Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

In 2014, the University of Calgary's Vice President (Research) and postdoctoral office determined that without strategic innovation in preparing advanced trainees for an increasingly competitive labour force, the academy faces the prospect of preparing specialists for careers unlikely to pan out as expected. In a bid to enhance support for early-career specialists in their search for competitive positions in academia and beyond, senior leadership at the university's Cumming School of Medicine spearheaded a novel professional career development opportunity known as the Mock Faculty Position. The activity simulated a full academic job recruitment process in which 180 postdoctoral fellows could compete for an award of $10,000. From thirty-four applications reviewed, the search and selection committee deemed twelve to be competitive, shortlisting three candidates for invitation to give public research presentations followed by face-to-face interviews with the committee. Interviews were recorded and "projected live" to an audience of more than seventy trainees who were moderated by senior faculty members throughout. The competition piloted a practical and experiential learning model tailored to today's competitive labor force, forging collaborative and cross-disciplinary consensus around skills expected of top candidates for coveted positions. The simulation poses a cost-effective alternative to the generic instructional format of many professional career development programs that are arguably ill-suited to the unique challenges encountered in real job situations today. The first among parallel initiatives for roll-out across faculties in coming months, unanticipated outcomes include potential training materials developed in the simulation and the identification of skills gaps within the trainee pool.