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Propel Careers

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Propel Careers

Propel Careers is a life science search and career development firm focused on connecting innovative, entrepreneurial companies with like-minded professionals.

Our primary service offerings include job placement, networking events, career guidance, and mentorship programs. Propel Careers is engaged across all areas of life sciences, including therapeutics, medical devices, healthcare IT, diagnostics, consulting, venture capital, and investment banking. Our mission is to enable the critical human resource connections required to advance the life science

industry as a whole as well as the growth and advancement of the companies and individuals we work with. Our expansive industry contacts, knowledge and experience working in the life science industry set us apart from other firms & offerings. Our team brings more than 40 years of collective experience working in a range of life sciences business, including start-ups, venture capital, and commercial organizations. As a result, we are able to act as a hub making critical connections between academic institutions, industry, investors, service providers and talent. To learn more, visit www.propelcareers.com.

08/17/2026

Propelling Careers Podcast episode 115 covering Informational interview Advice is live on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/774xUszFKOisemvPg1ZV4I?si=QqSxe7_LT9yjds9Fpv5Gnw) and Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-115-informational-interview-advice-propelling-careers/id1747039410?i=1000783497555)

In this episode we will focus on tips to do effective informational interviews. In the last episode, 114, we talked about networking tips. Since one way to follow up from networking could be an informational interview, we thought this episode would be timely in case any of our listeners have informational interviews after their networking. We cover advice including these points below. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.

People may have more time over the summer to connect for informational interviews

When you reachout to someone for an informational interview, give an idea of what you are looking to learn. For example, are you looking to learn about career advice, about their specific job, about the general market, etc

How to approach a warm invitation vs Cold Call

How to structure your reachout

Be flexible with mtg time and logistics

Have Questions prepared

Ask if you can help the person you are speaking with too

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.

As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

07/28/2026

Propelling Careers Podcast episode 114 covering Building and Connecting with your Network is live on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/2PYRTv59ETgkEqoUlpjCfM?si=f8ESILTCRQ2H-mvdU6WPHQ) and Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propelling-careers/id1747039410?i=1000778761938).

In this episode we will focus on tips to build and connect with your network especially during more informal get togethers that happen over the summer. We briefly discussed this topic in episode 108 and will dive deeper in this episode covering points including these below. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.

Summertime is a great time to connect with your network through outside of work activities such as bbq’s, summer parties, informal events, etc

Tips to network based upon what kind of event you are going to and who will be there

Tips for engaging with people especially if you are having a hard time in your job search

Tips for your elevator pitch

Tips to engage in conversations

Tips to follow up

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.

As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

07/19/2026

Propelling Careers Podcast episode 113 covering more Q’s from Optimizing your CV in the Era of AI talk at Festival of Genomics is live on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jy1lGHD0EiYeK9yjJwAIZ?si=YjF8xWMmSmK_FzmzguVTkA) and Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propelling-careers/id1747039410?i=1000777430588)

Welcome to Propelling Careers Podcast episode 113. This is a continuation from episode 110, 111, and 112 - to cover more Questions that we received from the Festival of Genomics talk on Optimizing your CV in the Era of AI that we did in Boston recently. This will be the last podcast in this series – we are thrilled that we had so many questions that we were able to do 4 episodes. We again want to give a shout out again to Jennifer K. Ocasio Adorno, PhD, at North Carolina State University who wrote down all the questions that we got during the talk and Victor Guy, Life Sciences Event Producer, at Front Line Genomics who organized the talk and invited us to do it. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.

Networking & Referrals
• How does networking help with the application process?
• Do you need a referral or connection to network?

Career Transitions, Gaps, and Identity
• If you transitioned from another sector, should you include prior experience?
• Should you include career breaks? How do you explain gaps?
• If publications are under a maiden name, how should you indicate this?

International, Visa, and Early Career Considerations
• Resources for applying overseas—what to include in CVs/resumes?
• What about students applying during OPT?

Cover Letters & Supporting Materials
• Can cover letters make or break your application?
• If you have a link, how do you integrate it?
• Can AI or reviewers pick up on links?
• How important is an updated website or online portfolio?

Job Search Timing & Planning
• What is the most active hiring period?
• How far in advance should you start the job search (e.g., PhD to industry)?

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.

As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

07/10/2026

Propelling Careers Podcast episode 112 covering more Q’s from Optimizing your CV in the Era of AI talk at Festival of Genomics is live on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Z4BH23JHA6wnSmBp1xMVO?si=TfV178_fRJGutvvq7HLU3Q) and Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-112-part3-qs-from-optimizing-your-cv-in-the-era-of/id1747039410?i=1000776313931)

This episode is a continuation from episodes 110 and 111 - to cover even more Questions we received from the Festival of Genomics in Boston - our talk was Optimizing your CV in the AI Era. We want to give a shout out again to Jennifer K. Ocasio Adorno, PhD, at North Carolina State University who wrote down all the questions that we got during the talk and Victor Guy at Life Sciences Event Producer, Front Line Genomics who organized the talk and invited us to do it. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.

Tailoring, Fit, and Strategy focused questions
• What would be the strategy to get the interview?
• Do you need to 100% match the posted role?
• How flexible is your job title when tailoring an application?
• What impact does applying to multiple jobs within the same company have?
• How much does timing matter when applying?

AI in Hiring & Applications focused questions
• Thoughts on using AI to generate or reformat resumes/CVs?
• What happens if you opt out of AI review in an application?
• How do you deal with AI based interview systems?

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) & Application Portals focused questions
• Can you skip questions on the ATS?
• If your major is not in a dropdown, should you select the closest option?
• How long do systems store your information?
• Does association with the system depend on your email address?
• What happens when you reapply for a different job at the same company?
• Does it matter which email address you use?
• What’s the difference between ATS, Workday, etc.?

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.

As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

07/03/2026

Propelling Careers Podcast episode 111 covering more Q’s from Optimizing your CV in the Era of AI talk at Festival of Genomics is live on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/4liErFACeOInqBfQ6Ao8mw?si=08Z_aQRrTnqi1MZw-ttTcw) and Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propelling-careers/id1747039410?i=1000775367221)

Welcome to Propelling Careers Podcast episode 111. This is a continuation from episode 110 - to cover more Questions we received from the Festival of Genomics in Boston. We want to give a shout out again to Jennifer K. Ocasio Adorno, PhD, at North Carolina State University who wrote down all the questions that we got during the talk. In this episode we focus on these points below. We hope you find this helpful and that you enjoy listening.

Structuring & Organizing Content
Is there a standard order of sections or would you need to move sections around depending on the application?

Can education be listed different places based upon what you are trying to show?

Where should publications be listed in the resume?

When you reorganize your CV for the job ad, do you work at a high level or add/modify/remove experiences?

Where should you include core competencies? And how should you phrase these?

Writing Effective Experience Descriptions
How do you distinguish between research experiences with similar backgrounds and achievements?

How detailed should bullet points be?

Should you duplicate bullet points across experiences?

How can you best convey wide or varied experience (e.g., consulting with multiple clients)?

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.

As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

05/07/2026

Propelling Careers Podcast episode 104 covering Defining career and professional success is live on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/2BZudFxHMA7Xzqe7gNAjVE?si=wJw1Ci8IRyeJSbt1WI4DWg) and Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propelling-careers/id1747039410?i=1000766619678)

In episode 102, the topic of defining success came up while we were discussing Jim’s recent talk at Wheaton College. Since this is such an important topic, and one that can be very personal and individualized, we decided to do a podcast focused on defining success. We hope you enjoy listening.

Why we feel this is important

How do you know where you’re going if you never define the destination?

What is important to you personally?

What is important to you professionally?

Keep in mind, what Success looks like might change over time as your career and life develops

Separate happiness from success

Separate self worth from success

Define what success looks like for you - what are your guiding principles

Build in accountability

Celebrate success otherwise it feels like you’re constantly chasing

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.

As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

04/13/2026

Propelling Careers Podcast episode 101 covering Advice for building your personal brand on LinkedIn is live on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ZYvUiHLw9QtieBg25kGmi?si=uuZBsSmrRfCuhKm8kX6fgw) and Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propelling-careers/id1747039410?i=1000760751845).

In this episode, Jim and I focus on advice relating to building your personal brand on LinkedIn. In Feb 2026, I gave two talks at the Transition to Industry Event organized by the Torrey Pines Training Consortium including one on building your brand on LinkedIn. This podcast covers questions that I received during this talk including ones below. That event was developed for early career scientists who are thinking of transitioning to a career in industry. We hope you enjoy listening.

What should I do with my profile if I am not actively looking for a job at the moment

For mid-career professionals who are quietly exploring industry roles, how do you balance visibility with discretion?

Does it matter how many connections a person has on LinkedIn?

Is the summary/about section absolutely necessary in LinkedIn?

I’ve noticed these LinkedIn research summaries highlight recent or most current roles. How would you incorporate skills learned in past experiences (undergraduate or prior) briefly in a personal summary

How important is using a work banner or emojis in a profile? What is actually necessary for a personal brand?

Could writing your hobbies into the LinkedIn profile sometimes also come off as unprofessional?

Do you recommend listing certifications related to things you are interested in on LinkedIn? Will it give you a leg up?

How often do recruiters contact grad students and postdocs? I've heard it's more common at higher levels

Does the recruiter see our job score?

Do recruiters see How many jobs we applied for

Can recruiters see how many responses we got back?

Lauren Celano, CEO of Propel Careers and Jim Gould, the Director for Postdoctoral Affairs at Harvard Medical School, launched this podcast as a way for us to share our advice, insights, and reflections to help others navigate their careers.

As we develop new episodes, this podcast will provide insights regarding career advice to help listeners navigate career choices and become more confident in their decisions. We look forward to busting myths and providing real life, timely, and accurate advice. Jim and Lauren work heavily with Ph.D. trained scientists, but the advice we provide can be applicable to other audiences. We hope you enjoy listening!

Address

1 Broadway, Fl 14th
Cambridge, MA
02142

Opening Hours

Monday	8:30am - 8pm
Tuesday	8:30am - 8pm
Wednesday	8:30am - 8pm
Thursday	8:30am - 8pm
Friday	8:30am - 8pm

Telephone

+16178235446

Website

http://www.propelcareers.com/

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