Sample Talks
Bound for Graduate School?
How to Gain Admission to Highly Competitive Graduate Programs!
PhD, Master’s, MBA, JD, MD, PharmD, MFA, postdoc, etc.
STEM & Humanities! All Disciplines
Including:
- Finding the right programs for you
- Statement of purpose
- Letters of rec
- Telling your pandemic story
- Finding full funding
- Identifying mentors
- Negotiating multiple offers
Appropriate for all classes, frosh-alumni, very strongly recommended for Jrs, Srs, Alumni
With Dr. Donald Asher, author of the best-selling guide to the graduate admissions process
Beginning with the End in Mind: Winning in the Academic and Alt-Ac Job Market
Speaker: Donald Asher, PhD, of Asher Associates
- How to Win in the Academic Job Market
- How to Apply Your Research and Education to the ‘Regular’ Economy
- The Alt-Ac Option Is Not Alt at All
- The Value of Parallel Plans and How to Engage Opportunities
- What to Say to Your Advisor
The PhD unemployment rate is the lowest for any type of degree, but the rumor mill says otherwise. What’s up with that? Career planning and management for those with advanced academic degrees is often haphazard, at best. With a better understanding of the actual career options for scientists and scholars, you can make sure you get to the end of your educational process with a plan for a career that will excite you. Some topics in this talk will include: What does it take to get an academic job? Why does everyone say it is impossible? Who succeeds, and what do they have in common? Why do you go to academic conferences when you’re just a grad student, and what do you do there? What are the other options for scientists and scholars? What does it take to launch a career in those directions? What is a parallel plan? What about my advisor? What do I tell him/her? If you are after any type of advanced degree, whether a master’s degree, M.D., PhD, or postdoc, you simply cannot miss this highly interactive lecture/workshop.
When Type A’s Retire
Is retirement an endless weekend? Or is it one of the biggest scams ever foisted upon an aging America? Why is it right for some but oh, so wrong for others? Dr. Donald Asher is a noted authority on career development, and he is now studying retirement experiences of people who had careers that they loved. Don’t miss this talk on what people like you do in retirement with their most precious asset– their time.
Career Development for Professional Master’s Program Students
- What good is a new degree if you can’t use it and get paid for it?
- How to get your employer to give you a promotion and a raise
- How to leverage your educational journey to jump industry and function
- How to create a network inside and outside your org using the master’s program
- Why small things lead to vastly different outcomes but you must start early
Selling Your Liberal Arts Major into the Career Marketplace
Career Decision-Making for Liberal Arts Students
Knowing Your Options, Discovering Your Passions, Opening the Door to Your Future Career Paths, Finding Really Cool Jobs & Internships
Liberal arts majors often underestimate their value in the career marketplace. High tech firms want you, big and small firms of all kinds are eager to employ you, government/education/nonprofit and cultural orgs are delighted to have you. Learn how to connect your major to your future career aspirations. Learn how to get any job with any major from national career expert, Dr. Donald Asher, author of How to Get Any Job: Life Launch and Re-Launch for Everyone Under 30, or, How to Avoid Living in Your Parents’ Basement
Choosing Your Major & Career Success
Major in art and work in business? Major in business and work in art? Yes you can!
Why You Can Major in Anything You Want (with a few exceptions)
The Link Doesn’t Work Like You (or Your Parents) Think!
The Key to Graduating on Time! The Key to a Successful Career Launch!
How to Discover What You Love, and Why That Matters Most
What to Say to Mom & Dad
Better Grad School Advising: A Faculty Development Talk
You are invited to a reception/discussion with Dr. Donald Asher, author of the best-selling guide of all time to the graduate admissions process. Brief presentation by Don followed by solution sharing with your colleagues. First 10 faculty to sign up get a free copy of Asher’s book, Graduate Admissions Essays.
Better Grad School Advising: New Tools for a New Landscape
- Surprising career outcomes for the PhD
- Alternatives to the MD
- Who should go to law school
- Easier letters of recommendation
- GRE changes due to pandemic
- What’s up with rankings?
- Should we encourage borderline applicants?
- How to tell the story of your campus
Wine? Light noshing? Late afternoon timing with wine definitely draws the crowd for this talk.
Cracking the Hidden Job Market!
How to Find Opportunity in Any Economy
How to Beat 1000-to-1 Odds to Land Your Dream Job or Internship
How to Find Jobs & Internships before They’re Announced
How to Get Rich & Powerful People to Help Little Ol’ You
- Even if you have an offer now, this is a critical lifetime career management skill! Appropriate all classes, Frosh-Alumni!