Propelling Careers

Lauren Celano

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers. This podcast provides insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences.

  1. Sep 17

    Ep 118: Myth Busting - Leadership and Failure - Propelling Careers Podcast

    In this episode we will focus on two myths that we hear often. One is Leadership skills are only important for people in formal leadership positions - like being a manager of people and the second one is that failure is a sign that I don't belong. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.    Leadership is not only for people in formal leadership positionsLeadership can occur at any career stage.Leadership is a behavior, not a title There are many way to show leadership that is not managing people directly including: leading collaborationsleading interactions with vendorsleading new initiatives organizing initiatives setting up processes for variousresearch and non-research activitiesmentoring peopleshaping culturepromoting ethical research practicesinfluencing teams and decisionsleadership roles in associations   An important leadership quality is creating an environment where people can thrive. Another important Leadership quality is being able to learn from failure   Failure is not a sign that you don't belong Failure can be a great opportunity to learn Many orgs embrace failure, especially innovative onesSome else’s success does not means that you are failing (or falling behind)Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School,launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.   As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice weprovide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

  2. Aug 31

    Ep 116: How to sell yourself without being salesy - Propelling Careers Podcast

    Welcome to Propelling Careers Podcast episode 116. In this episode we will focus on how to sell yourself without being salesy - this topic has come up multiple times in many of our coaching discussions so we thought we would do this episode to provide advice. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.    it’s important to be Truthful (about challenges and accomplishments) it’s important to be authenticIt’s important to be excited and proud It’s important to be facts and evidence-based Some cultures are not comfortable talking about themselves    If you don’t talk about your skills and experiences, people won't know. Instead of trying to convince people you're valuable, show them how your experience connects to what they need. Lead with curiosity Tell stories instead of listing qualities Focus on outcomes Be confident without exaggerating Make the information you share relevant Think of your communication as not about selling yourself, but more as making it easy for someone to understand the value you bring.     Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School,launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.   As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

  3. Aug 15

    Ep 115: Informational interview Advice - Propelling Careers Podcast

    In this episode we will focus on tips to do effective informational interviews.  In the last episode, 114, wetalked about networking tips. Since one way to follow up from networking could be an informational interview, we thought this episode would be timely in case any of our listeners have informational interviews after their networking. We cover advice including these points below. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.    People may have more time over the summer to connect for informational interviews  When you reachout to someone for an informationalinterview, give an idea of what you are looking to learn.  For example, are you looking to learn about career advice, about their specific job, about the general market, etc How to approach a warm invitation vs Cold Call  How to structure your reachout Be flexible with mtg time and logistics Have Questions prepared Ask if you can help the person you are speaking with tooLauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School,launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.   As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice weprovide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

  4. Jul 28

    Ep 114: Building and Connecting with your Network - diving deeper into one of the topics from ep 108 - Propelling Careers Podcast

    In this episode we will focus on tips to build and connect with your network especially during more informal get togethers that happen over the summer. We briefly discussed this topic in episode 108 and will dive deeper in this episode covering points including these below. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.    Summertime is a great time to connect with your network through outside of work activities such as bbq’s, summer parties, informal events, etc Tips to network based upon what kind of event you are going to and who will be there   Tips for engaging with people especially if you are having a hard time in your job search Tips for your elevator pitch Tips to engage in conversations  Tips to follow up Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School,launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.   As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice weprovide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

  5. Jul 19

    Ep 113: Part 4: Q’s from Optimizing your CV in the Era of AI talk at Festival of Genomics - Propelling Careers Podcast

    Welcome to Propelling Careers Podcast episode 113. This is a continuation from episode 110, 111, and 112 - to cover more Questions that we received from the Festival of Genomics talk on Optimizing your CV in the Era of AI that we did in Boston recently. This will be the last podcast in this series – we are thrilled that we had so many questions that we were able to do 4 episodes. We again want to give a shout out again to  Jennifer K. Ocasio Adorno, PhD, at North CarolinaState University who wrote down all the questions that we got during the talk and Victor Guy, Life Sciences Event Producer, at Front Line Genomics who organized the talk and invited us to do it. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.    Networking & Referrals How does networking help with the application process?Do you need a referral or connection to network?   Career Transitions, Gaps, and Identity If you transitioned from another sector, should you include prior experience?Should you include career breaks? How do you explain gaps?If publications are under a maiden name, how should you indicate this?  International, Visa, and Early‑Career Considerations Resources for applying overseas—what to include in CVs/resumes?What about students applying during OPT?  Cover Letters & Supporting Materials Can cover letters make or break your application?If you have a link, how do you integrate it?Can AI or reviewers pick up on links?How important is an updated website or online portfolio?  Job Search Timing & Planning What is the most active hiring period?How far in advance should you start the job search (e.g., PhD to industry)? Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School,launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.   As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

  6. Jul 10

    Ep 112: Part3: Q’s from Optimizing your CV in the Era of AI talk at Festival of Genomics - Propelling Careers Podcast

    This episode is a continuation from episodes 110 and 111 - to cover even more Questions we received from the Festivalof Genomics in Boston - our talk was Optimizing your CV in the AI Era.  We want to give a shout out again to Jennifer K. Ocasio Adorno, PhD, at North Carolina State University who wrote down all the questions that we got during the talk and Victor Guy at Life Sciences Event Producer, Front Line Genomics who organized the talk and invited us to do it. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.    Tailoring, Fit, and Strategy focused questions What would be the strategy to get the interview?Do you need to 100% match the posted role?How flexible is your job title when tailoring an application? What impact does applying to multiple jobs within the same company have?How much does timing matter when applying?  AI in Hiring & Applications focused questions Thoughts on using AI to generate or reformat resumes/CVs?What happens if you opt out of AI review in an application?How do you deal with AI‑based interview systems?  Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) & Application Portals focused questions Can you skip questions on the ATS?If your major is not in a dropdown, should you select the closest option?How long do systems store your information?Does association with the system depend on your email address?What happens when you reapply for a different job at the same company?Does it matter which email address you use?What’s the difference between ATS, Workday, etc.?  Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School,launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.   As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers. This podcast provides insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences.

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