We are celebrating! It’s been a year since we posted the first simulations on InterSECTjobsims.com, and three years since the first job sim was developed. We are celebrating the amazing community of graduate students, postdocs, faculty, staff, and professionals who have contributed to this project. Individuals have tried out the sims and given feedback, and developed and submitted new job sims to the library. Professionals and employers have given informational interviews and taken the time to read and vet the simulations. I was a little nostalgic, and also curious about the data, so if you are, too, take a look at our journey below.
Summer 2016 – Started interviewing PhDs in diverse science-related careers and prototyping job sims.
Fall 2016 – PhD students and postdocs beta tested the job sim experience, complete with the self-reflection sheet and SMART goals check list.
Summer 2017 – Completed the development of 10 science job sims in 6 career areas. Collaborated with individuals at 6 universities. PhD students and postdocs started creating job simulations to contribute to the online library.
Summer 2018 – Launched intersectjobsims.com!
Fall 2018 – ScienceCareers published an article about the job sim library. InterSECT job sims was selected for presentation at two nationwide conferences on graduate education.
Spring 2019 – Partner with ImaginePhD.com, a career exploration resource for humanities and social science graduate students, and started creating job sims for their job families.
Summer 2019 – One year since launching this online library! In the last year, 12,000 users from 100+ countries have checked out this career exploration tool.
We now have 8 humanities-focused simulations and 35 science simulations from 23 different authors across 11 institutions. And there are more on the way! Special thanks to the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for the initial grant funding through the Career Guidance for Trainees, and UC San Francisco’s Office of Career and Professional Development for partnering on the beta testing. Thanks also to ImaginePhD.com for support and Washington University for continued support.
For me, it’s been a wonderful experience to see a community of students, postdocs, staff, faculty and professionals…and InterSECT job sim explorers…come together and contribute to this online library.
-Thi
InterSECT Job Simulations 