Planning Meetings: Individual Development Plans Aren't Just More Paperwork.    This portion of the workshop will walk through this helpful advice.  Through this discussion, students will learn (a) the goals and benefits of properly completing and effectively discussing a student IDP, (b) the factors that should be considered as part of an IDP, and (c) strategies for preparing, executing and following up on an IDP discussion.

Part 2: Backward Career Design: Using Reality and Resources to Inform Your IDPs

Jason Heustis, Ph.D.

This portion of the workshop is designed to enhance Individual Development Planning by infusing facts and tools to supplement considerations at various stages in personal and professional development.  Students will be presented with (a) up-to-date information on graduate career development (based on the most recent data and publications, (b) the newest and most helpful online tools to support skill building, career exploration and job searching, and (c) strategies for using these tools to overcome common problems in graduate career planning.  Participants will be encouraged to raise their own challenges to allow for collaborative problem-solving.

This session is part of the multi-session "PGE Career Navigator Series: Wellbeing as a Foundation for Professional Success", being hosted in collaboration with the Countway Library.

Registration Closed