De-jargoning your research: By Dr. Gwendeline Wong ... · • The purpose of this workshop is to:...

De-jargoning your research:Communicating your research in resumes and interviews

By Dr. Gwendeline Wong

Career Advisor (Postgraduates)

Centre for Future-ready Graduates

• Craft an impactful and targeted resume or a well-answered interview response to demonstrate your knowledge of the role, highlight your relevant skills and showcase your personal brand.

• Your resume and your interview responses have to be well-understood by people without your technical background.

• The purpose of this workshop is to:

1) Communicate your technical competencies effectively to the recipient of your resume or your interviewers during your interview

2) Ensure relevance to employers’ requirements

Workshop Objectives

1. Resume Writing2. Interview

Responses

De-jargoning in:

• An industry that is related to your field of research: For HR managers/executives who would review your resumes who might not have a background in Science and Technology. Often, the hiring managers are not the first person to have a look at your application.

• An industry that is not related to your field of research:For HR department and the hiring manager to understand what you have been doing and how can it be relatable/applicable to the role you have applied.

What is de-jargoning important for?

• Focus too much on your research and not on the employers’ needs.

• Using Technical Jargons that are understood by your research field but not employers/recruiters.

• Listing sections that are not relevant to the job.

• Lacking resume customisation to the organisation

Common Mistakes made by PGs

It happens to superheroes too..

Resume writing

Resume writing in 4 steps

Step 1

• Start from employers’ needs & requirements.

• Identify what skills are needed from JD.

Step 2

Think of examples from your research experiences, how do they meet the requirements of the role?

Step 3

Demonstrate how your competencies (i.e. skills) match the requirements in CAR format.

Step 4

Proof-read and apply finishingtouches.

Different resume formats

Structure and Format: Academic Resumes

1) Education (if you have zero years work experiences)

2) Research Experiences (Write in CAR Format)

3) Professional Experiences (internships if any) (Write in CAR Format)

4) Teaching and Mentoring Experiences (Write in CAR Format)

5) University/Public Engagements (Write in CAR Format)

6) Technical Skills and Languages

7) Publications

8) Conference Proceedings/Presentations

9) Patents

10)Awards/Scholarships

11)Memberships for Societies

12)Academic References (optional)

(unlimited pages)

Structure and Format: Industrial R&D Resumes

1) Education (if you have zero years work experiences)

2) Research Experiences (Write in CAR Format)

3) Professional Experiences (internships if any) (Write in CAR Format)

4) Teaching and Mentoring Experiences (Write in CAR Format)

5) University/Public Engagements (Write in CAR Format)

6) Technical Skills and Languages

7) Publications

8) Conference Proceedings/Presentations

9) Patents

10)Awards/Scholarships

11)Memberships for Societies

12)Academic References (optional)

(maximum two pages)

Structure and Format: Industry Resumes

1) Education (if you have zero years work experiences)

2) Professional Experiences (internships if any) (Write in CAR Format)

3) Research Experiences(Write in CAR Format)

4) Teaching and Mentoring Experiences (Write in CAR Format)

5) University/Public Engagements (Write in CAR Format)

6) Technical Skills and Languages

7) Additional Information

(maximum two pages)

How to determine the extent of de-jargoning necessary?

How to write a resume : 4 Steps

Step 1

• Start from employers’ needs & requirements.

• Identify what skills are needed from JD.

Step 2

Think of examples from your research experiences, how do they meet the requirements of the role?

Step 3

Demonstrate how your competencies (i.e. skills) match the requirements in CAR format.

Step 4

Proof-read and apply finishingtouches.

Start From The Employers’ Needs

The extent of de-jargoning

• Refer to the Job Description to determine how much de-jargoning might be required.

• Certain Technical Jargons can still be retained if they are classified as industry-specific

language.

• Study the job description by determining the technical skills, soft skills and attributes

that are needed to execute the role.

• List out the technical skills required.

Refer to the Job Description for Clues

Refer to the Job Description for Clues

Technical Skills required in the role

• Create new sequencing methods

• Development of sequencing reagents and consumables

• Designing and executing experiments

• Synthetic organic chemistry, small molecule synthesis, polymer synthesis, biomolecular bioconjugation

• NMR, HPLC and MS

• Lyophilization

• Nucleotide chemistry

• Various chromatography purification techniques

Related words to the terms used to describe the technical skills can be used in your resume and doesn’t require dejargoning.

Technical Jargon – Word Map

methodsSequencing

reagents

OrganicSynthesis

Small molecule synthesis

Polymer synthesisBiomolecular

bioconjugation

NMR

HPLC

MSAnalytical techniques

Structural determination

methods

Nucleotide chemistry

consumables

TruSight Oncology UMI Reagents

Chromatography

DNA, RNA

General SpecificDNA preservation techniques Lyophilization

Step 2: Think of examples from your own experiences so far

How can you demonstrate that you meet the requirements of the role?Excellent verbal/written communication skills

Experience

Teaching assistant in an analytical chemistry lab experiment.

Volunteer to execute logistics for the NUS Postgraduate Career Fair.

Research project on synthesizing discrete oligomers by upscalingsingle unit monomer.

What did you do?

• Trained undergraduates by conducting lab session.

Choose the experiences that are most relevant to the points in the job description.

List what you had achieved in that experience

What did you do?

• Presented research work to Euro materials conference 2019.

• Published research work in the Journal of Polymer Science

Putting it Together in CAR Format

C A R

Writing good CAR statements

• Competencies

• Actions

• Results

Example of a CAR statement

COMPETENCY

Led a group of 8 members

ACTION

to organize the annual event

for Engineering faculty through

detailed brainstorming

sessions and by working closely with external vendors, such

that

RESULTS

the event successfully attracted a

breakthrough attendance of

500 participants and more than 20 engineering representatives.

Transformation of action statements to CAR Format

Excellent verbal/written communication skills

• Before C.A.R

Teaching Assistant

• Trained undergraduates in conducting lab experiments.

After C.A.R

Teaching Assistant

• Conducted HPLC lab lessons to 30 university level students through effective oral presentations and live demonstrations and received positive teaching feedback score of 4.5/5

Before C.A.R

Graduate Researcher

• Presented research work to materials conference.

• Published research work in the Journal of Polymer Science

After C.A.R

Graduate Researcher

• Creatively presented on the topic of synthesizing discrete oligomers at the Euro Materials conference and was awarded the best student research prize

• Drafted and revised a manuscript on photo‐RAFT single unit monomer insertion by effectively explaining the research and successfully published the work in the Journal of Polymer Science

De-jargoning in resume writing

How to dejargon your resume

Step 1

• Start from employers’ needs & requirements.

• Identify what skills are needed from JD.

Step 2

Think of examples from your research experiences, how do they meet the requirements of the role?

Step 3

Demonstrate how your competencies (i.e. skills) match the requirements in CAR format.

De-jargon your CAR statements

Step 4

Proof-read and apply finishingtouches.

Can the reader of the resume understand you?

After C.A.R, before de-jargoning

Graduate Researcher

• Creatively presented on the topic of synthesizing discrete oligomers at the Euro Materials conference and was awarded the best student research prize.

• Drafted and revised a manuscript on photo‐RAFT single unit monomer insertion by effectively explaining the research and successfully published the work in the Journal of Polymer Science

After C.A.R, after de-jargoning

Graduate Researcher

• Creatively presented on the topic of using chemical synthesis/methods to selectively make a low molecular weight polymer material at the Euro Materials conference and was awarded the best student research prize.

• Drafted and revised a manuscript on utilizing light-activated chemical synthesis/process to cause a reaction between small molecules by effectively explaining the research and successfully published the work in the Journal of Polymer Science

Resume De-jargoning techniques

1) Generalisation- replacement of jargon with a general term/phrase that can be used to represent it. Not a direct synonym.

2) Elaboration of Acronyms-Description of Acronyms

3) Simplification- replacement of jargon with a layman synonym or a synonymous phrase.

Translation of technical jargons to layman language: Generalisation

Before De-jargoning:

• Characterized the concentration data of VOCs using positive matrix factorization to apportion the biogenic & anthropogenic sources of these contaminants.

After De-jargoning:

• Characterized the concentration data of Volatile Organic Compoundsusing computational modelling to determine the naturally-occurring & man-made sources of these contaminants.

C

C

A

R

A R

Translation of technical jargons to layman language: Elaboration

Before De-jargoning:

• Characterized the concentration data of VOCs using positive matrix factorization to apportion the biogenic & anthropogenic sources of these contaminants.

After De-jargoning:

• Characterized the concentration data of Volatile Organic Compoundsusing computational modelling to determine the naturally-occurring & man-made sources of these contaminants.

C

C

A

R

A R

Translation of technical jargons to layman language: Simplification

Before De-jargoning:

• Characterized the concentration data of VOCs using positive matrix factorization to apportion the biogenic & anthropogenic sources of these contaminants.

After De-jargoning:

• Characterized the concentration data of Volatile Organic Compoundsusing computational modelling to determine the naturally-occurring & man-made sources of these contaminants.

C

C

A

R

A R

Translation of technical jargons to layman language-Changes in CAR

Before De-jargoning:

• Performed regression analysis on the atomic distance measurements in scanning tunneling microscopy images of grown 2D materials to simulate the crystal structures

After De-jargoning:

• Analyzed the physical properties of grown 2D materials through statistical calculations to facilitate the building of its atomic model

C A

R

C A

R

Green: GeneralisationBlue: GeneralisationPurple: Generalisation

Before De-jargoning:

• Optimized heterostructure crystallisation parameters by altering the temperature conditions to synthesize according to engineer’s technical specifications

After De-jargoning:

• Developed customized solutions for collaborators by recommending optimized growth conditions to meet their sample needs

C A

R

R

C A

Green: GeneralisationBlue: GeneralisationPurple: Generalisation

Translation of technical jargons to layman language-Changes in CAR

Strategy to de-jargon: Resume Writing

Identify the technical terms in your CAR statements that are not so commonly known to the general audience

Is it an acronym?

Yes No

Elaboration of the acronym Is it a single word ?

Yes NoCan it be replaced with a

synonym?

Yes No

Simplification(synonym )

Simplification (phrase)

Generalisation/ Simplification

Can the reader understand the elaboration of the acronym

No

Simplification /Generalisation

Cross-check

Is it present in the JD?Yes

No

Retention of the jargon

Activity Time (10 minutes)Think about your research experience and craft out a CAR statement. Share your CAR statement: After De-jargoningShare it on:

https://tinyurl.com/y4rzkb7q

Interview Skills

What is an interview?

• Entre Vue – “Catch a glimpse of”

• Two-way conversation , not an interrogation

• Opportunity for employer and yourself to find out more about each other

• Platform for you to showcase your communication and presentation skills

Common Interview Formats

One-to-One Interview

Panel Interview

Phone Interview Digital Interview

Common Industry Interview Questions- Introduction

Types of Interview QuestionsPersonal Narrative QuestionsTell me more about yourself.Tell me more about the research projects you have undertaken.Tell me more about your research interests.

Industry Awareness QuestionsWhat do you know about the job/company?What are the challenges facing this industry?How can you contribute to our organisation?

Behavioural/Situational QuestionsTell me a time when you have to resolve a conflict in a team.Have you dealt with difficult collaborators before?

Curveball QuestionsHow many traffic lights are there in Singapore?

Hypothetical QuestionsIf you witness an unethical behavior in office what would you do?

Common Academic Interview Questions

Research awareness/Behavioural QuestionsCan you share of one challenge that you faced during your research and how did you go about solving it?Give me an example of when you had to use analytical skills during your research? Share with me about your best research achievement.

Research Interests QuestionsWhy do you want to pursue research at this institution? Which faculty or professor are you keen to work with and why?What are your future research goals and how does the research you aim to pursue benefit the society?

Interview Responses Frameworks

Interview strategies and frameworks

Past-Present-Future3-Points Technique

S.T.A.R. Framework

Situation Task Action Result (Reflection)

Common Industry Interview Questions- Introduction

Types of Interview QuestionsPersonal Narrative QuestionsTell me more about yourself. (PPF or 3 points)Tell me more about the research projects you have undertaken. (PPF) Tell me more about your research interests. (PPF)

Industry Awareness QuestionsWhat do you know about the job/company?(3 points)What are the challenges facing this industry? (3 points)How can you contribute to our organisation? (3 points)

Behavioural/Situational QuestionsTell me a time when you have to resolve a conflict in a team. (STAR)Have you dealt with difficult collaborators before? (STAR)

Curveball QuestionsHow many traffic lights are there in Singapore? (step by step logical thinking)

Hypothetical QuestionsIf you witness an unethical behavior in office what would you do? (STAR)

Identify the Frameworks that suit the question

Research awareness/Behavioural QuestionsCan you share of one challenge that you faced during your research and how did you go about solving it? (STAR)Give me an example of when you had to use analytical skills during your research? (STAR)Share with me about your best research achievement. (STAR)

Research Interests QuestionsWhy do you want to pursue research at this institution? (3 points)Which faculty or professor are you keen to work with and why? (3 points)What are your future research goals and how does the research you aim to pursue benefit the society? (PPF)

De-jargoning in Interviews

How to de-jargon interview responses

1. Determine the best framework to response the interview question.

2. Utilise the structure and describe/elaborate your research experience.

3. Identify jargons that are not present in the job description.

4. Use one/combination of de-jargoning techniques (ieGeneralisation/Simplification/elaboration) to make your statements more understandable for people who do not have your background.

Strategy to de-jargon: Interview responses

Is it an acronym?

Yes No

Elaboration of the acronym Is it a single word ?

Yes NoCan it be replaced with a

synonym?

Yes No

Simplification(synonym)

Simplification(phrase)

Generalisation/simplificationCan the interviewer understand the elaboration of the acronym

No

Simplification /Generalisation

Cross-check

Is the interviewer a technical expert?Yes

Retention of the jargon

Identify the technical terms in your research storybank that are not so commonly known to the general audience

No

Answering using "Past-Present-Future”

Tell me about yourself?

Present: “I am an NUS postgraduate majoring in Biological Sciences and I am keen to pursue career as a Research Scientist in XX company…

Past: “During my PhD, I led and managed 2 research projects independently. One was a collaborative project with Duke-NUS. I generate double knockout RBL cell line withCRISPR-Cas9 system. In addition, I also set up endogenous labelling system in RBL inconjugation of CRISPR-Cas9 system with truncated fluorescence protein, and led to the generation of knock-in cell line…

Future: “I hope to use my research skills and genomics knowledge to help the research division be more customer-centric, so that they can generate greater value for the company and their shareholders.”

Answering using “3-Points”

Tell me about yourself?

Firstly: “I am strong in genomics knowledge. For one of my research projects, I generate double knockout RBL cell line with CRISPR-Cas9 system.”

Secondly: “I am an innovative researcher. As a PhD Student , I set up an endogenouslabelling system in RBL in conjugation of CRISPR-Cas9 system with truncated fluorescence protein, and led to the generation of knock-in cell line …

Lastly: “I am an effective project leader and work well in a team. Having to lead and manage 2 research projects independently, as well as collaborating with a team of medical researchers at Duke-NUS, and was able to achieve the intended outcomes.”

Answering using "Past-Present-Future”

Tell me about yourself?

Present: “I am an NUS postgraduate majoring in Biological Sciences and I am keen to pursue an academic career as a Research Fellow in Prof XX Research Group…

Past: “During my PhD, I utilized a genome editing technology to disable the gene in a Rat Basophilic Leukaemia cell line. In addition, I also established a fluorescence labelling system that is of internal origin in the cancerous basophil cells by conjugation of the genome editor with the shortened fluorescence labelled protein to repair the gene…

Future: “I hope to use my research skills and genomics knowledge to help the business be more customer-centric, so that they can generate greater value for society and their shareholders.”

Using elaboration: Expanding what is a RBL cell line that has been abbreviated in an acronymUsing generalisation: CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome editing method and explanation of RBL cell line (ie. cancerous basophil cells)Using simplification: replacement of truncated with shortened, explain Knockout/knock-in cell line

Answering using “3-Points”

Tell me about yourself?

Firstly: “I am strong in genomics knowledge. For one of my research projects, I utilized a genome editing technology to disable the gene in a Rat Basophilic Leukaemia cell line.”

Secondly: “I am an innovative researcher. As a PhD Student , I established a fluorescence labelling system that is of internal origin in the cancerous basophil cells by conjugation of the genome editor with the shortened fluorescence labelled protein to repair the gene…

Lastly: “I am an effective project leader and work well in a team. Having to lead and manage 2 research projects independently, as well as collaborating with a team of medical researchers at Duke-NUS, and was able to achieve the intended outcomes.”

Using elaboration: Expanding what is a RBL cell line that has been abbreviated in an acronymUsing generalisation: CRISPR-Cas9 is a genome editing method and explanation of RBL cell line (ie. cancerous basophil cells)Using simplification: replacement of truncated with shortened, explain Knockout/knock-in cell line

Activity Time (10 mins)

1)Using PPF/3 points, craft out a self-introduction: your name, current status and explain your research?2)Turn to your partner and share your response to the person.3) Can your partner understand you? What has been done well? What are the areas of improvement?

Answering using S.T.A.R. Framework

“Can you share of one challenge that you faced during your research and how did you go about solving it?”Situation: “During my research internship in Korea, I was working on a project to improve the performance of the Vietnamese-Korean Statistical Machine Translation system I was joining the research which was a collaborative project of the Knowledge and Linguistics Engineering lab, Vietnamese Computational Linguistics Center and SYSTRAN company. We encountered an unexpected low performance when we were incorporating NER information into the training corpus”

Task: “ We have to boost the performance of the system.”

Action: “I inspected the training corpus manually. I realized there was a mismatch in the number of NERs identified in sentence pairs.”

Result: “After ratifying the problems by doing an inner join of NERs to sacrifice rich semantic information over retaining a similar distribution of NERs in both side, the performance of the translation system was enhanced.”

Answering using S.T.A.R. Framework“Can you share of one challenge that you faced during your research and how did you go about solving it?”Situation: “During my research internship in Korea, I was working on a project to improve the performance of the Vietnamese-Korean Statistical Machine Translation system I was joining the research which was a collaborative project of the Knowledge and Linguistics Engineering lab, Vietnamese Computational Linguistics Center and SYSTRAN company. We encountered an unexpected low performance when we were incorporating Named-Entity Recognition information into the database collection of text and linguistic information. This was done by locating and classifying words in a sentence represented for an entity such as person’s name or location. ”

Task: “We have to boost the performance of the system.”

Action: “I inspected the text and linguistic database manually. I realized there was a mismatch in the number of named-entities identified in sentence pairs.”

Result: “After ratifying the problems by selectively retaining only Named-entity that are available in both language sides, the performance of the translation system was enhanced.”Using elaboration: NER acronymUsing generalisation: Training corpus is a text & linguistic database. Sacrificing semantic information and retaining similar distribution were replaced with selective retention of Named-entity. Using simplification: Explanation of NER in a phrase.

Answering using S.T.A.R. Framework

“Share with me about your best research achievement.”

Situation: “During my research in rechargeable lithium ion batteries, one of the challenges was to create a cathode material with high capacity.”

Task: “Based on the literature research, I found that vanadium pentoxide hadhigh capacity but the nanostructure was unstable during galvanic cycling.”

Action: “I tried various methodologies and synthesis to improve the stability of the nanostructure for prolonged galvanic cycling.”

Result: “Eventually, I established a reproducible synthesis method that not only strengthened the nanostructure, but also increased the porosity of the vanadium pentoxide cathode material, which led to better conductivity and increased capacity. The results were also published in a scientific journal.”

Answering using S.T.A.R. Framework

“Share with me about your best research achievement.”Situation: “During my research in rechargeable lithium ion batteries, one of the challenges was to increase the usage period of the battery in between charging.”

Task: “I carried out literature review and found that a transition metal oxide material could be suitable. However, the material was unstable after repeated charging cycles.”

Action: “I tried using chemical methods to vary the material’s structure and improve the stability of the material to prolong the lifespan of the material.”

Result: “Eventually, I established a reproducible chemical method to make the material and improved its stability, among other properties. The usage period of the battery was increased. The results were published in a scientific journal.”Using generalisation: Vanadium pentoxide to transition metal oxide, replacement of nanostructure with material, porosity/capacity/conductivity to properties, strengthened the nanostructure to improved its stability. Translated prolonged galvanic cycling to prolong lifespan of the materialUsing simplification: Replacement of create a cathode material with high capacity to increase the usage period of the battery in between charging. Galvanic cycling to After repeated charging cycles .Explained methodologies and synthesisto simply using chemical methods to vary the material’s structure.

Learning Outcomes

1. Important steps in Resume writing

2. CAR Framework

3. Types of De-jargoning techniques

4. Strategy to de-jargon in written form

5. Common types of Interview questions

6. Types of interview responses frameworks

7. Strategy to de-jargon in Verbal form

Thank You!

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