Career pathways – Academia? Industry? Entrepreneurship?

Thursday, 26 July was a big day for the Leading the Way, Stamina and Empowering You streams of the inspiring women STEM sidebyside program. It was an evening to venture out of their comfort zone and see the possibility of a career path they may not have visioned.

The Leading the Way and Stamina stream began the session with a masterclass on Social Media and Branding You delivered by Michelle Gallaher which provided the women with the overarching importance of a presence on social media and how to make their mark.

After which the participants engaged in parallel workshops on either Getting on a Board delivered by Madeleine McManus OAM - providing them with the reality of getting on a board and providing insight on programs available to assist them in obtaining the directorship OR The Entrepreneurship’s guide to jumping ship delivered by Will Dayble - providing them a guide for shifting from career to calling.

The workshop session was then followed by a parallel panel discussion tackling the topics of Pathways from academia to industry with Siân Slade, Craig Humphries and Rebecca Tunstall providing insight on how to sell your experiences and skills, learning the language of industry and building relationships and partnerships. The alternate panel discussion tackled the Pathways to Entrepreneurship with Elpis Barons, Georgia Beattie and Angeline Achariya on understanding how to commercialize your research and create your own enterprise.

The Leading the Way and Stamina stream women then came together at the end of the session for an exclusive 30-minutes to network with key leaders across Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship showcase before the Empowering You students joined the conversations.

The second Empowering You session, proudly supported by CSIRO was attended by over 100 students, engaged in a masterclass delivered by Michelle Gallaher on Developing your brand using your Resume and LinkedIn profiles. Students were provided explanations on how their profiles should look like based on what they are trying to achieve.

The masterclass was followed by a panel discussion on How to establish your career in STEM facilitated by Felicity Furey and panelists Danushi Peiris, Simon Wilkins, Jessica Bircsak and Emma Yohanna before coming together at the end of the day to network with 36 key leaders from 26 different organizations at the Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship showcase.