More on coaching undergrads

Greetings St Louis Local Section Members!

Here is an update on the “Graduating Undergrad” coaching workshops. We successfully completed the February and March workshops with 20+ attendees from SIUE, UMSL, SLU, Maryville, and Principia.

At the February workshop, ACS Career Consultant Lisa Balbes gave several important tips on résumé writing and how to prepare for interviews. We also had a demonstration of the job search process on search engines (indeed.com) and analysis of job postings.

The March workshop included a presentation on how a job is created for a technical/chemist role in industry, what’s important to the hiring team and the hiring process. We also had discussions with three industrial chemists:

• Cynthia Chapple, Founder of STEM and a Research Chemist
• Rhonda Woerndle, Project Manager at Bayer Crop Science
• Tabbetha Bohac, Healthcare Strategy Analyst at Numerof & Associates

The presenters shared their journey — how they got to where they are in their careers today — their day-to-day focus and activities, and the importance of soft skills like communication and teamwork at work. Tabbetha shared her LinkedIn profile and tips on how to present yourself on LinkedIn.

The third workshop is right around the corner on April 14. Looking forward to planning the Fall workshops and adding more schools to the program! Stay tuned.

All the Best,
Samina, Chair