Data from a recent study shows that students that complete an internship are significantly more likely to land their top choice position after graduation than students that did not do an internship. Rachel Meade, a 5th year PhD student in the University Program in Genetics & Genomics, did exactly that after an internship with Analysis Group. Rachel did a 3 month long paid internship in health economics & outcomes research over the summer of 2022 at Analysis Group in San Francisco. When she first arrived at Analysis Group, there was a big learning curve, but she was able to quickly adapt and lean on the skills she had already gained in the Smith Lab as a Tuberculosis researcher working in a BSL3 laboratory. Skills like coding, project management, and being able to quickly survey the literature were indispensable. However, the one skill she attributes her success to the most is communication. Rachel returned to Duke with a job offer in hand and feels more motivated than ever because she knows what her next step is and what exactly she is working toward.
There is a growing body of literature from universities with internship programs, that supports Rachel’s experience and detail the importance of internships for students pursuing non-academic careers. Duke Career Services and OBGE are working to make sure that students that want to do an internship are prepared and competitive. Career Services offers Career Fairs like the upcoming the Duke Fall Career Fair on November 15th, and the 2024 OneDuke All-Industry Career Fair on January 25th, where you can gain exposure to potential recruiters and get your foot in the door by making a connection you can contact later for information and support for your internship application. Another resource that the Career Center offers, is Career Everywhere Drop-In Advising. This is a resource Rachel took advantage of and she thinks helped her application stand out in a very competitive applicant pool.
OBGE is doing their part to support students and their internship aspirations by offering a 6-week professional development class in the Fall and Spring called BIOTRAIN 898. This class is open to students in any year of their PhD and it focuses on helping students with goal setting, career planning, networking, interviewing skills, and will help prepare you to successfully apply for and complete a summer internship. In this class they talk about how to utilize an IDP and communicate with your PI about doing an internship, talk about tools available to help you find a perfect internship, have a panel of industry experts speak to the class about tips for a successful application, and have a panel of students that have completed internships talk to the class about what their experiences were like. It is also a great way to make yourself set aside time for career planning, something that can be challenging while you are working hard on your coursework, lab projects or thesis. OBGE is also supporting students’ internship aspirations by setting aside funds to cover tuition for students that do an internship over the summer. This helps relieve the burden from PIs and has increased their support of trainees leaving the lab for the summer.
Duke wants to ensure students are prepared for a successful career, no matter where their path is headed. With so many resources at hand, the hope is that there are professional development opportunities that can fit into every student’s schedule while at Duke.