Bio-1 and Partners Highlight Opportunities for Career Transition
Last month, Mary Ellen Clark, Executive Director of Bio-1 and Vicki Gaddy, Director of Workforce Development at BioNJ met with tremendous support as they developed an information session to try to quickly help Johnson & Johnson employees affected by the recent restructuring. The session brought representatives from a broad spectrum of organizations with opportunities for displaced workers together in one place for two panel discussions.
The goal was to aid participants in their career transition and connect them with resources to:
- Help find jobs within and outside the health care industry
- Consider sharpening their presence via new credentials and short term training courses
- Go back to college for a new degree
- Apply their skills to a new career including teaching and non-profit management
- Develop a new business or partnering to create new small bioscience companies
The first panel was about thinking differently – making connections to get a job, education and transferring skills. Vicky Gaddy provided good information on networking, and suggestions on how to keep yourself connected with opportunities, such as volunteering. She also provided a list of online life science career and job search websites, which includes Bio-1's job matching site: http://www.bio-1stop.org/jobs.
Sue Craig, Community College Director for the New Pathways to Teaching in New Jersey (NPTNJ) alternate route program gave an overview of the process to become a teacher in New Jersey. Through funding from Bio-1, there is scholarship money available for qualified participants in the NPTNJ program as well as those in the Rider University Graduate-Level Teacher Certification Program (GLTP). For information about NPTNJ, please contact Kelly Canonico at (732) 224-2380 or e-mail kcanonico@brookdalecc.edu. For information about the GLTP program, please contact Dr. Sharon Sherman at ssherman@rider.edu.
Margaret Della, Senior Program Manager at the Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Leadership at Rutgers Business School talked about the wide variety of opportunities in nonprofits, and Ellen Lieberman, Director of Extended Learning Development and Delivery in the Division of Continuing Professional Education at New Jersey Institute of Technology talked about how to access resources, including federal funding and private loans.
The second panel was about opportunities for starting a business and new ventures. Judith Sheft, Assistant Vice President of Technology Development at New Jersey Institute of Technology talked to the group about the excellent support available through New Jersey's Business Incubation Network, and Eric Greenberg, Assistant Visiting Professor Marketing, Rutgers University CRM Research Center talked about training opportunities through Rutgers Center for Management Development, such as the Mini MBA programs in Business Essentials and in Entrepreneurship.
One of the major threads for both panels was the opportunity for further training and education. Through state grants and Bio-1 funding, there are opportunities for qualified individuals to receive training at reduced rates, as mentioned in the recent Bio-1 Buzz Update.
The feedback received from participants upon evaluation was very positive, and there are plans in place to host follow up sessions on specific topics to delve further, in addition to more information sessions for displaced employees of other companies.
