Fig 1.
Postdocs do not receive adequate professional training based on needs assessment surveys and interviews.
(A) miLEAD Consulting Group interviewed 36 industry professionals and analyzed 192 non-academic job postings to identify the professional skills employers seek in applicants. The top soft skills attributes desired by hiring managers were marked as perceived weaknesses and strengths of PhDs based on industry interviews. (B) A needs assessment survey was distributed to UMMS faculty (266 responded), who rated the value each skill contributed to their career success. For clarity, shown are responses from full, associate, and assistant professors, but the results were consistent across all faculty categories. (C) miLEAD Consulting Group surveyed and interviewed current and former postdocs from 14 departments within UMMS in order to determine the professional development training postdocs receive. Their relevant responses are summarized as current and desired state of professional development training. The most desired professional skills that are career agnostic is indicated by asterisks.
Fig 2.
Overview of You3 program planning, framework, and application process.
(A) Overview of the seven steps of planning, advertising, execution, and outcomes measurement of the You3 program. (B) Based on combined needs assessment and survey data, the You3 program content addressed 3 major themes: Managing Yourself, Managing Your Project, and Managing Your Team. Topics were then organized by theme, and each one was presented over the 8-week program in the order indicated in the table. (C) Summary of application process form.
Fig 3.
You3 participants have diverse career interests but little formal training in professional skills, and they display high commitment to the You3 program.
(A) Applicants were asked to select one or more career paths they were currently interested in from the broad categories of Academic faculty, Academic non-faculty, Non-academic jobs, and Don’t-Know/Other. 45% of applicants had more than one future career interest. (B) A pre-program anonymous survey asked the You3 participants to report any training they had received in Self-awareness, time management, resource management, human resources, building a team, and interpersonal relationships. Their responses were categorized into formal training (led by an instructor with engagement activities, i.e. workshop, class), informal training (purely self-driven, i.e. online webinar, reading, etc.), and no training prior to enrollment. (C) Attendance data was collected from PhD students and postdocs from themed and non-themed events organized by our office. The percent registered attendance is compared to the average attendance percentage of the You3 participants during the program.
Table 1.
Survey instrument reliability analysis.
Fig 4.
Cross-sectional assessment reveals that You3 participants have a higher perception of knowledge than controls across You3 program modules.
You3 participants and controls self-assessed their current knowledge (high = 5, low = 1) for each of the eight You3 program modules. Controls were then stratified by previous participation in any career development programming. Current knowledge scores for each module were compared between You3 participants (blue, n = 23), controls who had participated in any career development programming (white, n = 18), and controls who had not participated in any career development programming (yellow, n = 35), median (solid red line) and interquartile range (dotted red line) displayed (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.005, ****P < 0.00005, Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s posthoc test).
Fig 5.
You3 participants indicate higher perception of growth across You3 program modules compared to controls.
You3 participants and controls self-assessed their growth (4 = High Growth, 3 = Medium Growth, 2 = Low Growth, 1 = No Growth) over the You3 program timeframe for each of the eight You3 program modules. Controls were then stratified by previous participation in any career development programming. (A) Growth in each module was compared between You3 participants (n = 23), controls who had participated in any career development programming (n = 18), and controls who had not participated in any career development programming (n = 35). (B) Odds ratios for “High Growth,” “Medium Growth,” and “Low Growth” were calculated comparing You3 participants (n = 23) to all controls (n = 53) for each of the eight You3 program modules (95% confidence intervals displayed).