It is important to show your research to others throughout your degree, but it reaches maximal importance as you are about to apply for jobs.
Being selected to present at conferences is an award you can put on your CV, and demonstrates that your research is of good quality. Attending conferences will in itself allow you to speak to a few people if you approach them, but presenting will allow you to address everybody at once, and may result in people coming up to you to discuss your work.
Get Practical TipsPractical Tips:
- If you have the guts, you could state at the end of your talk that you will shortly be looking for a new lab.
- After you have done your talk, seek out the people you would especially like to work with and talk to them about their work (and yours), asking if they might have any open positions.
- This guideline doesn’t only apply to people about to publish in Science or some other top journal. Your work may not be of such high calibre, but showcasing it at conference gives it credibility and is not without power to impress.
- At earlier time points when you may have very little data, don’t lie and submit to do a talk on data you don’t have. This is dishonest and can result in a lot of stress coming up to the talk if you haven’t progressed as far as you thought. It is much safer to submit to do a poster under these circumstances.
Read Personal PerspectivePersonal Perspective:
I got my post doc from presenting my work at a conference. After my talk, I started talking to a lady about the food, and she told me she had a position opening up that I should apply for. Job done.
